Spreadsheet Factor Menu

These menu items change the attributes of factors in the spreadsheet.

Change Levels

This opens the Change Factor Levels and Labels dialog that lets you edit, reorder, permute, or amalgamate the levels or labels displayed for a factor column. This was Column Convert Factor Levels in the 3rd Edition.

Reorder Levels

This opens the Reorder Factor dialog, which lets you change the order of labels or levels in a factor.

Calculate

This opens the Form Groups dialog. Any factors formed here will be inserted as a column into the spreadsheet. If a column of the same name already exists, this will be replaced with the new factor.

Product/Combine

This opens the Combine Factors into Single Factor Product dialog. This lets you combine two or more factors into a new factor that indexes the factorial combinations of the source factors.

Divide

This opens the Divide Factor in Spreadsheet dialog that lets you divide or split a factor into two or more new factors.

Recode

This opens the Recode a Column dialog, which provides a small spreadsheet for creating a new structure from the current factor, specifying new values (either numeric or text) for each group in the factor. Use this to group together items in the factor.

Standardize Levels

This opens the dialog Standardize Factor Levels. Combine the levels or labels of two or more factors and apply these combined levels over all the factors so that their levels or labels and ordinals are consistent over all the factors.

Convert to

Convert the current column into a factor.

Change labels to levels

Change the labels of the current factor column or a selection of factor columns into levels. If factors labels can be read as numbers or dates the values will be copied into the levels and the labels will be removed. If any labels are not in a numeric/date format, then where possible numbers are read from labels by taking all digits that appear before the first non-numeric character. If the label does not start with a digit then the corresponding ordinal value is used for the level. For example, if a factor had the labels ’12A1′ and ‘B12′ then the first label (’12A1’) would be changed to 12 and the second label (‘B12’) would be changed to 2 (the corresponding ordinal value).

Change levels to labels

Change the levels of current factor column or selected factor columns into labels. The levels are removed after they have been placed in the labels.

Edit Levels & Labels

This opens the Edit Factor Levels and Labels dialog, which provides a small spreadsheet for editing factor ordinals, levels, labels and colours in parallel.

Reference Level

This opens the Select Factor Reference Level dialog that lets you change the reference level for a factor. The reference level for a factor is used as the base group for comparisons in regression analyses. The reference level for a factor can also be set in the Column Attributes/Format dialog.

Clear Levels

Delete the levels of the current column. The column is still a factor but now just has ordinal values and perhaps labels.

Clear Labels

Delete the labels of the current column. The column is still a factor but now just has ordinal values and perhaps levels.

Clear Colours

Delete the colours associated with the levels of the current column. The colours for a factor are set with the Edit Factor Levels and Labels dialog.

Remove Unused Levels

This menu item removes levels and labels from a factor for groups which have no occurrences in the data. For example if a factor contained a single occurrence of a label, say ‘A’ and the row containing ‘A’ was deleted, then the factor would still contain a group ‘A’, and tables and analyses using this factor would still refer to the group ‘A’. This menu would remove the group associated with A in the factor. It is possible to set this to happen automatically when focus moves off a spreadsheet by setting the Remove Unused Factor Levels on updates option on the Spreadsheet Conversions Options
Tab dialog

Display Ordinals

Change the display of the column to be the ordinal values of the factor (i.e. 1,2,3,… for the first, second, third groups etc.).

Display Levels

Change the display of the column to use the numerical values (levels) associated with each group in the factor.

Display Labels

Change the display of the column to use the text string (labels) associated with each group in the factor.

Copy Labels to Clipboard

This puts the currently displayed factor levels, labels or ordinals on the Clipboard in the format that can be included in Genstat directives (e.g. !T(‘A’,’B’) or !(10,20)) and these levels or labels can be pasted into factors in other columns using the Paste Labels to Clipboard menu item below.

This menu item and the one below provide a method of transferring factor details from one column to another.

Paste Labels from Clipboard

This puts the text on the Clipboard (as levels or labels) into the current column if it is a factor. If the text on the Clipboard is numerical, then it is placed in the factor’s levels, otherwise it is placed in the factor’s labels.