SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

CONDITION Subcommand
CONDITION specifies which numbers in a data set are comparable.
ALSCAL 105
MATRIX Only numbers within each matrix are comparable. If each matrix represents
a different subject, this specification makes comparisons conditional
by subject. This is the default.
ROW Only numbers within the same row are comparable. This specification
is appropriate only for asymmetric or rectangular data. They cannot be
used when ASCAL or AINDS is specified on MODEL.
UNCONDITIONAL All numbers are comparable. Comparisons can be made among any
values in the input matrix or matrices.
Example
ALSCAL VAR=V1 TO V8 /SHAPE=RECTANGULAR /CONDITION=ROW.
• ALSCAL performs a Euclidean MDU analysis conditional on comparisons within rows.
FILE Subcommand
ALSCAL can read proximity data from the working data file or, with the MATRIX subcommand,
from a matrix data file created by PROXIMITIES or CLUSTER. The FILE subcommand
reads a file containing additional data: an initial or fixed configuration for the coordinates of
the stimuli and/or weights for the matrices being scaled. This file can be created with the
OUTFILE subcommand on ALSCAL or with an SPSS input program.
• The minimum specification is the file that contains the configurations and/or weights.
• FILE can include additional specifications that define the structure of the configuration/weights
file.
• The variables in the configuration/weights file that correspond to successive ALSCAL dimensions
must have the names DIM1, DIM2,...DIMr, where r is the maximum number of
ALSCAL dimensions. The file must also contain the short string variable TYPE_ to identify
the types of values in all rows.
• Values for the variable TYPE_ can be CONFIG, ROWCONF, COLCONF, SUBJWGHT,
and STIMWGHT, in that order. Each value can be truncated to the first three letters. Stimulus
coordinate values are specified as CONFIG; row stimulus coordinates as
ROWCONF; column stimulus coordinates as COLCONF; and subject and stimulus
weights as SUBJWGHT and STIMWGHT, respectively. ALSCAL accepts CONFIG and
ROWCONF interchangeably.
• ALSCAL skips unneeded types as long as they appear in the file in their proper order. Generalized
weights (GEM) and flattened subject weights (FLA) cannot be initialized or fixed
and will always be skipped. (These weights can be generated by ALSCAL but cannot be
used as input.)
The following list summarizes the optional specifications that can be used on FILE to define
the structure of the configuration/weights file:
• Each specification can be further identified with option INITIAL or FIXED in parentheses.