Dear all,

I have a dataset having the variable clear_fp_info, about the information provided for the family planning method. I tried for encoding it, works well, after encoding, I found an unnecessary category of blank ones (due to skip in questions). Any help would be highly appreciated about why an extra category ( in my example 8) is coming up for blank cells.

Sample date is
Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str16 clear_fp_info
" "               
"clear"           
"somewhat_clear"  
"somewhat_clear"  
"somewhat_clear"  
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
" "               
"not_at_all_clear"
"not_clear"       
" "               
"not_clear"       
" "               
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"somewhat_clear"  
"somewhat_clear"  
"somewhat_clear"  
" "               
"somewhat_clear"  
"clear"           
" "               
" "               
"clear"           
"somewhat_clear"  
"somewhat_clear"  
"-99"             
" "               
"somewhat_clear"  
"somewhat_clear"  
"somewhat_clear"  
"clear"           
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
"somewhat_clear"  
" "               
" "               
" "               
"not_clear"       
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
"somewhat_clear"  
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
"not_at_all_clear"
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
"clear"           
" "               
"clear"           
" "               
" "               
" "               
"clear"           
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
" "               
"somewhat_clear"  
"clear"           
"clear"           
" "               
"clear"           
"clear"           
" "               
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
"clear"           
end
The syntax that I have used,

label define choices_clear_fp_info 1 "very_clear" 2 "clear" 3 "somewhat_clear" 4 "not_clear" 5 "not_at_all_clear" 6 "-88" 7 "-99"



encode clear_fp_info, gen(clear_fp_infoV2) lab(choices_clear_fp_info)
order clear_fp_infoV2, after(clear_fp_info)
drop clear_fp_info
rename clear_fp_infoV2 clear_fp_info


label list choices_clear_fp_info
choices_clear_fp_info:
1 very_clear
2 clear
3 somewhat_clear
4 not_clear
5 not_at_all_clear
6 -88
7 -99
8
Thanks

Ashish