Actually, Frequencies will work with string variables. The variable list dialog box will only display numerics and short strings, i.e. strings with defined widths of 8 or less. You can run Frequencies with long string variables from a syntax window, but you'll get a warning and only the first 8 characters will be used in the frequency table. The quickest workaround is to autorecode the long string, which will recode the string values to numbers from 1 to (number of unique strings), in alphabetical order. The original string becomes the value label for the new numeric variable. Frequencies will display the value label in the table. Automatic Recode is found under the Transform menu.

There is an option to suppress frequency tables with more than x categories, where x is set by the user. By default, x = 10 but the option is also turned off by default, i.e. large tables are not suppressed unless you request this.

David Matheson SPSS Technical Support

>---------- >From: William Dudley[SMTP:wdudley@SPH.EMORY.EDU] >Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 1997 9:56 AM >To: SPSSX-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU >Subject: Re: Frequencies with 10 Categories > >I think the problem has to do with the nature of the variable. >When you collapsed the categories you may have computed a numeric variables, >and that will >work in frequencies, whereas the string variable will not. So expand your >compute statements >to assign a numeric value to each of the 10 categories, and you'll be set > > >At 05:22 PM 10/26/97 GMT, Robert Gwynne wrote: >>I have a string variable in an SPSS 7.5 (Win95) spreadsheet that has >>about ten categories and 200 cases. When I choose >>Statistics/Summarize/Frequencies that variable does not appear in the >>choices to be analyzed. However, if I create a new variable by >>collapsing the ten categories to three categories, the new variable >>appears in the list of variables that can be analyzed. How can I >>analyze the frequencies of the ten category string variable? >> >>Bob Gwynne >>Speech Communication >>University of Tennessee >>gwynne@utkux.utk.edu >>http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~gwynne >> >> >William N Dudley, PhD >Asst Professor >Dept Behavioral Science and Health Education >Rollins School of Public Health >Emory University >Atlanta 30322 >Phone 404 727 2447 >FAX 404 727 1369 >