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Introduction to Research Methods in Political Science: |
SELECT CASES
You may wish to carry out analysis on only some of the cases in a data file. Perhaps, in analyzing data from a file on the countries of the world, you wish to limit your inquiry to countries in Latin America.
To select cases based on the values they have for one or more variables, click on “Data” (in the menu bar) and “Select Cases….” Select “If condition is satisfied” and click on “If….” :”). In the window on the right (under “Numeric Expression:”), enter the formula you wish to use to select cases. You can type the formula directly. You can also do so by moving variables into the Numeric Expression window from the list on the left, and/or by selecting arithmetic operations from the keypad provided by SPSS. Then click on “OK.”
Note: Use the following guide for the most common operations:
SYMBOL |
LETTERS |
MEANING |
+ |
Plus |
|
- |
Minus |
|
* |
Multiplied by |
|
/ |
Divided by |
|
** |
Raised to the ______ power |
|
< |
LT |
Less than |
> |
GT |
Greater than |
<= |
LE |
Less than or equal to |
>= |
GE |
Greater than or equal to |
= |
EQ |
Equal to |
& |
AND |
And |
| |
OR |
Or |
Except where indicated, © 2003-2012 John L. Korey
Last Updated: December 18, 2012