I am doing research on MySQL data. I used the dbConnect function to connect to the database and used dbReadTable to read a table.
My question is: if I start cleaning data to make it tidy using tidyr and dplyr, etc, will this change the data from the database (data that is stored in mySQL and was collected by researcher)
Or does cleaning data in R only change the data called upon in R and have NO EFFECT ON THE database.
I need a definitive, well-backed, and professional answer as the data I'm dealing with is pretty important and valuable.
Given a database connection, you can definitely modify data in the database by using any of the keywords such as INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE depending on the role of the database user;
One safe way to avoid any modification of the database is ask the database administrator (I assume you are not the one) to create a user that has only read access to it, and then connect the database using this specific user. Then you would be safe to do analysis without unintentionally injecting anything into your database because the database won't allow you to do so;
But most importantly consult with the database administrator before taking next step, this answer is just for giving a clue on how to do this safely from my personal perspective. No responsibility taken for the next move you made.