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In the [format dialog](/edit-access/formatting), there is a column "Mean" where you can enter alternative values. These "Mean" values override original values when calculating summary statistics. Let's take a look at two situations where this feature would be applicable.

Use alternative values to calculate summary statistics for questions with:

-   Qualitative response categories
-   Range response categories

### Qualitative response categories

In **q1**, the response categories are displayed to the user as: "Very happy," "Pretty happy," etc. However, in the survey data these response categories are represented by integer values (e.g. 1, 2,...).

In this type of question, [summary statistics](/edit-access/summary-statistics) like "mean" aren't particularly useful for analysis because they're calculated using "Value." However, if you can assign more purposeful numeric values to response categories, then summary statistics will have more meaning.

<img src="/uploads/upload/image/5200/direct/1580844570963-1580844570963.png" alt="Survey question q1 asking 'Generally, how would you say things are these days in your life' with response options and statistics showing Mean: 2.07, Std Dev: 1.43, Median: 2.00." style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 480px;">

We can view **q1** values by choosing "[Format...](/edit-access/formatting)" from the context menu:

<img src="/uploads/upload/image/5200/direct/1580828260545-1580828260545.png" alt="Edit format dialog showing the Value column with numeric codes 1, 2, 3, and 9 assigned to happiness responses and a 'Group unformatted values into [other]' checkbox." style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 700px;">

Below for the same element **q1**, we assigned "Mean" values to the response choices that are indicative of their worth. How these values are determined can be subjective.

<img src="/uploads/upload/image/5200/direct/1580828289959-1580828289959.png" alt="Edit format dialog with the Mean column highlighted, showing alternative numeric values: 100 for 'Very happy', 50 for 'Pretty happy', -50 for 'Not too happy', and -100 for 'Don't know/Refused'." style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 700px;">

After "Mean" values are specified, we can see that the summary statistics are calculated using those values instead.

<img src="/uploads/upload/image/5200/direct/1580844653878-1580844653878.png" alt="Survey question q1 displaying updated statistics after alternative values were applied, showing Mean: 45.0, Std Dev: 54.8, Median: 50.0." style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 480px;">

### Range response categories

Another instance where alternative values are useful is when questions have response choices that are ranges. In the element, **age**, the summary statistics seemingly do not correlate to the data.

<img src="/uploads/upload/image/5200/direct/1580915734116-1580915734116.png" alt="Age question showing response categories '18 to 24' (71.8%), '25 to 31' (10.5%), '32 to 38' (11.4%), '39 to 45' (6.4%), '46 to 52' (0.0%) with statistics Mean: 1.52, Std Dev: 0.927, Median: 1.00." style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 480px;">

Looking at the format for **age**, we see that there are random integer "Values" assigned to the range categories. You can add the appropriate "Mean" values to adjust the summary statistics.

<img src="/uploads/upload/image/5200/direct/1580917092801-1580917092801.png" alt="Edit format dialog for age variable showing Mean column with midpoint values: 21 for '18 to 24', 28 for '25 to 31', 35 for '32 to 38', 42 for '39 to 45', and 49 for '46 to 52'." style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 700px;">

The result is seen below:

<img src="/uploads/upload/image/5200/direct/1580915798290-1580915798290.png" alt="Age question displaying recalculated statistics after applying midpoint alternative values, showing Mean: 24.7, Std Dev: 6.49, Median: 21.0." style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 480px;">

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