Hi there,

I have a survey where one question is:

Q. Which brand of Oil you keep highest stock?
A. Option a. Option b. Option c. Option d. Option e.

Then on another question, another question is:

Q. Rank your Oil suppliers incentive scheme.
The answer for this question is given in a table where on column 1 i
have the names of the Oil manufacturers (option a. option b. etc.) and
on column 2 i am asking for the ranks. Ranks can be 1 to 5 (1 be the
best, 5 be the worst).

I shall later try to analyze if there is any effect of incentive on
highest stock kept at stockiest's end.

While designing the SPSS variable, the 1st question is easy, as there
are only 5 options, and I set them as numeric variable with values (1
for Option a. 2 for Option b and so on...).

But, my question is with the second question where the ranking is
asked.

How do i set this up? I know that each question is declared as a
variable on variable view, which represents a column in data view.
But, my question has rankings among 5 variables. Do I set up 5
variables for 1 such question?

Please help. I am a novice SPSS user. Any direction will be
appreciated highly.

Regards

Wasiq

On Sat, 5 Dec 2009 10:34:02 -0800 (PST), wasiq zarif
<zarif.wasiq@gmail.com> wrote:

>Hi there,
>
>I have a survey where one question is:
>
>Q. Which brand of Oil you keep highest stock?
>A. Option a. Option b. Option c. Option d. Option e.
>
>Then on another question, another question is:
>
>Q. Rank your Oil suppliers incentive scheme.
>The answer for this question is given in a table where on column 1 i
>have the names of the Oil manufacturers (option a. option b. etc.) and
>on column 2 i am asking for the ranks. Ranks can be 1 to 5 (1 be the
>best, 5 be the worst).
>
>I shall later try to analyze if there is any effect of incentive on
>highest stock kept at stockiest's end.
>
>While designing the SPSS variable, the 1st question is easy, as there
>are only 5 options, and I set them as numeric variable with values (1
>for Option a. 2 for Option b and so on...).
>
>But, my question is with the second question where the ranking is
>asked.
>
>How do i set this up? I know that each question is declared as a
>variable on variable view, which represents a column in data view.
>But, my question has rankings among 5 variables. Do I set up 5
>variables for 1 such question?


Yes, you would have to set up 5 variables.
Use your 5 variables for separate ratings, not ranks.

Unless there is a strong reason to use ranks, 
you will most likely be better served by using a 
numeric measure for each that has verbal anchor points.

If the candidates are distinct, you will be able to rank them
afterwards if you want to.  If they are not distinct, you
will not have a false impression of precision.  If you
have labels, you can *say*  what the level of reward
was... which you can't, if you have only ranks.


-- 
Rich Ulrich