Select records from CSPro survey file

CSPro (Census and Survey Processing System) is software for the design and collection of surveys produced by the US Bureau of the Census. It is freely available for download from www.census.gov/data/software/cspro.html.

To import CSPro data two files need to be supplied: CSPro data dictionary (*.dcf) and an associated data file. This dialog appears after the dictionary file is opened and lets you select the records that you want to import. After the records have been selected a second dialog appears where you can choose the items within the selected records.

This dialog lets you select the survey level within the CSPro data dictionary file, and then multiple records within the selected survey level. A CSPro data dictionary file normally contains a single survey level, but they can have up to 3 levels. For example if a survey was conducted on villages, households and individuals, then there would be 3 levels in that survey. Records can be extracted for one of the survey levels at a time. Within records, there are a number of survey items which contain a response to a single question. Some items can be further split into sub-items, for example the individual ID code may contain sub-items for village and household codes. So for example the first two digits may give the village code, then next two digits the household code, and the final two digits the person code within the household.

Once the records have been selected, you can also set a number of options that control how Genstat imports the data. CSPro uses value sets that give labels for the numerical or text items in a item, thus specifying groups. The value sets can have two special codes for missing values and not applicable (NA). Numerical codes are used for missing values and NA (e.g. Age = -9, -8 respectively) and these can be left as is or converted to Genstat missing values (*). The value sets are not always 1-1 as in Genstat which has a single level for each label. In CSPro multiple values can be assigned to the same label, using either multiple individual assignments or ranges. For example, for age 13-19 can be assigned the label ‘Teenager’, and or 0,1,2,3,4 = ‘Preschool child. A column can have multiple value sets so that it can be categorized in different ways, so age could be grouped in 5 year (0-4, 5-9, 10-14, …) or 10 year blocks (0-9, 10-19, 20-29, …). The value sets can be used to create factors in Genstat. You can chose which type of value sets to make into factors. By default only 1-1 value sets are converted but you can change the option to make all value sets into factors. Value sets which only define valid ranges and special values are not converted to factors.

Survey level to import

Use this dropdown list to select the survey level that you wish to import records from.

Import record

This gives a list of the records in the selected level. Records selected with a tick will be imported. The selection of a record can be toggled by clicking on the box associated with the record, or by double clicking the record name. This can also be set for the records by using the Include or Exclude buttons.

Include

Select (tick) the current record or selection of records so that these are included in the import.

Exclude

Deselect (remove tick) the current record or selection of records so that these are excluded in the import.

Create columns for sub-items

Items which have sub-items will have separate columns created for each sub-item. For example dates are entered in numeric format DDMMYYYY and if this has sub-items day, month and year then 3 extra columns will be created holding DD, MM and YYYY.

Convert items with value sets to factors

The value sets for each column will be used to create factors. If there are multiple value sets for a column then you will get one column per value set. This sets the default option for all items and can be changed for individual columns in the Select Items dialog.

Only convert 1 to 1 value sets to factors

This option modifies the creation of factors from value sets above so that only factors with a single allocation to each label (one to one) will be converted to factors, and value sets with ranges (e.g. 65-99 = retired) or multiple assignments (e.g. 1,11,12 = Summer) will not be converted to factors.

Set CSPro missing code to Genstat missing value *

For a column with a value set that has a CSPro missing code, these will be set to the Genstat missing value (*). This sets the default option for all items and can be changed for individual columns in the Select Items dialog.

Set CSPro NA code to Genstat missing value *

For a column with a value set that has a CSPro not applicable (NA) code, these will be set to the Genstat missing value (*). If this is not selected then the NA values will be left as the numeric code, or created as another level in a factor.

Action Icons

	Clear	Clear all fields and list boxes.
	Help	Open the Help topic for this dialog.

Example

Click here for an example of importing a CSPro survey.