Setting the order of groups

If an ordered answer is stored as text in the column (no degree, lower secondary, intermediate, A-levels, university), every calculation sorts it alphabetically. Cumulative percentages are then wrong and Spearman's rank correlation is not possible. The order has to be set.

How to do it

1. On the "Columns" page choose "Groups with an order" for the column.
2. Open "Set the order". Statable suggests an order when it knows the answers (never ... always, strongly disagree ... strongly agree, school degrees, age groups such as 18-24). Check the suggestion.
3. Arrange the list: the smallest value at the top, the largest at the bottom. Drag with the mouse, or use the "move up" and "move down" buttons (with the keyboard also Alt + arrow key).
4. "Apply order".

Statable turns the column into the numbers 1 to k and keeps the groups as names (1 = no degree, 2 = lower secondary ...), like an SPSS file with value labels. Frequencies, crosstabs and charts then order the groups correctly, and the column can be chosen in "Are two things related?" (Spearman's rank correlation).

The change is listed under "Undo" and in the history and is saved with the project. The order can be changed again later; the numbers are then reassigned.

Note on content: the order is the researchers' assumption. Spearman uses only the rank order, not the distances between the levels.