A base row or column typically shows the total number of cases in a variable and is used in the calculation of percentages and statistical tests. IBM® SPSS® Data Collection Survey Reporter automatically adds a base to the start of every variable that does not already have one. Automatically inserted bases are sometimes called autobases.
A variable must always contain at least one base. If you remove the base from a variable, Survey Reporter will automatically add an autobase to the variable in the table. However, you can hide the base in the table.