Re: Variable Definition [message #11665 is a reply to message #11661] |
Mon, 23 January 2017 10:56 |
Bridgette-DHS
Messages: 3210 Registered: February 2013
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Senior Member |
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Following is a response from Senior DHS Stata Specialist, Tom Pullum:
Like many users, you are misinterpreting the symbol for "Not applicable" as a "Missing" code. For example, if $1 through $6 refer to children born in the past few years, with an allowance for a maximum of 6 children, and the woman only had one child in the past five years, then all of the $2 through $6 variables will be blank. It's not a data quality issue, such as, for example there being a real child whose height should have been measured but was not. In any kind of calculation, the blanks will be omitted entirely, from numerators, denominators, means, whatever. You do not have to do anything to remove them. They are already removed.
Some personal advice (not on behalf of DHS): do not use SPSS.
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