GENERAL

STATISTICAL TESTING

WEIGHTED SIGNIFICANCE TESTING DOCUMENTS

ERROR MESSAGES

APPLICATION LIMITS

Q: What is the logic limit in WinCross?

A: 480 characters is the limit when entering logic in a banner, filter or row.  

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Q: What if my logic requires more than 480 characters?

A: Use the ASSIGN statement in the Glossary to create new variables.  

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Q: How many rows can be used on a single table?

 A: 6,000.

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 A: Limit of 32,000 characters and 16,000 variables.

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Q: How many banner points can I have?

 A: You can program a maximum of 255 banner points.

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A: WinCross allows for the use of variable names. However, some variable names are ineligible in that they are reserved for the exclusive use of WinCross.

Variable names cannot use spaces, commas or WinCross-reserved words such as NET, MEAN, or SUB.

Please refer to Appendix "D" in the WinCross User Guide for a complete list of reserved words and letters.

GENERAL

Q: What are the general rules for rounding in WinCross?

A: You can specify how you want WinCross to round percents and statistics in Options|Preferences.

There are two options for rounding. The first option is to always round up values of 5 or more and round down values less than 5. The second option is to round up values over 5 and round down values under 5. For rounding equal to 5, round up half of the values and round down the remaining half.

Rounding in WinCross is based upon three general rules:

Rule 1 - If the remainder beyond the last digit to be reported is less than 5, drop the last digit. Rounding to one decimal place, the number 5.3467 becomes 5.3.

Rule 2 - If the remainder is greater than 5, increase the final digit by 1.  The number 5.798 becomes 5.8 if rounding to 1 digit.

Rule 3 - To prevent rounding bias, if the remainder is exactly 5, then round the last digit to the closest even number.  Thus the number 3.55 (rounded to 1 digit) would be 3.6 (rounding up) and the number 6.450 would round to 6.4 (rounding down) if rounding to 1 decimal.  When the number to the left of the 5 is even, no rounding occurs.  For example, 4.225 would become 4.22.  When the number to the left of 5 is odd, rounding will occur.  For example, 4.215 would become 4.22.     

See page 12 in Hurlburt, R. (1994) Comprehending Behavioral Statistics, Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA.  

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Q: How can I look up an interview respondent who may have provided “dirty” data?

A: You can use the TEST statement in the Glossary to search for respondents that break certain conditions.  

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Q: How do you select only certain tables to run?

A: Depress and hold the CTRL key while individually clicking on those tables you want to run, or use the Edit selections button in Run|Tables.  

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Q: Why won't my SPSS file open in WinCross?

 A: Your file may be an uncompressed SPSS file - WinCross only supports compressed SPSS files. 

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 A: 1) your data file isn’t open or

     2) you don’t have variable names as the first line of your data file or

     3) your logic variables do not match your data file variables.

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 A:  The difference between a table mean and row mean is based on the type of table you’re creating. A table mean is used where every row in the calculation of the mean has only one value. If the rows represent value ranges, then the # (pound symbol) operator must be used to give the row a single value for calculations.

A row mean is appropriate when rows represent a value range and the mean is to be calculated off the actual distribution of data. In that event, a row is created with the appropriate text and logic showing the value range you want to use. In the Row Options dialog box (Setup|Tables|Row Options) you should select the appropriate statistics (mean, standard deviation, standard error, etc.).

Q: When would I want to use indexing?

A: Use indexing to create variables which “stack” or “align” data when derotation of the data would otherwise be necessary.

Example of when to use indexed variables:

You have a series of questions asked for different products or brands. Each product/brand does not have a unique set of columns or variables for the questions asked in the series.

The similar variables are “stacked” in an INDEX table in the glossary. Variables within each stack must have the same field width.

I1 I2 I3 I4

IDX (1) INDEX {var1 ,var2 ,var3 ,var4 }
IDX (2) INDEX {var11,var12,var13,var14}
IDX (3) INDEX {var21,var22,var23,var24}

(Items in bold are not part of the glossary index table, but are shown to illustrate the logic that will be used for columns and rows.)

I# corresponds to an indexed variable (column).

IDX corresponds to an individual level of indexed variables (row).

These labels can be used in any logic statement in the tables, banners or glossary.

EXAMPLE:

Respondents were asked a series of questions regarding three different products:
 

Q1=Product Code (Prod. A=1, Prod. B=2, Prod. C=3, Prod. D=4, Prod. E=5, Prod. F=6)
Q2=First time purchasing this type of product (yes/no)?
Q3=Number of purchases made for this product (actual number in data)
Q4=Customer Service Rep was helpful (yes/no)?
Q5=Dollars spent (actual number in data)
Q6=Fair price (yes/no)?

Later in the questionnaire, respondents were asked to rate two of three companies and state the date of their first purchase from the same two companies rated:
 

Q12=Store Code (Store A=1, Store B=2, Store C=3)
Q13=Rating scale (Excellent=5, Poor=1)
Q14=Rating scale (Excellent=5, Poor=1)
Q15=Rating scale (Excellent=5, Poor=1)
Q16=Year first purchased from this store

GLOSSARY:

INDEX {1/10,1/11,1/12:2,1/14,1/15:3,1/18,1/100,1/101,1/102,1/103,1/104:4}
INDEX {1/35,1/36,1/37:2,1/39,1/40:3,1/43,1/124,1/125,1/126,1/127,1/128:4}
INDEX {1/60,1/61,1/62:2,1/64,1/65:3,1/68,1/200,1/200,1/200,1/200,1/200:4}
 

TABLE:

Following is an example of the logic for a table for Q3: