It’s not informative that “a respondent has 0 on v1” unless you know what v1 and 0 refer to. Such information – what the data actually represent – is collectively know as the dictionary.
This tutorial merely explains what the SPSS dictionary is. For learning how to modify it properly (that is, by syntax), see Changing Variable Properties 1 – Introduction.
SPSS Dictionary – What is it?
- The SPSS Dictionary is a part of an SPSS data file that holds all metadata. Literally, metadata is “data about the data”.
- Metadata describes the real-world meaning of values, variables and files. The best known properties of the SPSS dictionary are probably variable labels and value labels.
- Don’t overlook the importance of such information. In many cases, data are worthless in the absence of correct metadata.
- The dictionary also holds more technical information on variables such as variable types and formats.
SPSS Dictionary Commands
- Some commands refer directly to SPSS’ dictionary. An important one is
DISPLAY DICTIONARY.which is extensively used by Create Dictionary Dataset. - Another example is
APPLY DICTIONARY– which is basically what SPSS Clone Variables Tool does. - Commands for modifying variable properties also apply to the SPSS dictionary (instead of the actual data). For a handy overview, see our SPSS Dictionary Tutorials.
SPSS Dictionary – Complete Overview
Note: we tried to sort these properties from most to least important. “Optional” indicates whether a property can (technically) be absent.
| NAME | APPLIES TO | FUNCTION | IMPORTANCE | OPTIONAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| variable name | Variable | Variable identifier. | High | No |
| Label | Variable | Normal language description of the meaning of variables. | High | Yes |
| Value Labels | Value | Normal language description of the meaning of values. | High | Yes |
| User Missing Values | Value | Tells SPSS which values to ignore in calculations. | High | Yes |
| Type | Variable | Tells SPSS how to store values internally. | High | No |
| Format | Variable | Tells SPSS how to display numeric values. | High | No |
| Document | Data file | Long data file description. | Low | Yes |
| Width | Variable | Maximum number of characters that values may consist of. | Low | No |
| Columns | Variable | Variable’s column width (as displayed on screen). | Low | No |
| Variable Attribute | Variable | Descriptive tags for variables. | Low | Yes |
| Datafile attribute | Data file | Data file description using arrays. | Low | Yes |
| File label | Data file | Short data file description. | Low | Yes |
| Align | Variable | Alignment of data values (on screen). | Low | No |
| Measure | Variable | Measurement level nominal, ordinal or scale (= metric). | Low | No |
| Role | Variable | The variable’s supposed relation to other variables. | Low | No |