Workspace Node: Merge Cases - Specifications Tab

Click this button to display a variable selection dialog box containing variables from the first data file; select the desired variables for the output file.

Click this button to display a variable selection dialog box containing variables from the second data file; select the desired variables to merge into the output file.

Mode.

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:

	Patient ID	Gender	Breed	Last visit
Ms. Isabelle	605	FEMALE	American Shorthair	6/25/1999

File 2:

	Breed	Last visit	Gender	Patient ID
Angel	Domestic Household	07/13/99	FEMALE	615

Output:

	Patient ID	Gender	Breed	Last visit
Ms. Isabelle	605	FEMALE	American Shorthair	6/25/1999
Angel	615	FEMALE	Domestic Household	07/13/99

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.

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.

Use the options in this group box to specify how Statistica should handle numeric-text assignment conflicts when merging two files.

Select this option button to maintain the external appearance of the variables in the 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:

	File 1		File 2
Case 1	Red	101	Blue	101
Case 2	Blue	102	Yellow	102
Case 3	Yellow	103	Red	103

Select the Adjust text-numeric assignments and recode data in both files accordingly option button and click the OK button.

The result is:

Case 1	Red	101
Case 2	Blue	102
Case 3	Yellow	103
Case 4	Blue	102
Case 5	Yellow	103
Case 6	Red	101

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, the conflicts in the numeric value/text label assignments were resolved to preserve (in favor of) the 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:

Case 1	Red	101
Case 2	Blue	102
Case 3	Yellow	103
Case 4	Red	101
Case 5	Blue	102
Case 6	Yellow	103

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, the conflict in the numeric value/text label assignment was resolved to preserve (in favor of) the numeric values.

Options. See Common Options.

OK. Click the OK button to accept all the specifications made in the dialog box and to close it. To view the new spreadsheet, click the icon on the lower-right corner of the Concatenate Variables node.

See also,

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