Entering Numeric Data

Data can be entered into the Data Editor, which may be useful for small data files or for making minor edits to larger data files.

  1. Click the Variable View tab at the bottom of the Data Editor window.

    You need to define the variables that will be used. In this case, only three variables are needed: age, marital status, and income.

    Figure 1. Variable names in Variable View
    Variable View with three variables defined: age, marital, and income.
  2. In the first row of the first column, type age.
  3. In the second row, type marital.
  4. In the third row, type income.

    New variables are automatically given a Numeric data type.

    If you don't enter variable names, unique names are automatically created. However, these names are not descriptive and are not recommended for large data files.

  5. Click the Data View tab to continue entering the data.

    The names that you entered in Variable View are now the headings for the first three columns in Data View.

    Begin entering data in the first row, starting at the first column.

    Figure 2. Values entered in Data View
    New data as they appear in the Data Editor.
  6. In the age column, type 55.
  7. In the marital column, type 1.
  8. In the income column, type 72000.
  9. Move the cursor to the second row of the first column to add the next subject's data.
  10. In the age column, type 53.
  11. In the marital column, type 0.
  12. In the income column, type 153000.

    Currently, the age and marital columns display decimal points, even though their values are intended to be integers. To hide the decimal points in these variables:

  13. Click the Variable View tab at the bottom of the Data Editor window.
  14. In the Decimals column of the age row, type 0 to hide the decimal.
  15. In the Decimals column of the marital row, type 0 to hide the decimal.

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