[DDI-users] DDI tools to get SPSS to DDI 2.x

[Elliott G Smith]

Hi Katherine,

If you can't have access to the SPSS dataset, but you need the variable
metadata in a form that will be easier to get into DDI, I suggest you ask
the OIR staff to run the following SPSS syntax on their dataset. It will
create a file that they can send to you. Be default, the output file is
html, but you can specify xml, xls, or sav.

*** This code will open the specified SPSS dataset, create a codebook, and
save it to an output file.
* Update the path so that it points to the location of the data.
cd "C:\Users\You\Documents".

* Update the name of the file.
get file = "Your SPSS Dataset.sav".

* By default, the codebook is output as html, but one can also specify
other formats, such as XLS, OXML, or SAV.
* Also, be sure to update the extension in the output file name.
oms
   /select tables
   /destination format = html  outfile = "DatasetMetadata.html".
codebook
   /varinfo position label type format measure valuelabels
   /fileinfo name casecount weight
   /statistics none.
omsend.

Hope this helps,
Elliott

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 12:36 PM, Katherine McNeill <mcneillh at mit.edu>wrote:

>  I am creating a codebook of a survey done on campus, using <oXygen/> (in
> 2.0 or 2.1 because we’re just looking for a simple codebook, and planning
> on using style sheets written for this version).  However, for reasons of
> privacy, I don’t have access to the data file itself, created with SPSS by
> our Office of Institutional Research.  I’m working on the variable
> descriptions in the codebook and could enter them manually (I do have a PDF
> of the survey instrument), but for time (and my desire to model good DDI
> processes), I’m hoping to find a more efficient way to produce the variable
> metadata in some semi-automated way (from the SPSS file, I’m hoping).  The
> office that holds the data file isn’t experienced with DDI, but I’m this
> may also be an opportunity to introduce them to the standard (if I can do
> so in a relatively convenient way). ****
>
> ** **
>
> A couple of options I’ve thought of (but have hit dead ends on both):****
>
> ** **
>
> 1) I’m aware of the ability of Stat/transfer to produce DDI 3.0 metadata.
> So maybe they could create the DDI 3.0 on their end (if they have access to
> Stat/transfer) and then I could convert it to 2.x.  But I’m afraid I’m at a
> loss to find a tool to be able to convert the DDI 3.0 to an earlier
> version.  Maybe I’m missing something?****
>
> ** **
>
> 2) Another alternative (but seems to be more work on their part) is to
> find an easy tool for them to use to create the DDI 2.x right from the SPSS
> on their part.  However, I haven’t seem to find one currently available
> that seems highly easy to use.  DDI DExT seems to be maybe a little too big
> of a learning curve.  I’ve also considered XCONVERT, but it has a couple of
> different steps and may not capture the question text.  Are there other
> tools out there for this that people could recommend?****
>
> ** **
>
> Or maybe there’s a third alternative I haven’t considered.****
>
> ** **
>
> Many of the tools listed on the DDI web site (
> http://www.ddialliance.org/resources/tools) aren’t up-to-date (aside: I
> am on the group to update this system, and we’re working on it…), and the
> availability of things can come and go, so I’m hoping that someone has some
> better tools or processes on their end that they can recommend/share.****
>
> ** **
>
> Sincerely,****
>
> Kate McNeill****
>
> ** **
>
> ___________________________________
> Katherine McNeill
> Social Science Data Services and Economics Librarian
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> mcneillh at mit.edu | 617-253-0787
> http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/data/
> http://libguides.mit.edu/econ****
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> DDI-users mailing list
> DDI-users at icpsr.umich.edu
> http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/mailman/listinfo/ddi-users
>
>


-- 
Elliott G. Smith, PhD
National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect
Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research
Cornell University
egs1 at cornell.edu | 607.592.9822
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/pipermail/ddi-users/attachments/20120110/474e3168/attachment.html