Variable names missing in Excel file, probably due to testing?

[edlemay]

Hi,

Before I ran participants through my Media Lab experiment I conducted a final test of the experiment on each of the lab computers to be sure that everything was working appropriately. I just went through the first few questionnaires and then terminated the experiment.

I just noticed that the Excel file (in Excel 2007) did not record all of the variable names but did record all of the responses. So there are many columns in the Excel file that do not have variable names in the first row. It looks like the variable names discontinued right around where I stopped my initial tests and I wonder if this is because the first run-through is the only time that Media Lab writes variable names to the Excel file.

I tried the SPSS syntax file but it does not work - data appear in columns they shouldn't. I'm guessing this is because I have variable names that are greater than 8 characters long. I would like to keep those names the way they are (and I am using a newer version of SPSS that supports long variable names), so it looks like the SPSS syntax is not the best option.

What would be the best way to get those variable names back into the Excel file? Is it as simple as deleting the Excel file, and then running through the entire study to force Media lab into creating all variable names in the Excel file? Then copy the row of variable names into the real Excel data set? Is there any problem doing it this way? For example, is it a problem if I have randomization in the experiment?

Thanks for your help.

Ed

[jarvis24]

In short--try deleting your current data folder (backing it up first if necessary) and run a new test session and see if the freshly generated files are more like what you are expecting. You are correct that the Excel data file headers are generated only once--the first time a session is run. Consequently, if *any* changes are made to the structure of the experiment, then the data may not follow the header from that point on. In such cases, clearing the data folder and doing a fresh run ought to generate an Excel file with the correct header for the more recent data.

Also check out the .SAV data file in the byVariable data folder.

And definitely take a look at the Data FAQ in the user's guide, and the Data section in general--it addresses some of these issues and other important stuff that's handy to know. Here is a link to that info online:

http://www.empirisoft.com/medialab/help/data.htm
http://www.empirisoft.com/medialab/help/data_faq.htm

Let me know if that doesn't help. You can also try doing a search for data and save (etc.) under the MediaLab Troubleshooting Forum to see how others have resolved similar issues.

Hope that helps!