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I teach Applied Statistics, and my students are assigned to use SPSS to enter data into an .sav file, then upload the file to Canvas. For the first time this semester (unlike the past 8 years I have been assigning this), a handful of my students' .sav files they've uploaded to Canvas are missing the final score they entered into their file.
This is not as simple as a case of students copying/plagiarizing one student's erroneous file. There is no consistency as to whose files are missing the final score (and it is always the final score, never some other score in the data set that is missing). The only pattern is that this happens frequently to two students in the course, but I have seen their work prior to uploading into Canvas, and it is complete and correct (and the two students are not always missing the final score from the exact identical files).
What could possibly be contributing to the elimination of the last-entered score in the .sav file when they upload to Canvas?
I wonder if it will be helpful for your students to submit those .sav files wrapped within .zip files. That works with other file types where network or other settings might interfere with the transmission of certain file types. Another possibility is a mismatch in the version of SPSS that students are using on their computers.
Both of these are examples from my experience in different contexts. I hope that other Community members who are familiar with .sav files respond to your question, @conklink.
Thanks for this suggestion! Much appreciated. - Kurt
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