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Source URL: https://docs.surveycto.com/05-exporting-and-publishing-data/02-exporting-data-with-surveycto-desktop/06b.using-spss.html
Last updated: 2024-03-27
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Exporting to SPSS

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By default, SurveyCTO exports data into .csv files, in a comma-separated-value format supported by just about any spreadsheet, database, or statistical analysis software. But if you're an SPSS user, you can export instead to .sav files that include labels and variable formats for SPSS.

To export to .sav instead of .csv in SurveyCTO Desktop, go into Export options (available as you configure an export, or via Workspace settings), and choose .sav (SPSS) in the Export to the following file type section. If you're downloading data directly from your server console's Export tab, just select .sav (for use with SPSS) as the file format before clicking Export files.

A few notes about exporting to .sav instead of .csv:

  • Variables will be labeled automatically, using the labels from your form definition, and select_one option values will be labeled as well – as long as all option values are numeric. (If your select_one field includes any non-numeric text, its option values will not be labeled.)

  • Since SPSS doesn't support hyphens in variable names, all hyphens will be automatically changed to underscores (so, e.g., gps-Longitude becomes gps_Longitude).

  • SurveyCTO will do its best to choose appropriate settings for each variable, but you may need to make some adjustments based on your own knowledge of the data or analytical needs. For example, select_one and calculate fields will be formatted as either numeric or text, depending on whether the data being exported includes any non-numeric values.

  • Text variables are limited to a maximum length of 255 characters, and any values longer than that will be automatically truncated. If any data values are truncated, SurveyCTO will warn you about it so that you can also export your full values in .csv format. (For example, you can configure Desktop to export subsets of data to .csv, so that any truncated fields are exported to .csv files alongside your .sav exports.)

  • Microsoft Word's "mail merge" feature only works with .csv files, so you can't export in .sav format and merge with a mail merge template at the same time.

See Understanding the format of exported data for more about exported data.

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