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EQS for Windows has various facilities for entering, cleaning, manipulating, and filtering your data to make it ready for plotting or other statistical analyses including EQS structural modeling runs. You can import and export files with the File option of the main menu bar. You'll find procedures to help you in preparing data for analysis in the Data selection of the main menu bar.
Remember that, before taking any actions in EQS for Windows, you must make some data file active, whether the file consists of existing data or you build a new data file. In this section, we shall create a new dataset using a data entry procedure that helps you to enter this data in a convenient and systematic way. When the file is complete, you can use it for data analysis.
To create a new data file, you must select the File menu from the Main Window menu bar and select the New option.
There are two radiobuttons, in this dialog box. One is Create an ASCII File, while the other is Create an EQS System File. When the dialog box appears, the ASCII file button will be selected, as indicated by a heavy dot inside its radio button. If you wanted to create a plain ASCII or text file, you would choose this option, which helps you to edit a standard text file.
For this example, select Create an EQS System File by clicking your mouse on its radio button. The previously gray area indicating Number of Variables and Number of Cases will be activated with the default numbers 10 and 100. You must modify these numbers to make them consistent with the number of variables and the number of subjects or cases that you plan to use. Suppose that we want to create a file with 5 variables and 20 cases. Double click on the No. of variables field and type 5, to replace 10. Then press the <Tab> key or double click on the No. of Cases field and enter 20.
When you have selected Create an EQS System File, the Enter Data by Rows option becomes active. You can now select the direction for data entry. The default is Enter Data by Rows, indicated by an x in the checkbox. If you wanted to Enter Data by Columns, you would click on the checkbox to remove the x, thus switching from Enter Data by Rows to by Columns. For this example, do not remove the x. After you have finished your selections, click the OK button.
A blank spreadsheet-like Data Editor will open. It contains case numbers down the left and the variable numbers V1, V2, ... along the columns. The main part of the screen will contain no numbers, since this is a new file. By default, the file is called untitled.ess.
Note: You can enter data only for the number of cases and number of variables that you have specified. The data editor that you see on your screen may show only a part of the specified variables and cases. This does not matter, because you will be entering your data in the Data Entry Cell in the upper right of your screen. After data entry, you can scroll through the full data editor to review the data.
In order to minimize data entry errors, you need not enter the numbers in the data matrix itself. Rather, we provide you with a small data entry box which appears in the upper right corner of the screen.
You enter one number in this cell. After you enter the number, press the <return> key or click OK. The next cell will appear in turn. As you continue entering additional numbers, the information in each cell in turn will be placed into the Data Editor row by row. The Data Entry Cell will keep track of where you are. It always shows the current status, indicating which particular cell you are working on at any given time.
The numbers that you enter should use the same format for all cases on each variable. The numbers are written into the Data Editor as right- justified (flush right). While you have the default variable column width, only eight characters (plus the decimal place) will appear in any cell of the matrix even if the number you entered is larger than eight characters. Even though the dataset manipulated by EQS for Windows accepts any number of characters and utilizes the entire number, whether the number is completely displayed in the Data Editor or not.
If your numbers include more than eight characters, you have two choices for viewing the numbers in the Data Editor:
- If you want to retain the default column width, it is possible to view any single data entry. Go to that cell in the Data Editor and click on the cell. You can then move the arrow key to show the rest of the number.
- To increase the width of the variable column, move your cursor to the border between the label for that variable and the variable to its right. Click on the border and drag the border to the right. If you make the variable column too wide, you can click on the border and drag it to the left.
Note: You can enter your data directly into the Data Editor, if you prefer. Click on the small square in the upper left corner of the Data Entry Cell window to close that window. Click on the next cell awaiting data and enter that data.
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