Autocoding a text variable

Survey Tabulation > Working with variables > Autocoding a text variable

Although coding open-ended responses generally requires some intelligent human intervention, it is sometimes possible to autocode the text stored in a text variable. For example, when a text variable stores addresses, you could code the addresses by searching for city or postal district names. However, there are some risks in this approach because, for example, a city name might be included in a street name. Here is an example of a table that includes the address variable after it has been autocoded based on city names.

Table showing address by biology; addresses autocoded into cities

These instructions describe how to set up the autocoding for the variable so that the new categories will appear in all tables that use the variable. If you want to set up the autocoding in a specific table, use the Edit Axis dialog box instead of the Edit Variable dialog box. The steps within the dialog box are the same. See Edit Axis dialog box for more information.

To autocode a text variable

1 In the main UNICOM Intelligence Reporter - Survey Tabulation window, select the Define tab.

2 In the Variable List, select the text variable.

3 From the menu, choose Variables > Edit.

This opens the Edit Variable dialog box; see Edit Variable dialog box.

4 From the menu at the top of the Edit tab, choose Insert.

This opens the Insert Item dialog box: see Insert Item dialog box .

5 In the list of Available Items, select User Defined Category, and then click Add.

6 Repeat the previous step until you have added the required number of categories.

7 Click OK.

This inserts the new categories into the list of items on the Edit tab.

8 For each of the new categories do the following:

On the line that represents the category, click Edit item. This opens the Edit Category dialog box: see Edit Category dialog box.

In the Variable List, select the text variable.

Use the features on the right side of the dialog box to define the expression for this category. For example, select Contains from the list and then enter London in the text box.

When you have finished defining the expression, click OK to close the Edit Category dialog box.

In the Edit tab, enter a label for the new category in the Label column.

9 When you have finished defining expressions for all the categories, click OK to close the Edit Variable dialog.

Note The changes will be applied to any existing tables that include the variable next time you populate them, provided you haven't used the Edit Axis dialog box (see Edit Axis dialog box) to specify how the variable is to appear in any of those tables.