When you want to create a new variable from an existing one using a simplified coding scheme, this exercise can be used to create that new variable. This method is especially useful for social identities and in cases where you want to determine if someone belongs to a group or not. 

Learning Objective: Transform an existing variable into a new variable.

Step 1:

Click on Transform and Recode into Different Variables

Step 2:

Select the Race/Ethnicity Group [RACEGROUP] variable

Step 3:

Click on the arrow button to move the variable into the Input Variable -> Output Variable fields

Step 4:

A) Enter BIPOC in the Name field

B) Enter Identifies as BIPOC in the Label field

Step 5:

Click the Change button

Step 6:

Enter 1 in the Old Value field and 1 in the New Value field

Click the Add button

You will see it added to the Old --> New: field

Step 7:

Continue to add the following items:

Step 8:

Select the System-missing option under Old Value and the System-missing under New Value

The update will show in the Old --> New variable field.

Step 9:

Click the Continue button to proceed

Step 1:

Click on Analyze, Descriptive Statistics, then Frequencies

Step 2:

Scroll down to the bottom the of the variable tables. You should see your renamed variable BIPOC there.

Step 3:

Select the Identifies as BIPOC [BIPOC] variable

Step 4:

Click the OK button 

The frequency table should show your new recoded variables.

Cronbach's alpha is useful when you want to check on reliability of a question. Depending on the results you may adjust your scale. 

Learning objective: Calculate Cronbach's alpha and analyze the results.

Step 1:

Click on Analyze, Scale, the Reliability Analysis

Step 2:

Select the variable Self Rating: Academic ability [RATE01]

Step 3:

Click on the Arrow button to move it to the Items field

Step 4:

Repeat that step for the following variables:

• RATE05
• RATE13
• GOAL14
• GOAL19
• GOAL20
• GOAL23

Step 5:

Under Model, ensure that the Alpha option is selected.

Step 6:

Click the Statistics button 

Step 7:

Under Descriptives for, check the Scale if item deleted checkbox

Step 8:

Click the Continue button 

Step 9:

Click the OK button to proceed

The results will appear below your previous results in the output window

Measure the Cronbach's Alpha against this table

Step 2:

Review the Corrected Item-Total Correlation column.

This column shows how strongly each item correlates with the scale, if the item behaves like the other items. It measures the item's consistency with the rest of the scale (number of items you are testing). 

Step 3:

Review the Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted column.

This column tells you how the alpha would change if the item was removed. If the 

This is best used after you have completed Cronbach's alpha and confirmed reliability of the variables. This allows you to create a composite variable to work with versus assessing individual scores.

Learning Objective: Calculate responses

Step 1:

Click on Transform, then Compute Variable

Step 2:

Enter 'STEM' in the Target Variable field

Step 3:

Select the Self-Rating: Academic ability [RATE01] variable

Step 4:

Click the arrow button to move the variable to the Numeric Expression: field

Step 5:

Click on the + sign

Step 6:

Follow steps 4 and 5 for the following variables

• RATE05
• RATE13
• GOAL13
• GOAL14
• GOAL19
• GOAL20
• GOAL23

The variables should look like the example below after you are done

Step 7:

Click the OK button to proceed

The results will appear below your previous results in the output window.

Step 1:

Click on the Data View tab

You should see the STEM column you created as the last column on the right.