Date:         Sun, 17 Nov 2002 20:12:06 -0500
Reply-To:     rjmcleod <julie_mcleod@ALUMNI.WLU.EDU>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         rjmcleod <julie_mcleod@ALUMNI.WLU.EDU>
Subject:      merging files with differing value labels for a variable
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi.
I am trying to combine 7 files (different years) - all with the exact same variables and many of the same students (cases).  There are, however, some students that are not in all 7 files.  The problem I have is that each of these files is the result of combining many cases (rows) into one.  When I did this, SPSS created a number for each student and then the student's name became the value label.  The problem is that these numbers obviously only include students from that particular file and therefore do not correlate to the same students in the other files.  How can I merge these files and keep all of the information accurately?  Or is there a way to combine many rows into one without SPSS changing my variable to numeric and creating value labels?

Thank you in advance for your advice.
Julie McLeod