EC_vars: Select Common Asset Variables

In Lauren-Eyler/ECforshiny: Population-Specific Economic Groups Defined by Few Asset Variables

Description

Because 'EconomicClusters' requires significant computing time to run, researchers may choose to limit the asset variables considered for selection. Assets that are very rare in a population may be useful for defining only very small (and perhaps less significant) economic groups. 'EC_vars' creates a data frame of binary variables owned by at least a specified proportion of the population and all categorical asset variables with >2 levels.

Usage

EC_vars(X, p, catstart)

Arguments

X	a data frame of all asset variables coded as factors with column names specified
p	lowest proportion of individuals in the population that own a given asset for that asset to be considered for variable selection
catstart	column number of X containing the first variable with levels>2

Value

A data frame consisting of all binary asset variables owned by at least proportion p of households in the population and all asset variables with >2 levels

Note

The determination of p should be based on the researcher's goals for the granularity of economic clusters defined by the model and available server computing time. The number of variables to consider for selection can also be limited in other ways. For example, researchers might choose to include only one of a series of categorical variables that assess similar aspects of economic status, such as multiple variables describing materials used for housing construction. Consider whether the variables not selected by 'EC_vars' would be important to consider for selection despite being rare based on the economic context in your country.

Author(s)

Lauren Eyler [e-mail]

See Also

EC_DHSwts, EC_time, assets_fullset

Lauren-Eyler/ECforshiny documentation built on May 8, 2019, 8:52 p.m.