internal_doc/usage.md

In jomuller/vartors: Transform Definition of Variables to R Scripts

Usage of vartors

Documentation

# Read the doc and launch example
?vartors
example(vartors)

Raw material : simple database

To be useful, vartors need a simple database. Simple databases are defined as a single table database, with one variable by column, one observation by line and the name of the variable in the first line (header).

Example of simple database :

| ID|Birthdate |Gender |Study lvl | Heigh (m)| Weight (kg)| Siblings| Q1| Q2| |--:|:----------|:------|:---------|---------:|-----------:|--------:|--:|--:| | 1|2000-01-01 |male |primary | NA| 62.6| 3| 2| 1| | 2|2000-02-14 |male |primary | 1.68| 61.6| 1| 0| NA| | 3|2002-04-02 |male |primary | 1.76| 67.3| 1| 3| 1| | 4|2000-11-18 |female |primary | 1.67| 85.1| NA| 2| 2| | 5|2001-01-28 |male |primary | NA| 78.8| 3| 2| 3| | 6|2000-11-05 |male |primary | 1.69| 83.7| 6| 0| 2| | 7|2002-04-06 |male |primary | 1.74| 77.1| 4| 1| NA| | 8|2001-12-30 |male |secondary | 1.78| NA| NA| 1| 2| | 9|2000-11-13 |female |primary | 1.78| 62.3| 5| 0| NA| | 10|2001-08-22 |female |primary | 1.72| 97.6| 0| 1| 1|

Import this database in R. For example, if this database is in a .csv fil ,type

raw_database <- read.csv("my_database.csv")

Create a description of the variable

To create a skeleton of a variables description table, use descvars_skeleton

desc_skeleton <- descvars_skeleton(simpledb)

You will obtain a data.frame like this one (presented in two tables) :

|column |originalname |varlabel |description |comment |unit |type |rname | |:------|:------------|:-----------|:-----------|:-------|:----|:-------|:-----------| |A |ID |ID |NA |NA |NA |integer |ID | |B |Birthdate |Birthdate |NA |NA |NA |Date |Birthdate | |C |Gender |Gender |NA |NA |NA |factor |Gender | |D |Study lvl |Study lvl |NA |NA |NA |factor |Study.lvl | |E |Heigh (m) |Heigh (m) |NA |NA |NA |numeric |Heigh..m. | |F |Weight (kg) |Weight (kg) |NA |NA |NA |numeric |Weight..kg. | |G |Siblings |Siblings |NA |NA |NA |integer |Siblings | |H |Q1 |Q1 |NA |NA |NA |factor |Q1 | |I |Q2 |Q2 |NA |NA |NA |factor |Q2 |

|originalname |flevel1 |flabel1 |flevel2 |flabel2 |flevel3 |flabel3 |flevel4 |flabel4 | |:------------|:-------|:-------|:---------|:---------|:--------|:--------|:-------|:-------| |ID |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Birthdate |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Gender |male |male |female |female |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Study lvl |primary |primary |secondary |secondary |superior |superior |NA |NA | |Heigh (m) |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Weight (kg) |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Siblings |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Q1 |0 |0 |1 |1 |2 |2 |3 |3 | |Q2 |1 |1 |2 |2 |3 |3 |NA |NA |

Now, you have to ask the people who give you the database to explain each variable and fill this description of variable table. Just edit this, by using for example edit or by saving the data.frame in .csv use a spredsheet software like LibreOffice.

desc_complete <- edit(desc_skeleton)

Then you obtain an explicit description of the variables like this

|originalname |varlabel |description |comment |unit |type |rname | |:------------|:-----------------------|:-----------|:-------|:----|:---------|:-----------| |ID |ID |NA |NA |NA |character |id | |Birthdate |Birthdate |NA |NA |NA |Date |birth | |Gender |Gender |NA |NA |NA |factor |sex | |Study lvl |Study lvl |NA |NA |NA |ordered |study | |Heigh (m) |Heigh (m) |NA |NA |NA |numeric |heigh | |Weight (kg) |Weight (kg) |NA |NA |NA |numeric |weight | |Siblings |Siblings |NA |NA |NA |integer |siblings | |Q1 |Q1 - Like potatoes |NA |NA |NA |ordered |q1_potatoes | |Q2 |Q2 - Like french cheese |NA |NA |NA |ordered |q2_cheese |

|originalname |flevel1 |flabel1 |flevel2 |flabel2 |flevel3 |flabel3 |flevel4 |flabel4 | |:------------|:-------|:----------|:---------|:---------|:--------|:------------|:-------|:-------| |ID |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Birthdate |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Gender |male |male |female |female |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Study lvl |primary |primary |secondary |secondary |superior |superior |NA |NA | |Heigh (m) |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Weight (kg) |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Siblings |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA |NA | |Q1 |0 |Don't like |1 |Maybe |2 |A little bit |3 |A lot | |Q2 |1 |Don't like |1 |Maybe |2 |A little bit |3 |A lot |

jomuller/vartors documentation built on May 19, 2019, 7:26 p.m.