Two Nested Categorical Layer Variables

Nesting categorical layer variables creates a separate layer for each combination of layer variable categories.

1. Open the table builder (Analyze menu, Tables, Custom Tables).
2. If you haven't done so already, follow the directions in the previous example for creating a table of stacked layers.
3. In the Layer Output group, select Show each combination of categories as a layer. This is equivalent to nesting.
4. Click OK to create the table.
5. Double-click the table in the Viewer window to activate it.
6. Click the down arrow on the drop-down list to display the whole list of layers.

There are 10 layers in the table (you have to scroll through the list to see all of them), one for each combination of Gender and Highest degree. For nested layers, the total number of layers is the product of the number of categories for each layer variable (in this example, 5 x 2 = 10).