Group VARIABLES?

[Sarah Fishleder]

Working with a giant survey dataset in which some questions are only repeated occasionally. Also, some variables cluster nicely (e.g., demographics, mental health). I would like to group the VARIABLES so they are easier to find and work with. Is there a way to tag them? Or would y'all just add something to the variable name itself?

Is this even worth the effort? :-/

Remember, I am not trying to create groups based on a value (e.g., 'men with depression'). I just want to create a low burden for finding certain variables amid a massive list.

Thank you! :-)

[George Ford]

I feel ya.

If you have a lot of variables you don't need, you can them, use "order" to order first the variables you know you will/may use. A prefix might be useful.

Depending on how much of the survey questions you wish to use, it may make sense to have an "original" frame with all the data, then copy over variables you need to a "using" frame and work mainly there.

[Nick Cox]

Cross-posted at https://www.reddit.com/r/stata/comme...oup_variables/ with some good discussion.

Please note our longstanding request that you tell us about cross-posting. https://www.statalist.org/forums/help#crossposting

[Benno Schoenberger]

Not wanting to create a reddit account to answer the cross-post...

Maybe you will find the command lookfor helpful for identifying variables of interest.