Problem to import data in SPSS

[borshonbhattacharjee]

When I download data from kobotoolbox (SPSS LABLES & XLS) and then import data from excel to spss I face a problem. For Value labeling I select all the items and click on run option and then an error occured. Here I attached the error picture

[wroos]

It is probably an error concerning valid naming rules in SPSS, for ex. names starting with _.
You can fix it by editing the labels file.
Unfortunately not all names coming from Kobo are valid in SPSS.

Using the search function of this forum will provide more hints on SPSS import, e.g.
Kobo to SPSS Variable Name and Value Considerations - #2 by wroos.

It seems that you worked with generated Kobo names (Formbuilder?) and names starting with numbers. This will now generate a lot of _ problems for SPSS.

Hint: Pre-test the whole data process before data collection, including export/ïmport for external tools like SPSS. And be aware of naming rules in target systems, when starting form design.

You may also need to fix some types in SPSS, e.g. for datetime variables.

[Kal_Lam]

@borshonbhattacharjee, would you mind providing the following information through a private message. Maybe I could have a closer look at your case:

• Username
• Project name
• Server

Note: You could share with me a private message as outlined in the post discussed previously:

How do i send a private message to a user in the community forum?

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[wroos]

Hi @Kal_Lam,
I think, it is a general issue with Kobo exporting names starting with underlines, e.g. metadata like _id. It is easy to test this with any simple form and SPSS (label import).
Kind regards

[vonengelhardt]

Bit late to the party, but adding my two cents of experience with this problem. I’ve had at least two issues that caused these problems when using the SPSS syntax:

• in the downloaded XLS file, a number of my variable names started with _ (e.g. the GPS data), which is converted into @ when importing into SPSS; in the SPSS syntax, these variables are referred to without _ or @.
• in the case of MC questions, the individual binary 0/1 variables that are created have an underscore between variable name and option label in the SPSS syntax file (e.g. C2_maize), while in the XLS file, this is a / (e.g. C2/maize). The / is then ignored by SPSS when importing the data, resulting in C2maize.

So there is always still quite some manual renaming / syntax editing necessary.