Gazer's Digest

COMPUTE AGE WITH DATE AND TIME WIZARD.

January 30, 2026

In this exercise, we will simply use the SPSS wizards to compute the age and create the bar chart. “Date and Time Wizard” will calculate the age, and then we create the chart with the “Chart builder”.

Example 16
An image of Recode into a different variable
Recode into a different variable.

This is a hypothetical data file. Each case in the data file represents a separate employee. Create a new variable named "evalDate" (type: Date, format: dd.mm.yyyy), meaning the date of evaluation. The evaluation date is 31.12.2025. Use the date of birth (DOB) variable to compute the age of the employees in years. Create ageGroup variable and group all the employees into the three age groups (“Below-45”, “45-55”, and “Above-55”), to create a clustered bar chart.

Case Gender Job Category Salary DOB
1 Female Clerical $26,000 23.02.1970
2 Female Manager $54,000 07.04.1994
3 Female Clerical $31,500 14.03.1962
4 Male Clerical $26,700 18.01.1994
5 Female Manager $43,900 07.01.1981
6 Male Clerical $26,700 20.05.1961
7 Male Manager $69,200 15.04.1980
8 Female Clerical $17,100 27.01.1968
9 Female Clerical $24,000 13.01.1990
10 Female Clerical $27,400 02.07.1969
11 Female Clerical $19,800 12.04.1964
12 Male Manager $40,200 19.10.1995
13 Female Manager $52,100 05.02.1978
14 Male Clerical $33,900 29.03.1993
15 Female Clerical $37,000 22.07.1995
16 Male Manager $47,200 11.08.1994
17 Female Clerical $26,100 17.04.2000
18 Male Manager $59,400 30.10.1975
19 Female Clerical $36,600 23.11.1993
20 Male Clerical $30,100 18.09.1989
21 Female Clerical $24,400 16.06.1999
22 Female Clerical $20,800 20.12.1972
23 Male Manager $86,200 11.03.1989
24 Male Clerical $26,200 02.09.1994

Create the variables (Gender, JobCat, Salary, and DOB) directly in the variable view, and input the sample data into the data view.


 Name Type Values Missing Measure
1 Gender Numeric None None Nominal
2 JobCat Numeric None None Nominal
3 Salary Numeric None None Scale
4 DOB Date None None Scale

Value-labels: Gender

  • 1 = Male
  • 2 = Female

Value-labels: JobCat

  • 1 = Clerical
  • 2 = Manager

Variable: Date

  • Format:dd.mm.yyy

Create the "evaluation date" variable (evalDate) directly in the variable view.

  • Name: evalDate
  • Type: Date
  • Format: dd.mm.yyyy
  • OK

Input data into the evalDate variable.

  • Input: 31.12.2025, into the first cell of the evalDate
  • Copy this date into all the other cells:
    • Right-click on the first cell, click Copy
    • Select all other cells (click on the second cell and drag the mouse pointer down to the 27th cell of the column)
    • Right-click on the selection and Paste

Compute Employee age

Compute Employee age as at 31.12.2025.

  • Transform → "Date and Time Wizard" → "Calculate with dates and times"
  • Next → "Calculate the number of time units between two dates"
  • Move evalDate to Date 1
  • Move dob to minus_Date 2
  • Unit: Years
  • Truncate to integer
  • Next → Result Variable: age, Variable Label: Employee age, Execution: Create the variable now → Finish

Create the AGE groups

  • Transform → Recode into different variables
  • Move age into: ,“Numeric variable → Output variable”  box
  • Output variable Name: ageGroup, Label: Age group → Change
  • Categorize values into groups:

    • Old and New values…

    • Select "Output variables are strings"
    • "Range, LOWEST through value": 45, → “New Value”: "Below 45" → "Old→New": Add
    • Range: 45, through: 55 → “New Value”: "45-55" → "Old→New": Add
    • "Range, value through HIGHEST": 55 → “New Value”: "Above 55" "Old→New": Add
  • Continue, OK

Some variables belonging to the first 4 cases that appear on the data view are given in the table below.

Case DOB dateEval age ageGroup
1 23.02.1970 31.12.2025 55 45-55
2 07.04.1994 31.12.2025 31 Below 45
3 14.03.1962 31.12.2025 63 Above 55
4 18.01.1994 31.12.2025 31 Below 45

Create a clustered bar chart.

  • Graps → Chart builder → Gallery → Clustered Bar
  • Move ageGroup into the "X-Axis" box
  • Move gender into the "Cluster on X" box
  • Move salary into the "Y-Axis" box
  • Element Properties... → Edit Properties of:Bar1, Statistic:Mean → Apply, Close
An image of the SPSS Clustered Bar Chart
SPSS Clustered Bar Chart.

 

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