To save a currently open file as an SPSS file (which can be read by several statistical packages), proceed as follows:
- Select the menu function File > Save as then, in the window that appears, specify a filename and location for the SPSS file.
- MAXQDA Stats will ask if you also wish to export the codes to SPSS. If you answer yes, each code that is available for analysis in the selection window in MAXQDA Stats will be exported as its own variable. The values of these variables corresponds to the occurrence of the codes in the relevant documents.
Hint: Existing files cannot be overwritten, only saved with a new filename. This means each time you save your data a new file will be created.
When exporting data to SPSS, the following should be taken into consideration:
- Spaces and certain characters are permitted in MAXQDA but not in SPSS. In order to be SPSS compliant, variable names will be processed as follows:
Variable Name | Adaptation |
Blank space | Will be replaced with underscore_ |
Begins with # | # will be replaced with HASH |
Begins with $ | $ will be replaced with DOLLAR |
Is too long | Will be shortened |
Is a reserved word | _MQ will be attached as suffix |
Begins with an invalid character | Character will be replaced with an x |
Forbidden character | Will be replaced with a full stop, blank spaces with an underscore; if at end will be cut off |
- In order for the variable name to remain identifiable following the adaptation, a number may be added at the end.
- For text variables, missing values will be exported only if none of the variable values is longer than 8 bytes, otherwise SPSS will not accept any missing values for text variables.
