Transform a variable

The transformation of variables proposes many possibilities : managing the modalities of a closed question, creating classes to categorize the numerical questions, regrouping codes or dates, extracting the information contained in the text questions, or changing the type of the variable. To transform a variable, proceed as follows :

• In the tab Data, click Transform

You reach an assistant which, according to the type of the variable selected, allows you to choose the type of transformation you wish to achieve.

The transformation Change the type is the only function selectable for all types of variables. It allows to modify the type of a variable, for example change a unique closed question to a multiple closed question. For the other types of transformation :

• Manage modalities : For the variables type closed and scale. Allows to modify, arrange, regroup or delete modalities.
• Group numbers into classes : For the numerical variables. Allows to create classes of intervals. For example, from the numerical variable « Age » you will create the classes « youth » for the under 18 years,(( « Active youth ») for those between 18 and 25 years etc…
• Regroupe the codes : For the code variables, allows for example for a variable type postal code, to regroup these codes according to the name of their respective region.
• Extract information from texts : For the text variables, allows to identify the principal themes of a text variable with the help of a dictionary), to create lemmatized variables (each word is replaced by its root ) and to measure the richness, the banality and the length of words of this variable.

The different types of transformations are detailed below, in the section Operating modes.

In this example above, we wish to transform a unique closed variable (only one response is possible) to multiple closed (more than one response is possible), we indicate for this the number of possible responses of the transformed variable (6).