A text variable stores one text value for each case. For example, a text variable may store the responses to an open-ended question. This is a question that asks respondents to answer a question in their own words.

Before analyzing the responses to an open-ended question, market researchers frequently code the responses into categories. For example, the question responses could be coded into separate categories.

A variable that stores the coded responses to an open-ended question is called a coding variable and like the Other Specify variables described in on categorical variables, the coding variable is generally associated with the main text variable as a helper variable.