FMFACTORS procedure

Forms a pointer of factors representing a multiple-response (R.W. Payne).

Options

MRESPONSE = pointer

Pointer with a factor for each code, indicating the units where it occurs in the CODE texts or variates

RESPONSECODES = text or variate

Saves the set of distinct multiple-response codes

CODENULL = text or variate

Code(s) used to represent a null value in the CODE texts or variates; default * or ''

EXCLUDENULL = string

Whether to exclude the null factor recording the respondents that made no reply (yes, no); default no

SUFFIXNULL = scalar

Suffix to use to represent the null factor in MRESPONSE; default 0

LABELNULL = text

Label to use to represent the null factor in MRESPONSE; default 'none'

Parameter

CODE = texts or variates

Codes from the respondents

Description

Multiple responses occur in surveys as the result of open-ended questions like "Which cities have you visited this year?" or "What languages do you speak?". The easiest way to input these into GenStat is in a set of text vectors. Each text has a unit for every respondent, and the set contains as many texts as the maximum number of the replies from any respondent. Alternatively, if the responses are numerical, they would be input into a set of variates. The MTABULATE procedure can form tables with multiple responses. However, these raw codes must first be converted by FMFACTORS into a set of factors.

The texts or variates containing the raw data are listed using the CODE parameter. The factors are saved, in a pointer, using the MRESPONSE option. The pointer contains a factor for every recorded code, with levels 0 and 1, and corresponding labels 'absent' and 'present'. If the codes are textual, the various strings are used as labels of the pointer; while if they are numerical, the numbers are used as the pointer suffixes.

By default, the texts or variates are assumed to contain a missing values for any null response: for example these would occur in the third and fourth text, if there were four CODE texts and the respondent concerned had made only two replies. However, you can use the CODENULL option to supply alternative codings (for example '-' for textual responses).

The EXCLUDENULL option controls whether or not the pointer contains a factor to make an explicit record of the respondents that made no replies at all (default no). This will be needed if the later tables are to contain a line for "no response". The SUFFIXLNULL option specifies the suffix to be used for this factor in the pointer while, for textual codes, the LABELNULL option specifies its label in the pointer.

Options: MRESPONSE, RESPONSECODES, CODENULL, EXCLUDENULL, SUFFIXNULL, LABELNULL.

Parameter: CODE.

Method

FMFACTORS uses the standard GenStat calculation commands.

Action with RESTRICT

FMFACTORS takes account of any restrictions on the CODE texts or variates.