topic Re: Creating a new variable in SAS Programming

Creating a new variable

mt88 — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:35:37 GMT

I have a variable whose values are populated with likert scale responses (completely agree, agree, unsure, disagree, completely disagree). In some instances there are erroneous responses like "completely agree, agree" and "unsure, completely disagree". So the data might looks like this:

completely agree

agree

completely disagree

agree

unsure

disagree

unsure, completely agree

unsure, disagree

I'd like to create a new variable where completely agree = 1, agree = 2, unsure = 3, disagree = 4, completely disagree = 5, and everything else equals "." ----So the resulting data variable would have these values:

1
2
5
2
3
4
.
.

Can someone help me with the code here? I am thinking if, then, else, but I am not sure how to write it. Thanks!

Re: Creating a new variable

Reeza — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:46:41 GMT

Here are some video tutorials on the subject.

https://video.sas.com/detail/videos/sas-analytics-u/video/4573016759001/performing-conditional-logic-in-sas?autoStart=true&page=1

You'll need to go a step further because it appears you have multiple responses in the same field, such as "unsure, completetely agree". I usually recommend you go back to your survey software and change the export so each is in their own field.

Otherwise you can use COUNTW() to count the number of words, and SCAN() to extract each word and apply the logic.

@mt88 wrote:

I have a variable whose values are populated with likert scale responses (completely agree, agree, unsure, disagree, completely disagree). In some instances there are erroneous responses like "completely agree, agree" and "unsure, completely disagree". So the data might looks like this:

completely agree

agree

completely disagree

agree

unsure

disagree

unsure, completely agree

unsure, disagree

I'd like to create a new variable where completely agree = 1, agree = 2, unsure = 3, disagree = 4, completely disagree = 5, and everything else equals "." ----So the resulting data variable would have these values:

1

2

5

2

3

4

.

.

Can someone help me with the code here? I am thinking if, then, else, but I am not sure how to write it. Thanks!

Re: Creating a new variable

s_lassen — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 06:27:38 GMT

That is fairly simple. I would use an infomat:

proc format;
  invalue likert (upcase)
    'COMPLETELY AGREE' = 1
    'AGREE' = 2
    'UNSURE' = 3
    'DISAGREE' = 4  
    'COMPLETELY DISAGREE' = 5
    other= .
    ;
run; 

Data want;
  set have;
  value=input(response,likert.);
run;

I used the UPCASE option on the informat, as I assume the case of the text variables is not relevant (when values are read, all text is automatically converted to upper case before being evaluated).

Re: Creating a new variable

mt88 — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 14:39:38 GMT

Thanks very much. This did exactly what I needed.

Re: Creating a new variable

Reeza — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 16:38:44 GMT

Check the last two records of your input data, if it matches your example data posted. This would not handle those cases.

Re: Creating a new variable

mt88 — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 16:49:38 GMT

Hi again,

I need anything that isn't "Completely Agree", "Agree", "Unsure", "Disagree", or "Completely Disagree" to be coded as missing, which it looks like this code does.

Thank you.