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Selecting cases in SPSS based on multiple conditions involves using the “Select Cases” command and specifying the conditions that the cases must meet. This can be done by using logical operators such as AND, OR, and NOT, as well as using functions and variables to define the conditions. This process allows for the creation of subsets of data based on specific criteria, making it easier to analyze and manipulate the data for further analysis. By selecting cases based on multiple conditions, researchers can effectively filter out irrelevant data and focus on the specific cases that are most relevant to their research question.
SPSS: Select Cases Based on Multiple Conditions
Often you may want to select cases based on multiple conditions in SPSS.
Fortunately this is easy to do by using the AND and OR operators in the Select Cases dialogue box.
The following examples show how to do so with the following dataset in SPSS that contains information about various basketball players:
Let’s jump in!
Example 1: Select Cases Using AND Operator
Suppose we would like to select all of the cases in the dataset that have a value of “Mavs” in the Team column and have a value of “Forward” in the Position column.
To do so, click the Data tab and then click Select Cases:
In the new window that appears, click the button next to If condition is satisfied, then click the If button:
In the new window that appears, type the following formula into the dialogue box:
Team='Mavs' AND Position='Forward'
Then click Continue. Then click OK.
All of the cases that fail to meet both of the criteria we specified will be crossed out:
Example 2: Select Cases Using OR Operator
Suppose we would like to select all of the cases in the dataset that have a value of “Mavs” or “Rockets” in the Team column.
To do so, click the Data tab and then click Select Cases:
In the new window that appears, click the button next to If condition is satisfied, then click the If button:
In the new window that appears, type the following formula into the dialogue box:
Team='Mavs' OR Team='Rockets'
Then click Continue. Then click OK.
The cases that fail to meet at least one of the criteria we specified will be crossed out:
Also note that a new column named filter_$ has been created that contains a value of 1 for cases that meet at least one of the criteria we specified and a value of 0 for cases that didn’t meet either criteria.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in SPSS: