Grouping in SPSS with a specific group spacing (e.g. 10) can be achieved by using the "Calculate Variables" function under the "Transform" menu. This is useful for splitting continuous variables into categorical variables based on a specific range. Here's a basic step-by-step guide:
Open SPSS and load your dataset.
Click "Transform" on the menu bar.
Select "Compute variable".
In the Calculated Variables window, you'll create a new variable that represents the result of grouping the raw data according to group spacing.
Target variable: Enter a name for the new variable in the Target Variable box, such as "agegroup" (if you are grouping based on age).
Numeric expression: Evaluates the grouping logic in the Numeric Expressions area. Use the following expression to group groups based on group spacing (e.g., 10):
TRUNC (primitive variable 10).This expression means dividing the original variable by 10 and then taking the integer part (i.e., ignoring the number after the decimal point). For example, if your original variable is age (let's say the variable is named "age"), and you want to group it by 10 years old, you can use the following expression:
trunc(age / 10)This will allow those aged 0-9 to be grouped together, 10-19 to the other, and so on.
After confirming that everything is correct, click OK to perform the calculation. This will create a new variable in your dataset that shows the results of each case (or piece of data) grouped according to the specified group distance.
The resulting grouping starts at 0 and you may need to adjust these values as needed to match your analysis needs (e.g. by adding 1 to start the group spacing from 1 instead of 0).
If you need to create more specific tags based on these groupings (e.g. "0-9 years", "10-19 years", etc.), you can use "Recode into different variables" under the "Transforms" menu...or "Recode into the same variables....function to specify more detailed labels for each grouping.
In this way, SPSS allows users to group data in a flexible way, which is suitable for a variety of scenarios that require categorization of continuous variables according to a specific range.