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Access database to SPSS

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Anders

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May 26, 2003, 4:14:22 PM5/26/03
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I have some problems in using an Access database in SPSS. Before I start
writing my problems it would be nice to know if there is a known easy
way in turning Access data into SPSS data? The access file has a lot of
different kinds of data (true/false, dates, string, numeric and probably
more)

ANders

Rick Oliver

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May 27, 2003, 10:38:32 AM5/27/03
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If you have installed the Microsoft Data Access Pack, which includes an ODBC
driver for Access, you should be able to read an Access database into SPSS
with the Database Wizard. SPSS should read dates, strings, numerics, and
true/false values correctly.

"Anders" <a...@brygge.dk> wrote in message
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Will

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May 27, 2003, 3:06:58 PM5/27/03
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Rick is right, I have imported Access data several times.

WMB
Statistical Services

mailto:stat...@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~statmanz
=======================================


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wuzzy

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May 27, 2003, 2:58:21 PM5/27/03
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I use ODBC, but I've had massive and complex Access Databases that I couldn't get to work on ODBC, so I just saved the result as a comma-delimited text file(CSV).++If it is only a few variables (~5) then you can just copy and paste the data by using the clipboard (Ctrl-C) in Access and paste (Alt-Edit-Paste or Ctrl-v/Shift-Ins) in SPSS.++ODBC is not really a necessity..


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Stuart Gilmour

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May 28, 2003, 2:04:15 AM5/28/03
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On a similar topic, I exported two SPSS files to Excel, and then tried
importing them to Access. But they wouldn't read in. On closer inspection I
discovered that these files were in Excel 2.1 format (according to Excel in
the save as dialog box) and hence this is why they didn't read in - Access
stops at Excel 3.0. But SPSS claims in it's help files that it exports to
Excel 4.0. Is this something wrong with my default settings or a bug, easily
patched? I suspect it has caused me trouble before and I've never identified
it ... I tried the SPSS answernet and online documentation, and could find
no relevant documentation. It does occur to me that maybe my computer has a
problem with file management or installation - obviously it's useful to work
out which it is!

Thanks for any assistance you can give me
Stuart


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Anders

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May 28, 2003, 2:13:42 AM5/28/03
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Thanks everybody. Saving as tab-delimited text file did the trick. But
now I hjave a lot of other questions I hope someone can help me with ;-)

Anders

Rick Oliver

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May 28, 2003, 10:52:55 AM5/28/03
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If the tab-delimited file is, in fact, CSV format, you may have difficulty
reading it directly into SPSS with any version prior to 11.0. In addition
to separating values with commas, CSV also uses a "text qualifier" to
enclose values that contain commas so the commas won't be read as value
delimiters. Earlier versions of SPSS did not handle this format well.

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Rick Oliver

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May 28, 2003, 10:57:47 AM5/28/03
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The help for versions of SPSS prior to 11.0 (I think) was wrong -- and I can
say that with some confidence because I wrote it. SPSS now supports saving
data in Excel 97 format.

"Stuart Gilmour" <sgil...@unsw.edu.au> wrote in message
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Rick Oliver

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May 28, 2003, 11:09:28 AM5/28/03
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To clarify my own somewhat vague response:

In earlier versions of SPSS, the only Excel format in which SPSS saved data
was Excel 2.1, although the help claimed it was Excel 4. SPSS can now also
save data in Excel 97 format. If you have a version of SPSS that only saves
data in Excel 2.1 format, the workaround is to open the file in a more
recent version of Excel and re-save the file in that version.

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Moshe Braner

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May 28, 2003, 1:21:35 PM5/28/03
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If you only need to read one (or a few) table(s) from Access to SPSS,
you can export into dBase (.DBF) format from Access, and import that
into SPSS. I find this easier than using ODBC. And unlike export
via text files, this preserves the data types.

- Moshe

Mousie

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May 30, 2003, 6:28:52 AM5/30/03
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It certainly says it is saving in Excel 97, but Access still won't read it.
I open it in Excel and then save it again. That seem to work but it's a bit
of a pain


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Moshe Braner

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Jun 2, 2003, 2:00:49 PM6/2/03
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On Fri, 30 May 2003 18:28:52 +0800, Mousie
<joanna...@bigpond.com.nospam> wrote:

> It certainly says it is saving in Excel 97, but Access still won't read
> it.
> I open it in Excel and then save it again. That seem to work but it's a
> bit
> of a pain

I suggest you export from SPSS into a dBase IV format file (.DBF), and
import
that directly into Access. dBase files are a much better way to pass data
around
than spreadsheet files -- the data types remain intact.

- Moshe

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