I'm very new to SPSS for excuse the fact that this is probably basic stuff..

I'm working with data from a large survey of over 2,000 participants (I didn't carry it out, I'm just using the data). The survey didn't ask people what age they were, just their day/month/year of birth. Question - how do I create a cohort age variable with those dates? I assume you use a formula with the DOB and the date the surveys were carried out? Help!! :(




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do you mean a variable like 18-24, 25-34 etc?

only way I know is to do it manually - or work out the equations you need and do it in excel.

Or you can change the variable type into date - but not sure that you will be able to use it in analysis or not.

Hey MissGeography,

I think I understand your problem - I had a similar one not so long ago with psychometric data. You've managed to get all the participants dob but now need to use this to calculate each person's age?

If so this is the site I used to figure it out: http://support.spss.com/student/Troubleshooting/stuResSearchDetail.asp?ID=17889

Basically you use the compute function to compute the current date COMPUTE TODAY=XDATE.DATE($TIME). then use the current date to compute the age COMPUTE AGE=(CTIME.DAYS(TODAY-BDATE))/365.25. then you need to use another formula to change the format of the age to what you want (i.e. age years not to many decimal places etc).

Anyway the website explains exactly how to do it - even how to use the compute function. Let me know if you have any specific questions or get stuck.

Hope that helps :-)

Yip, that's what I mean - creating age cohorts (e.g. 25-30, etc.) from DOB. Will try those solutions.. thanks guys :)