This attribute is available on the Tally Attribute (Table/Subtable) menu.
"Unit Tallied" allows you to change the unit of computation for the table or subtable. The unit of computation is the level, record or item in the dictionary that is counted for the tally. It is basically a "looping" unit for the tally, i.e., for each level, record or item do the tally.
For example, when tallying categories of the rent variable on the housing record, by default, the unit would be the housing record so each household would be tallied once in the appropriate category. However, if the "unit of tally" were the person record, this would tally in the household's rent category once for each person in the case.
For example, a household paying $850/month rent would be in the $800 to $899 category. If the "unit of tally" were the household record then the tally would be done once for this case. If the "unit of tally" were the person record and there are 4 persons in the household, then a tally is done for each person in the household resulting in 4 tallies for this case (instead of one).
Note: In most cases, the unit is left as the default assigned by CSPro.
Basic rules of "units" (these refer to both tables or subtables):
If table has all items from one record then the "unit of tally" is the record.
If table has some items for a non-repeating record, e.g., house, and a repeating record, e.g., person, the "unit of tally" is the repeating record (person).
If table has items from different non-repeating records then the "unit of tally" can be either record.
If a non-repeating record contains an item with occurrences then the repeating item can also be the "unit of tally."
If table has only ID items then the "unit of tally" can be the case (Quest) or any repeating record or repeating item.
No table can contain items from different repeating records unless there is a relation defined between the records in the data dictionary (see Relation Description). For relations, the "unit of tally" must be the name of the link.
(Non-repeating means MAXimum records is one)
Note: If a table/subtable contains items from a non-repeating record and another record, there is no tally if the non-repeating record is not present for the case. For example, if the case is missing its House record then no tallies involving items from the House will be done for this case.
For example, the table has an item from the Household_Situation record and one from the Nutrition_Status record, both of which are non-repeating. AGES is an item with occurrences on the Household_Situation record. The available "Unit Tallied" are:
If the "unit of tally" is either non-repeating record then only tally is made per case. If the "unit of tally" is the occurring item AGES, then a tally is made for each occurrence of age.
See Also: Tabulations Using Relations