This article is part of The Definitive Guide to Importing and Preparing Data.
Labels are applied to variable categories so that the answer options are shown rather than the selected values/category IDs (e.g., Male and Female, rather than 1 and 2).
When importing from SPSS files, occasionally the imported text for labels may include unnecessary information that should be removed (e.g., HTML code such as <b> or <i> blocks, the full question text repeated on each of the answer options along with the option itself).
In the web app
- In the variable summary view, you can hover over a variable's tile and click the Properties link at the bottom left under the tile. From the Variable Properties screen, you can update the category labels for an individual variable.
Note: You will need to have Editor permissions and may need to unlock the dataset using the icon on the top right of the header bar to have editing permissions for the dataset to make these changes.
Crunch Automation
As this could be a common task when setting up a dataset, you may wish to use the Script Builder to help generate the Crunch Automation script more efficiently.
Note: When appending data from one dataset to another, it is critical to run LABEL CATEGORIES on the new wave of data before appending it so that it matches the target dataset values. When appending data, Crunch matches the category labels rather than the category IDs (See Definitive Guide to Tracking for more details).
Using R
- Crunch Variables - You can set names and descriptions of variables, categories, sub-variable labels, and aliases as noted in this vignette.