On using E-DataAid: WAS: Converting an Edat file into either a .xls or .txt file

Fri Feb 15 18:25:53 UTC 2013

You're absolutely right and it does seem that there are more things I can 
do with E-DataAid than I realized. I should have been more specific about 
what I had in mind, but the data conversions I run with spss syntax tend to 
be extensive and I was too lazy to type them out. The methods that you 
suggested below will really help with some of my other data sets that need 
less conversions, thank you. The conversions I needed to do involved 
generating probabilities for a bunch of different numbers (and the format 
of the E-DataAid file was less user friendly, but that was because of how 
the task was put together in E-Prime) and then some of my other datasets I 
create distributional plots of accuracy (or other things) by reaction time 
and plot between 5-9 cells of 20+ RT scores or more. So, generally I think 
I need to use either SPSS syntax or Matlab to do this stuff (though I am 
sure Excel could do it too).

I did find a fairly easy way to split after having used e-merge and then 
converting it to an excel document in E-Dataid. I then opened the data in 
excel and got rid of any columns I did not care about and then opened it in 
SPSS. I used the SPSS programmability extension and then installed a custom 
dialog called "SPSSINC_SPLIT_DATASET.spd" which you can get on the IBM spss 
DeveloperWorks website and it easily will split the file by whatever 
variables and spit out the data with any names you want. Then I just ran my 
script (that calculates probability, generates ACC, etc.) using 
"SPSSINC_PROCESS_FILES.spd" which allowed me to iterate over all subject 
files in a folder and spit out the data into a database. 

On Wednesday, February 13, 2013 8:27:06 AM UTC-5, Michiel Sovijärvi-Spapé 
wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> If you’re not YET doing it, I urge you to have another look at what is 
> possible with e-DataAid. The reason is that I know many students 1) know 
> SPSS fairly well, and a bit of Excel, and try to avoid E-***. Not saying 
> that counts for you as well. Indeed, this is a bit of a shot in the dark, 
> but with such sentences as “I have a large number of subject edat files 
> (500+) and I like the column/row format that the Excel export option that 
> E-DataAid uses so that I can easily convert the data into a format I like 
> using spss syntax”, it’s difficult to avoid guessing! You might want to 
> say something about what you’re planning to do, but in its absence, let’s 
> have an example from my own life, and maybe it helps?
>
> ·         What I like is having a good amount of Repeated Measures ANOVA 
> style formatted columns, say, RTs of 2x4 conditions, one row per subject. 
> For SPSS. What I have is 500 .edats. Arggh, right?
>
> 1.       We merge all files to one big .emrg, which we then open in .edat
>
> 2.       We filter out those RTs we are not interested in, say, the ones 
> in which an error occurs. Also, I don’t like trials 1:20.
>
> 3.       Now, we go to analyze, drag Subject to the Row, and any type of 
> between-subject variable (sex, age, etc). 
>
> 4.       Then drag ConditionP1vs2 to columns, drag ConditionQ1vs2vs3vs4 
> to columns. Drag the critical RT thing to the Data bit. Press Run.
>
> 5.       So, we should see a nice table of at least 500x8. Oops, it’s got 
> two decimals.. why? Make that 4. Select all of it, copy the bunch to excel.
>
> 6.       Inside excel, underneath the two rows with variables (rows A and 
> B), insert a new row (say C). Enter the wonderful formula =A&”_”&B and drag 
> it all across row C.
>
> 7.       Select row C, copy, go stand in an empty bit, paste special: 
> values only, and transpose. Copy that, go to SPSS, paste in variables: now, 
> that’s descriptive indeed. 
>
> 8.       Copy all the values over to SPSS (but you’ll have to reassign 
> string values from numeric for some columns).
>
>  
>
> These 8 steps, lengthy as they may seem, take me about 2 minutes, and I 
> think it’s a great workflow. 
>
> TLDR? Try E-DataAid, it’s ridiculously simple, really rocks, and SPSS is 
> best avoided as they make it slower and buggier with every next release. 
>
>  
>
> PS: Paul, I find Excel not at all slow with large data-files? Much faster 
> than SPSS, at least, or at least it has been between excel 2007 and 2010 
> (2013 beta was running very slow here); it does not cope very well with 
> large and lengthy formulas that need repeated recalculation and take up 
> more than hundreds of MBs, though. 
>
>  
>
> Best,
>
> Michiel
>
>  
>
>  
>
> *From:* e-p... at googlegroups.com <javascript:> [mailto:
> e-p... at googlegroups.com <javascript:>] *On Behalf Of *Daniel
> *Sent:* 11. February 2013 23:02
> *To:* e-p... at googlegroups.com <javascript:>
> *Subject:* Re: Converting an Edat file into either a .xls or .txt file
>
>  
>
> Yeah, I will probably just end up splitting it using a SPSS syntax script 
> (I am not very familiar with Matlab yet), it will be a little bit tedious 
> but faster than doing it manually.
>
>  
>
> Thanks for the input.
>
> On Friday, February 8, 2013 6:49:09 PM UTC-5, Daniel wrote:
>
> I have a large number of subject edat files (500+) and I like the 
> column/row format that the Excel export option that E-DataAid uses so that 
> I can easily convert the data into a format I like using spss syntax. Is 
> there a faster way to convert all of these subject files into the excel 
> format, some sort of way to iterate over all files in a folder, instead of 
> having to open each one and export them separately?
>
>  
>
> Thanks.
>
>  
>
>  
>
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