SPSS Secondary Data (Data Structure

Due 1/11  7 p.m EST
Be on time, Original work, Grad level work
Please read instructions carefully
DATA ATTACHED

 
A good statistical analysis takes proper planning. It is like building a house. You do not want to have beautiful architectural layout plans (your data analysis plan) and then shoddy framework (data structure). By the time you are moving in, you are already starting to see the flaws (Wyseure, 2005). When structuring the data, certain principles should be followed to have an organized database.

Data should be stored in one table.
Each observation should have its own record, and any replication should have a separate record.
Each record should have its own line or row, with fields for each variable.
Each variable should have its own specific field.
The field should always be in the same column. 
Always start the database at the top left (Cell A1 in Excel) (Wyseure, 2005).

In order to conduct an accurate statistical analysis using SPSS or another statistical software, you should ensure that that your data are organized properly to meet the needs of the software.

As you review the secondary data set, consider whether the data structure is suitable for analysis and the steps to restructure the data if needed.
For this Assignment, use the given data set (identify data sets) and create a database in SPSS or Excel. Convert a continuous variable to a categorical variable and combine several variables. In addition, create graphs for both the original and new variables.

Merge the data (merge two data sets together).
Convert a continuous variable to a categorical variable.
For both the original and new variables create a histogram for the continuous variable and a bar chart for the categorical variable.
Manipulate the data to create a new variable (Combine two of more variables to create a new variable).
Manipulate the data structure (Split the new data set file into 25/75).
Submit descriptive statistics for both the original and new variables
Submit descriptive statistics for both the original and new variables before and after splitting the new data set file.
Explain the rationale for creating the new variables
Interpret the results of descriptive statistics before and after of the old and new variables, merging, and splitting.

  
Note from professor
For the assignment, you will need to develop an SPSS data file and you will need to take a continuous variable and recode into a categorical variable. You will need to submit the SPSS file for the assignment this week.
You will be required to submit the SPSS databases for review.  The databases need to be in .sav format for me to be able to bring up on my SPSS software.  It will also be necessary to have files in a zip folder when submitting into the assignment section due to the size of the documents.  If no databases are submitted there will be a grade of 0 since the assignment requires the database(s) to be reviewed.