You are often interested in analyzing a subset of cases and even treating that subset as a dataset in its own right. SPSS Statistics provides facilities to find subgroups of cases based on logical criteria, time or case ranges, random sampling, or values of a specific variable. This activity sometimes goes by the terms drilling down or filtering.
A related idea is weighting. Here, fewer records might stand in for more if you have a case weight variable that represents case replication.
In this chapter, we will consider SPSS Statistics commands that enable us to perform case selection, sampling, and weighting, in particular, the following topics:
- Various forms of case selection
- Temporary case selection with Temporary
- Random sampling of cases with Sample
- Repeating analyses in case subsets with Split File
- Weighting with Weight
