Hi there,

I tried to use dataex but the following error emerged: "data width (406 chars) exceeds max linesize. Try specifying fewer variables".

So, I created the below example which I know isn't ideal but hopefully you can get an idea. There are 4 variables with 16 participant scores, each score with a range of 1-5.

motor v36 v37 v38
1
2
5
4
3
4
1
2
4
1
3
1
5
3
4
5

The 4 variables above (motor v36 v37 v38) all deal with the one variable (motor ability) but due to the nature of the questionnaire was separated by age by SurveyMonkey. Specifically, "motor" is the results for those aged under 4, "v36" is the result for those aged between 4 and 6, "v37" is the results for those aged between 6 and 12 and "v38" is the results for those aged between 12 and 18.

There is only 1 score per participant row so can I simply merge these 4 variables into the one variable please? I don't need them to be separated by age as SurveyMoney had done. I tried to use matchit but it did not work because I have too many variables. Might there be a way to recode all 4 variables into one other variable please?

Many thanks for your help and time.