How to match two lists together

A frequently encountered task is the need to match the entries in two lists which share a common geographical reference such as a postcode. An example would be a first list containing postcoded questionnaire responses from the researcher's own survey and a second containing postcodes and some other area code such as census wards from a published directory.

Example

Three records from list one consisting of "Respondent ID", "Gender" and "Postcode", click [here] to download the file:

Three records from list two consisting of "Postcode" and Ward code", click [here] to download the file:

The researcher's objective is often to associate the questionnaire responses with the wards. This can be achieved by list-matching using database or statistical software such as Microsoft Access or SPSS. It is not easily undertaken using a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel.