Training

If you’d like to add comments about a variable and display the expression used to create it, you can easily design new custom attributes for variables in IBM SPSS Statistics.

For example, suppose you’ve created a new variable, milchange, that represents the change in military spending between two time periods. You may provide additional details about the variable, such as how it was derived, and produce a new column in Variable View called "transform" that will hold this information. To provide such detail in the dataset:

• Go to the Variable View tab
• Select Data
• Choose New Custom Attribute

In this example, the New Custom Attribute window will look like this:

Designate the variable of interest under "Selected variables" and then provide the mathematical expression showing how the variable was derived in the "Attribute value" box. Use the attribute name box to name the column in Variable View.

After selecting "OK," return to the dataset. Look under the Variable View tab and you’ll see the new "transform" column with the mathematical expression included for your newly created variable. An example is shown below:

Be sure to take advantage of this new, easy-to-use custom attribute feature whenever you create new variables.