Hi All,

I am using a firm-level data set and I have 11 questions relating to the obstacles to innovation. Each question is answered by choosing one of four options. For example, the first question is "Too great an economic risk", and the answer is "High, Average, Low, Not Relevant". I want to group these 11 questions into 3 categories because first, it makes sense to do so in terms of my analysis, and secondly, my sample size is not large enough to include all the questions as explanatory variables in my model, given that I have several more multi-question categories under one topic. My question is: Can I use "row totals" of several questions to make a new variable and include it as a continuous explanatory variable in my analysis? If it is OK to generate such a variable, what would be the best way to do it; a row total or row mean?, or should I treat it in some other way? My dependent variable is an ordered categorical variable so I am interested in using the predictors in the continuous form when possible.
Many thanks for your answers.