Parameters in the Questions sheet

This vignette lists the options how to modify the crosstabs generated with crosstabser. The items in the bullet points correspond to the column headers of the table in the Questions sheet:

Mandatory arguments

The arguments Type and RowVar need to be specified for all crosstabs:

• Type: Defining the type of question; there are 4 possible cases:
  • cat: for single-choice questions; if multiple RowVars are specified, this will generate multiple crosstabs (along the y-axis) with the variable labels of the RowVars as a sub-title
  • mw: for item batteries questions, e.g. “Rank each item on a scale from 1 – 5.”; First a table is created showing the mean values of the RowVar variables in its lines, the “Summary of means” table. Then, a series of tables showing the frequency counts of each of the categorical variables is generated similar to the case cat, the “detail tables”.
  • mdg: multiple dichotomy group (called MDGROUP in SPSS); multiple-choice question; For each answer option there is one variable; the text of the choice is in the variable label of the accdording variable; If this answer was selected the variable usually has the value 1.
  • mcg : multiple category group (called MCGROUP in SPSS); multiple-choice question; This is an alternative way to mdg to code multiple choice questions. The answer possibilities are stored in the value labels here (every variable has the same value labels). This means, you need at least as many variables as the maximum number of choices that were selected by the respondents.
• RowVar: variable names to be tabulated (space-separated); alternatively, if the string starts with the prefix "ts: " (without the quotes), you can use tidy-select syntax afterwards

Optional arguments

Optional arguments for all 4 Types

• Title: Question title that will be shown in the table; A blank in single quotes (' ') inserts a line break

• Abbreviation: An identifier string for internal use; if duplicated or not specified, "_row_<ROW VALUE>" will be appended (where <ROW VALUE> is the row number)

• Unguelt: values / variable names (for "mdg") representing the unvalid cases

• Filter: logical expression for the cases that should be filtered; you can also use different expressions if there are multiple RowVars; this translates a string containing (multiple occurences of):

  • prefix_{[A|B|...]}_suffix into multiple strings prefix_A_suffix, prefix_B_suffix, prefix_..._suffix
  • prefix_{rowvar}_suffix into multiple strings with each of the RowVars replacing the "{rowvar}" part(s) of the string
  • Multiple SelVars AND multiple Filters are not allowed and this will throw an error.

• SelVar & SelVal: calculates the table(s) conditionally for every value in SelVal that the Variable SelVar takes, the variables in RowVar have to be mentioned as many times as the number of variables in SelVar. Format of SelVal: “1 2 3 4:Name_it_different 2-97:All_others” to produce a table for all values 1 to 4 and one where 2-97 are combined and labelled “All others”.

• Mult: if TRUE in SelVar/SelVal interviews should be counted double, if SelVar is SelVal more than once (i.e. if in SelVar two “Other manufacturers” mentioned, they will be seen as two answers)

• Weight: variable with which the values are weighted (will overwrite the one that is set in the sheet Macro if existing)

Optional arguments for Type = cat

• CatRec & CatLab:
  • CatRec: Possibility to add to the table of a categorical variable (Type = cat OR mw) the statistics of a recoded variable summarizing categories
  • CatLab: Definition of the labels of the recoded summary variable in CatRec
• MWRec: values can be recoded for the calculation of the mean value with the equal syntax as in CatRec.
• UngueltMW: values that are excluded for the mean value calculation (if empty, Unguelt ist taken)
• MetrMac: Possibility to add one or more of the following lines to the table showing statistics of the variable:
  • Sx: Mean with x decimals
  • Mx: Median with x decimals
  • Tx: Total with x decimals
  • Ex: Standard error with x decimals
  • Ix: Minimum with x decimals
  • Ax: Maximum with x decimals
  • Pnnx: nnth Percentile with x decimals

• Einzelauspraegung: if set to 0 the rows in the table corresponding to the values of the variable are removed from the table (Type = "cat")

Optional arguments for Type = mw

• MW: if 0 the “Summary of means” table is not calculated for Type = "mw"
• Freq: If 0 the detail tables are not calculated for Type = "mw"
• MeanOverviewLabel: label for summary of means table (normally “Summary of means”, cf. lexikon cTabMeanOV)
• ZsfgMW: Function name to use in Type = "mw"; possible values are se, median, mean, percentile, min, max and sum.
• RepOV: tbd

Optional arguments for Type = mdg

• MdgVal: The value that is counted as selected for Type = "mdg", can be a range (either 0-97 or 0 THRU 97)
• MdgMissLab: The Label that is written for the count of cases where none of the variables is selected (Type = mdg); Default in English: “No entry in the selected variables” (see lexikon cTabNoEntry)
• MdgMissValid: if TRUE missing cases are set to valid (Type = "mdg")

Other arguments

• RvEmp: If set to "EXCLUDE" Rows of values in the resulting tables with 0 counts will be removed.
• Categories: For Type = mcg & cat; space-separated numeric values; if specified only rows with these values will be shown in the valid details of the table.
• Sort: Possibility to resort the columns showing the categories in the table alphanumerically or by share;
  Examples:
  • Descending by frequency of items: ORDER=D KEY=COUNT
  • Ascending: ORDER=A