Converting Continuous Data

Treating categorical data as continuous can have a serious effect on the quality of a model, especially if it’s the target field; for example, producing a regression model rather than a binary model. To prevent this you can convert integer ranges to categorical types such as Ordinal or Flag.

1. From the Operations and Generate menu button (with the tool symbol), select Convert Continuous Integers To Ordinal. The conversion values dialog is displayed.
2. Specify the size of range that will be automatically converted; this applies to any range up to and including the size you enter.
3. Click OK. The affected ranges are converted to either Flag or Ordinal and displayed on the Types tab of the Type node.

Results of the Conversion

• Where a Continuous field with integer storage is changed to Ordinal, the lower and upper values are expanded to include all of the integer values from the lower value to the upper value. For example, if the range is 1, 5, the set of values is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
• If the Continuous field changes to Flag, the lower and upper values become the false and true values of the flag field.