Have you done any distribution analysis (simple Proc Freq to start with) on that raw "need" variable?
Of if your survey data comes from a sample that had a complex sample, Proc Survey Freq?
I would expect that may give you some idea of where to place break points for categories. If you have a very large range of "need" responses you may want to look at the percentiles as well.
Also, you likely would not need to add any variables for the other analysis, create a custom format or two and use the format in the analysis.
The format might look like this:
Proc format library=work;
value needscore
0 - 1 = 'Low'
2 - 5 = 'Medium'
6 - high = 'High'
;
run;
You don't mention anything about actual range of values or number of respondents. I would suggest if you want to have something moderately sensitive when split across race or age groups that you set ranges likely to keep at least 5 if not 10 respondents in each "need" interval.
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