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rspsslabeling

Use sjlabelled::set_labels with lookup table

I need to label a values in a lot of variables with sjlabelled::set_labels. Here is a reproducable example and what already works:

library(data.table)
library(sjlabelled)

lookup <- data.table(id = paste0("q", 1:5),
                     answers = paste(paste0("atext", 1:5), paste0("btext", 1:5)
                                      , paste0("ctext", 1:5), sep = ";"))

data <- data.table(q1 = sample(1:3, 10, replace = TRUE),
                   q2 = sample(1:3, 10, replace = TRUE),
                   q3 = sample(1:3, 10, replace = TRUE),
                   q4 = sample(1:3, 10, replace = TRUE),
                   q5 = sample(1:3, 10, replace = TRUE))


data$q1 <- set_labels(data$q1, labels = unlist(strsplit(lookup[id == "q1", answers], split = ";")))

get_labels(data$q1)

So the labels for the different answers (=values) are seperated by a semicolon. I am able to make it work if I call the variables by id but as you can see in the example code but I am struggling with the task if I want to "loop" through all variables.

The goal is to be able to export the datatable (or dataframe) as an SPSS file. If it works with other packages I would also be happy.

Solution

  • Match the column names of data with id, split the answers on ; and pass the labels as a list.

    library(sjlabelled)

data <- set_labels(data, labels = strsplit(lookup$answers[match(names(data), lookup$id)], ';'))
get_labels(data)

#$q1
#[1] "atext1" "btext1" "ctext1"

#$q2
#[1] "atext2" "btext2" "ctext2"

#$q3
#[1] "atext3" "btext3" "ctext3"

#$q4
#[1] "atext4" "btext4" "ctext4"

#$q5
#[1] "atext5" "btext5" "ctext5"