See Excel and CSV Data File Specifications for recommendations on how to set up CSV files and Using Excel and CSV Files in Q for an overview. These file formats do not contain metadata (i.e., there is nothing in them to indicate if a 1 means, say, Male) and, as a consequence, their use will greatly increase the amount of setup required within Q. Q only supports a subset of SPSS syntax (see Creating SPSS Syntax Files for Use in Q). This is the worst of the “good” file types but is the easiest to create if the software being used to export the data cannot export in one of the previous three file formats. sav files load faster than the other two, and thus are good for large numbers of cases. There are lots of different ways that these files can be created and some are much better than others see SPSS Data File Specifications.

This is the most widely available of the good formats. sss and the associated data file must have the same file names, with the exception of the extension. Triple S and MDD files have the best metadata, and will be best at setting up your questions correctly. Additionally, the Triple-S file format is not efficient in terms of how much space it uses, so for huge projects it can be beneficial to use another format. Where you have hierarchical data files, these are set up in Q by importing each as a separate Triple-S data file and then using Q's facilities for Multiple Data Files to link them together (i.e., Q does not use the Triple-S control files for hierarchical data). xml files are Triple-S files (the easiest way to check is to try and import into Q). sss and a second file containing the raw data, either as a fixed format (typically. One file contains the metadata and will have a file extension of. Q supports the Triple-S version 2.0, which can describe both fixed-format and CSV data files. This is a standard and open data file format for survey data. MDD and Triple S files have the best metadata, and will be best at setting up your questions correctly, and MDD files store data efficiently. You will need to connect to these databases directly from Q. mdd files have no extra data file and instead refer to a database. In these cases you should use the other data file directly.

mdd files will come with a different type of data file (e.g.sav. These files have file extension ( *.mdd).

SPSS Dimensions (Data Collection Model) data files, which are created by the more modern SPSS data collection packages.

The following data file formats are typically the best for use in Q.

Spss sav file format