message regarding variables converted into numerical/string charachters what to do?

[FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]Hi empirisoft,[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]I am programming a straightforward questionnaire using MediaLab. Now, when I run some of the conditions, once the experiment is over, I get several messages saying approximatey: [/SIZE][/FONT]
[LIST][*][FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]“variable XXX contains numerical characters but is stored as a string. The values will be stored in SPSS as string values. [/SIZE][/FONT][*][FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]variable XXX string characters but is stored as a numerical. The values will be stored in SPSS as numerical values. Non-numerical values may be lost in the conversion.” [/SIZE][/FONT][/LIST][FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]The baffling thing is that this happens to conditions where I changed nothing and where there was previously no such message. Yesterday night this appeared for 2 out of 10 conditions and this morning for 8 out of 10! I have checked the boxed ticked for each variable (text for essays, but not for scales) and all seems in order.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]Why does this happen? How do I prevent the message from occuring? Can I collect data in spite of the message (is the data OK)? The study starts Tuesday next week, so if you have a remedy I would be very grateful![/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]Thank you in advance,[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Rockwell][SIZE=2]Liselott Pettersonm INSEAD[/SIZE][/FONT]

Hello Liselott,

You may want to try seeing if these threads help:
[url]http://www.empirisoft.com/Support/showthread.php?t=224[/url]
[url]http://empirisoft.com/support/showthread.php?t=201[/url]

Regards,
Trevor