Merge Options - Cases Tab
Select the Cases tab in the Merge Options dialog box to access the options described here.
| Option | Description | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Mode | Use the options in this group box to specify how Statistica should append the new cases from the File 2 data file into the File 1 data file. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Match by variable name | Select this check box if you want to rearrange (if necessary) the case data when appending so that the variable names from File 2 match the variable names in File 1. For example:
File 1:
File 2:
Output:
Leave this check box at its default (cleared) if you want to conduct a standard case append where the case data is not arranged to match the variable names between the files. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drop unmatching variables | Select this check box to eliminate variables during the merge process from both data sets that do not have a corresponding variable name in the other data file. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Text Labels | Use the options in this group box to specify how Statistica should handle numeric-text assignment conflicts when merging two files. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjust text-numeric assignments and recode data in both files accordingly | Select this option button to maintain the external appearance of the variables in your files. The merge process renumbers the numeric values to match the numeric value/text-label assignments found in the File 1 data file (to which the File 2 data file is appended). As a result, the merged file will show correctly the text labels from both files, coded (i.e., with "underlying" numeric values) consistent with those that were found in File 1 prior to the merge operation.
For example, suppose you have two data sets you want to merge, with three distinct text labels in each: Red, Blue, and Yellow. However, the numeric values associated with those text labels are different in the two files, as shown below:
To merge files:
The result is:
Notice how the text labels from File 2 are correctly displayed in the merged file, while the "underlying" numeric values were changed (adjusted) to match the numeric value/text label assignments from File 1. In other words, in this case the conflicts in the numeric value/text label assignments were resolved to preserve (in favor of) the text labels. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leave underlying data unchanged and merge respective text labels | Select this option button if you want the numeric values of the current file to take priority in the newly merged file if there is a numeric-text assignment conflict.
For example, if you merge File 1 and File 2 in the previous example using the Leave underlying data unchanged and merge respective text labels option, the result is:
Notice how the numeric values from File 2 are correctly displayed in the merged file, while the corresponding text values that are displayed now match those found in File 1. In other words, in this case the conflict in the numeric value/text label assignment was resolved to preserve (in favor of) the numeric values. |