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Interaction Graphs Statistics Data
Gallery [ IMPOR TING DA TA ] [ MISSING VA LUE S ]
Excel data Identifying with an empty field
Download SPSS data Identifying with a number
Tabdelimited data Listwise deletion of cases
To import Microsoft Excel data into Interaction!, click on the 'Browse' button in Step 1 of the
New Graph Wizard, and select the 'Excel Files' option from the file type dropdown list in the
dialog box that appears. You will then be able to select your Excel file. After selecting your
file, you can select which worksheet in the file you want to use, and will be able to specify
whether or not the first row in the file contains the names of the variables in the dataset.
Note that Microsoft Excel must be installed on your computer in order to import Excel data
into Interaction!
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IMPORTING DATA :: SPSS Data
To import SPSS data into Interaction!, click on the 'Browse' button in Step 1 of the New
Graph Wizard, and select the 'SPSS Data Files' option from the file type dropdown list in
the dialog box that appears. You will then be able to select your SPSS data file. Importation
of your SPSS data will then be handled automatically by Interaction!
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IMPORTING DATA :: Tabdelimited Data
To import a tabdelimited data source into Interaction!, click on the 'Browse' button in Step
1 of the New Graph Wizard, and select the 'TabDelimited Data File' option from the file type
dropdown list in the dialog box that appears. You will then be able to select your tab
delimited data file. After selecting your data file, you can specify whether or not the first
row in the file contains the names of the variables in the dataset.
Note that in order to use tabdelimited data with Interaction!, not only must the unique
fields in the data file be separated by a TAB, but the file must also be a standard ASCII text
file with a file extension of '.DAT'. In addition to these considerations, the rows in the data
file must represent cases, while the columns in the data file must represent variables.
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INTERACTION LEVELS :: With a Categorical Moderator
Categorical variables are those variables that can take on a finite set of values (e.g., eye
color, Likertscale data). Interaction! classifies any variable with between three and ten
unique values as categorical. When the variable chosen as the moderator is categorical,
Interaction! will allow you to either use specific values of the categorical variable to draw
the interaction graph, or to treat the categorical variable as a continuous variable, in which
case the considerations associated with a continuous moderator apply.
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INTERACTION LEVELS :: With a Continuous Moderator
Continuous variables are those variables that can take on a large, possibly infinite, number
of values (e.g., height, distance, temperature). Interaction! automatically classifies any
variable with more than ten unique values as continuous. When the variable chosen as the
moderator is continuous, Interaction! will provide you with seven computed values from
which to select when drawing the interaction graph. These values are the mean, +1, +2,
and +3 standard deviations above the mean, and 1, 2, and 3 standard deviations below
the mean.
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INTERACTION LEVELS :: With a Dichotomous Moderator
Dichotomous variables are those variables whose values can only take on one of two
possible conditions (e.g., yes/no, true/false, male/female). When the variable chosen as the
moderator is dichotomous, Interaction! will use the two unique values of the moderator to
draw the interaction graph. Note: dichotomous variables must be dummycoded in order to
be used with Interaction!
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MISSING VALUES :: Identifying With an Empty Field
If you have missing values in your dataset that are identified with an empty field, you can
indicate this to Interaction! in Step 2 of the New Graph Wizard. If this option is chosen,
Interaction! will ignore cases whose values are null (i.e., empty) when performing statistical
computations or drawing interaction graphs.
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MISSING VALUES :: Identifying With a Number
If you use a specific number in your dataset to identify missing values, you can indicate this
number to Interaction! in Step 2 of the New Graph Wizard. If this option is chosen,
Interaction! will ignore cases whose values correspond to the specified value when
performing statistical computations or drawing interaction graphs. By default, the number
999999 is used to indicate missing values when this option is selected.
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MISSING VALUES :: Listwise Deletion of Cases
Interaction! utilizes listwise deletion when handling missing values. This means that if a
case has a missing value for any of the variables in the model, the case will be not be used
in statistical computation, nor will it be considered when drawing interaction graphs.
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VARIABLES :: Covariates
In Interaction!, covariates are predictor variables that are posited to impact the value of the
dependent variable, but are outside of the scope of the bivariate interaction. Covariates are
optional model components in Interaction!
In the figure above, 'C1' and 'C2' are covariates. Interaction! can handle any number of
covariates. The covariates are specified in Step 3 of the New Graph Wizard.
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VARIABLES :: Dependent
The dependent variable is the variable in the linear model that is posited to be caused by
the set of predictors.
In the figure above, 'Y' is the dependent variable. Values of this variable are shown along
the Yaxis in Interaction! The dependent variable is specified in Step 3 of the New Graph
Wizard.
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VARIABLES :: Independent
In Interaction!, the independent variable is the predictor of primary interest to the
researcher, and is a component of the interaction term. Along with the moderator,
interaction term, and covariates, changes in the independent variable are posited to cause
changes in the dependent variable.
In the figure above, 'X1' is the independent variable. Values of this variable are shown along
the Xaxis in Interaction! The independent variable is specified in Step 3 of the New Graph
Wizard.
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VARIABLES :: Interaction Term
The interaction term is a predictor variable that is equal to the product of the independent
variable and the moderator. This term is computed automatically by Interaction!
In the figure above, 'X1X2' is the crossproduct interaction term.
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VARIABLES :: Moderator
In Interaction!, the moderator predictor variable is a component of the interaction term. The
nature of the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable is
posited to change based on the value of the moderator variable.
In the figure above, 'X2' is the moderator variable. Different values of the moderator
variable are used to compute the individual interaction lines drawn on the interaction graph.
The moderator variable is specified in Step 3 of the New Graph Wizard.
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