creating a categorical variable from multiple dummy variables

[Shahriar Islam]

I want to create a categorical variable called 'climateshock' from ten dummy variables. The each dummy variable represents a kind of climate shock. These dummy variables were created from a multiple choice question which asked the respondent to choose what kind of climate shock they experienced in last five years. I want to create a categorical variable to account for every kind of climate shock that were chosen by a respondent. For example, in the observation 3 below variable clsh5 and clsh8 were observed. I want to create the categorical variable in a way which will observe both clsh5 & clsh8 for the observation 3. Here is the example of the data below.

clsh1 clsh2 clsh3 clsh4 clsh5 clsh6 clsh7 clsh8 clsh9 clsh10

1. . . . . Yes . . . . .
2. . . . . Yes . . . . .
3. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
4. . . . . Yes . . . . .
5. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .

6. . . . . Yes . . . . .
7. . . . . Yes . Yes . . .
8. . . . . Yes . . . . .
9. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
10. . . . . Yes . . . . .

11. . . . . Yes . . . . .
12. . . . . Yes . . . . .
13. . . . . Yes . . . . .
14. . . . . Yes . . . . .
15. . . . . Yes . . . . .

16. . . . . Yes . . . . .
17. . . . . Yes . . . . .
18. . . . . Yes . . . . .
19. . . . . Yes . . . . .
20. . . . . Yes . . . . .

21. . . . . Yes . . . . .
22. . . . . Yes . . . . .
23. . . . . Yes . . . . .
24. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
25. . . . . Yes . . . . .

26. . . . . Yes . . . . .
27. . . . . Yes . . . . .
28. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
29. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
30. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .

31. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
32. . . . . Yes . . . . .
33. . . . . Yes . . . . .
34. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
35. . . . . Yes . . . . .

36. . . . . Yes . . . . .
37. . . . . Yes . . . . .
38. . . . . Yes . . . . .
39. . . . . Yes . . Yes . .
40. . . . . Yes . . . . .

41. . . . . Yes . . . . .
42. . . . . . . . . . Yes
43. . . . . . . . . . Yes
44. . . . . . . . . . Yes
45. . . . . . . . . . Yes

46. . . . . . . . . . Yes
47. . . . . . . . . . Yes
48. . . . . . . . . . Yes
49. . . . . . . . . . Yes
50. . . . . . . . . . Yes

51. . . . . . . . . . Yes
52. . . . . . . . . . Yes
53. . . . . . . . . . Yes
54. . . . . . . . . . Yes
55. . . . . . . . . . Yes

56. . . . . . . . . . Yes
57. . . . . . . . . . Yes
58. . . . . . . . . . Yes
59. . . . . . . . . . Yes
60. . . . . . . . . . Yes

61. . . . . . . . . . Yes
62. . . . . . . . . . Yes
63. . . . . . . . . . Yes
64. . . . . . . . . . Yes
65. . . . . . . . . . Yes

66. . . . . . . . . . Yes
67. . . . . . . . . . Yes
68. . . . . . . . . . Yes
69. Yes . . . Yes . . Yes . .
70. . . . . . . . . . Yes

[Clyde Schechter]

Are you really sure you want to do this?? It seems like a bad idea. With 10 climate shock variables, there are 2¹⁰ (= 1,024) possible combinations of shocks selected. The variable will be unwieldy: how will you work with it?

[Igor Paploski]

As Clyde pointed, there are many possible combinations of climate shock, but although possible some might not appear on your data (hopefully the vast majority). In the example dataset you provided (please use dataex in the future), there are only 5 patterns for the 70 observations with the 10 shocks. If you make your clsh variables a numeric indicator (1 and 0), adding the "label" option after the egen might help identify your groups:

clear
input str3 (clsh1 clsh2 clsh3 clsh4 clsh5 clsh6 clsh7 clsh8 clsh9 clsh10)
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "Yes" "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "Yes" . "."   "."   . "."  
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
"Yes" . . . "Yes" . "."   "Yes" . "."  
"."   . . . "."   . "."   "."   . "Yes"
end


forvalues i = 1/10{
    replace clsh`i'="1" if clsh`i'=="Yes"
    replace clsh`i'="0" if clsh`i'=="."
    destring clsh`i', replace
}

egen group = group(clsh1 - clsh10), label

tab group
tab group, nol