Converging multiple columns into one output table

[Todd Motiwalla]

Hello, I have cleaned a survey which I now need to do some analysis, for the most part this has been straightforward except for a few questions that are the same format and which have confounded me so far.

The type of question is one in which it has multiple sub-questions, in which respondents say "yes" or "no" or "don't know" for each subquestion, or select something from a Likert-type scale. However, I am hoping to calculate the frequency of all subquestions all in the same table per question. For those that are "yes/no", that would just be the percentage of those who say "yes", or would be the percentage who chose each Likert-item 1 through 4, for example. You can see in my data example that q15 and q21 are yes/no, and q24 is one with a likert scale.

I have tried various attempts with generating new vars, then using -tab-, -tabstat-, or -fre-, and also attempted with -collapse- with no success.

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input byte(q15a q15b q15c q15d q21a q21b q21c q21d q24a q24b q24c q24d)
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3
1 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 3 . 3 3
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . . . .
1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 3 2
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 . . .
1 . . 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . .
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . 3
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . . 4
1 . . . 1 1 1 . 4 . 4 4
1 1 1 1 . . . . . . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 3 2
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . . 4
1 . 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . 3
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . . . 3
1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 . . 4 .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3
1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . 3
1 1 . 1 1 . 1 1 . . . .
1 1 2 . 1 1 1 1 3 . . 3
1 2 2 . 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 . 2
1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 3 1 3 3
1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 3
1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 . . . 2
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 . . 4
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 4 1 4
1 . . 1 1 2 2 2 . . . .
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . .
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . . . 4
1 . . 2 . 2 1 . 2 . 2 2
1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 4 2 1 1
1 . . 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . 4
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 . . 4
1 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 . . 2 1 1 2 1 . . . .
1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 3 4 2
1 1 . 1 . . . . . . . .
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . . 3
1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1
1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 . 3
1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 4 . 4 4
1 1 1 1 1 . 1 1 3 . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . .
1 2 . 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . 3
1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 4 1 2
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 . 2 .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 . . 4
1 . 2 . 1 1 1 1 3 . . 3
1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 4 3 . .
1 . . 1 1 1 1 1 . . . 4
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 3 4 4 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . . . 4
1 1 . 1 1 1 . 1 4 . . 4
1 . . 1 2 2 2 1 . . . 3
1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 . 3 . 2
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 . . . 4
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
1 2 2 . 1 1 . 2 3 . 3 3
1 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 2 . . 1 2 . 2 2 3 4 3
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 . . 3
1 . 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 . . 3
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . 3
1 1 . 1 1 2 1 2 3 3 3 3
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 . 1 4 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . 4
1 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 3 . 3 .
1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 .
1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 3 3 1 1
1 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . 2
1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 3 2
1 . 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . 3
1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 . . 3 .
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . 4
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 . . 4
1 . . 1 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . 4
1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 . . . .
1 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 . . .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 3
1 2 2 . 2 2 1 1 3 . . .
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 . 4 3
1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 . . 3
1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . 3 . 4 .
1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 2
end

So with this, I would hope for it (output table) to look something like (with a separate table for each question, obviously):

q15a	x%
q15b	x%
q15c	x%

[Nick Cox]

Check out tab1, etc. Also, this may help

. findname, all(inlist(@, 1, 2, .)) 
q15a  q15b  q15c  q15d  q21a  q21b  q21c  q21d

. 
. tabm `r(varlist)'  

           |        values
  variable |         1          2 |     Total
-----------+----------------------+----------
      q15a |       100          0 |       100 
      q15b |        52         35 |        87 
      q15c |        28         53 |        81 
      q15d |        74         19 |        93 
      q21a |        88          9 |        97 
      q21b |        79         17 |        96 
      q21c |        79         16 |        95 
      q21d |        83         11 |        94 
-----------+----------------------+----------
     Total |       583        160 |       743 

. 
. findname, any(inlist(@, 3, 4)) 
q24a  q24b  q24c  q24d

. 
. tabm `r(varlist)' 

           |                   values
  variable |         1          2          3          4 |     Total
-----------+--------------------------------------------+----------
      q24a |         5         23         30          9 |        67 
      q24b |         5         10         11          4 |        30 
      q24c |         5         11         12          9 |        37 
      q24d |         4         17         26         18 |        65 
-----------+--------------------------------------------+----------
     Total |        19         61         79         40 |       199

where findname is from the Stata Journal and tabm is from tab_chi (SSC).

[Todd Motiwalla]

I had never come across findname before, thank you.

It seems like this is good first step; using -tabm `r(varlist)' - gets me to a better starting place than I was at previously. Is there a command I can add on the end of that to have the table include a percentage of "1" (or "yes")? And similarly a percentage for the second table as well? I don't see info about showing percentages in -help tab1-

[Todd Motiwalla]

I also now realize that with

findname, all(inlist(@, 1, 2, .)

it will produce one large table with all the questions similar to q15 that have 1 or 2 as options...is there possibility to do it question by question with separate table for each?