A task I often help with is getting survey data prepped for data analysis. Typically a client has distributed a written survey via Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey, and has downloaded the survey results to Excel as an xls, xlsx, or csv.

Before importing that data into Stata, SAS, or R, [read that post here] there are a few steps you should do first. In this short tutorial post, I'll walk you through those steps. I highly recommend reading through this post in full before touching your data. Get an overview of what you'll need to do and then read through again to let the gears turn on how you'll need to clean your own data.

Feel free to post any questions in the comments! 

​Let's get started.