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 SPSS 31 Valid N (list wise) - 2, What does it mean?

Myriam Roy's profile image
Myriam Roy posted 09/01/26 04:12 PM

Hello,

I have a database with time 1 and time 2 data for 174 individuals. However, when I run the descriptive statistics, I get a split between to types of individuals (those who are pregnant and those who are not), which is what I want. What I don't understand is why I get Valid N (list wise) - 2 at the bottom of the table? 99 + 77 participants would come to 176 but I only have 174 rows of individuals. Could someone clarify what that means and if I should be concerned about it?

Thank you,

Myriam

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Jon Peck's profile image
Jon Peck IBM Champion posted 09/01/26 04:27 PM

From the Syntax Reference

By default, DESCRIPTIVES deletes cases with missing values on a variable-by-variable basis. A case
with a missing value for a variable will not be included in the summary statistics for that variable, but
the case will be included for variables where it is not missing.
• The VARIABLE and LISTWISE keywords are alternatives; however, each can be specified with
INCLUDE.
• When either the keyword VARIABLE or the default missing-value treatment is used, DESCRIPTIVES
reports the number of valid cases for each variable. It always displays the number of cases that would
be available if listwise deletion of missing values had been selected

So this means while  you have 99 or 77 nonmissing values for the individual variable, with listwise deletion across all the variables, there are only two complete cases.

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