Is there a Stata tool to convert the string variables created by DBMS/Copy
that contain the value label information back to value labels after
transferring data from SPSS to Stata?
When I have an SPSS datafile that contains variables with value labels
and I use DBMS/Copy to create a Stata datafile, DBMS/Copy asks if I want
string variables created for each variable that has a value label. The
downside to this is that it nearly doubles the number of variables in
my dataset and it more than doubles the size of the datafile.
I wrote a Stata program to convert these variables back to value labels
because -encode- does not necessarily generate the same numeric values
as the original numeric variables. I spent quite a bit of time Googling
around for such a tool and didn't find one. Stat/Transfer seems to just
make value labels in the Stata datafile, which is great. I don't have
SPSS available to me.
I'm wondering how or if people deal with this problem and if my program
would be of interest to others.
Thanks,
Dan Blanchette
Applications Analyst Programmer
Carolina Population Center UNC-CH
[email protected]
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