First Steps in DataLion - Creating a project from a sav file (alternative procedure)

If you have an SPSS file you'd like to turn into a DataLion dashboard, this article shows you how to create your first project.

1. Login

You can log in to your instance by your mail address and your password:

After login, you are in the default project "test project".

If you are unlocked for several DataLion projects (these can be studies, databases, or other data sources), you will find an overview of your active projects by clicking on your name (top right) in the upper menu bar under "Projects":

2. Creating a new Project

By clicking on your name, you can reach the project settings ("Project") and the backend ("Admin"):

In the backend ("Admin"), you can see your projects and create new ones. Moreover, you can also edit users and add new users.

 

 

Under "Projects" you can see all projects that exist on the instance. You can also see the owners of the project. You can access the project settings directly via "Edit". You can also clone projects here.

 

You can create new projects via "new". 

 

First, you have to give your project a title. This title will be also used in the project URL:

 

 

You are now on the project settings page of the project:

 

 

3. Preparing Data

If you have an SPSS-File, go in your project settings to "Data" and click on "Upload SPSS":

 

 

This creates your codebook and the CSV file that will be used for import.

 

In order for datasets to be uploaded to DataLion and interpreted by our importer without problems, the following points must be taken into account:

• The correct designation of the column names: no dots, no blanks, no special characters, no empty columns, not more than 64 characters
• A point instead of comma as decimal separators
• File format: The data must be uploaded as .csv in UTF-8 encoding and with UNIX line extension so that it can be interpreted cleanly by the system

You can edit your generated codebook, e.g. create new variables, change labels, and sort variables.

 

 

The codebook contains all the important instructions and criteria by which the data should be linked to DataLion. This defines the default settings of a project and serves as a guide to action in a broader sense.

 

Examples of default settings:

• Navigation structure (several variables can be bundled together to increase clarity, for example)
• Summary of variables in a chart
• Variables and values of the characteristics
• Labels (e.g. question text and proficiencies)
• Chart type

With the help of the codebook, data can be visualized quickly and easily. The default settings can be flexibly changed at any time via the administration area of the dashboard.

4. Uploading Data and Codebook

You can upload your data in the backend under "Data".

You can either append or replace your (existing) data:

Then you upload your codebook under "Codebook" and have to match the columns:

If you have labels in your data, please refresh the labels afterward under Data:

If you want to switch the chart type in the frontend, do not forget to enable all the chart types. Go to "General" and open the chart settings:

Here are the most common chart types: 

pie,s-bar,multiline,b-mean,b-bar,multistack,radial,donut,datatable,bubble,wordcloud,polarity,multistack-vert,timeline_new,text,funnel,treemap,number,radar,map

You now can start to create Dashboards!

5. Creating Reports

Go to your project. You can find your projects under your name:

Clicking on the folder icon in the navigation bar at the top right opens a menu. Here you can create new reports and see a list of your reports in the project:

In the next step, you choose a title for your report. For a better overview, we recommend a thematic reference of the title to the content, but of course, you can also simply number your reports.

6. Creating Dashboards

When you name the report, the first report page, i.e. the first dashboard, is automatically created. Click on "+" to add further dashboards/tabs in the report:

Dashboard settings are made via the small arrow of the tab on which your dashboard is located. Clicking on it opens a menu. Here you can save your dashboard, rename it, copy it, add a title and a subtitle as well as delete the dashboard by clicking on the respective section.

7. Creating Charts

... is super easy. To create a chart, click on the desired question in the navigation bar (left) under "Questions". If marked with an arrow, DataLion will now show you the choices of sub-levels or questions until you can select your desired question and add it to your dashboard.

Add the first charts to your dashboard by clicking on the corresponding variable or drag & drop them into the dashboard. This way you can add as many charts as you want to your dashboard:

You also have the option to map several questions in one chart. To do this, drag the desired question onto an existing chart. The characteristics of the second question are added to the existing chart as additional rows.

Target group breaks are suitable for comparing different target groups at a glance. The target groups (filters) are displayed as additional rows/columns per characteristic (question) of the chart.
To create a chart, first, select the question to be analyzed via the "Questions" navigation bar. Click on the corresponding question to create a new chart. Now switch to the "Filters/Target groups" tab in the navigation bar and select the desired target group(s). Drag and drop them onto the corresponding chart. The characteristics are displayed as further rows/columns per characteristic (question) of the chart.

If you drag a variable from the "Target group (filter)" tab into a chart, all target groups contained in the question are used as filters in the chart (e.g. for the question "Gender" the target groups "Men" and "Women"). However, you also have the option of dragging individual target groups of a question into a chart and thus comparing characteristics/characteristics from different questions with each other (e.g. "Women" vs. "Millennials"). If you have applied a chart filter, an additional filter symbol appears in the settings bar of the chart. You can use this to edit and remove filters.

Do not forget to save your Dashboards!