Haven package frustrations

haven_package_frustrations.R

library(haven)
library(dplyr)
library(foreign)

## Read Stata dataset with foreign
xf <- read.dta("http://izahn.crabdance.com/owncloud/index.php/s/PlXcLrNFyKoIDk3/download")
## Read Stata dataset with haven
xh <- read_dta("http://izahn.crabdance.com/owncloud/index.php/s/PlXcLrNFyKoIDk3/download")

str(xf) ## structure of foreign result is comprehensable

str(xh) ## structure of haven result is a cluttered mess

glimpse(xf) # works on foreign result

glimpse(xh) # doesn't work on haven result
## Error: `x` and `labels` must be same type

## Extracting metadata from foreign result is easy
xf.info <- list(variables = data.frame(attributes(xf)[c("names", "var.labels", "formats")]),
                values = attributes(xf)$label.table)

## Extracting metadata from haven result is harder but not too bad
xh.info <- list(variables = data.frame(names = names(xh),
                                       labels = sapply(xh, attr, which = "label")),
                values = sapply(xh, attr, which = "labels"))

## The foreign package mostly distinguishes numeric
## from non-numeric columns correctly; the haven package
## doesn't even try, it just stores everthing as doubles
## and slaps labels on it.

(data.comparison <- data.frame(havenclass = sapply(xh, class),
                               foreignclass = sapply(xf, class),
                               haventype = sapply(xh, typeof),
                               foreigntype = sapply(xf, typeof),
                               description = xf.info$variables$var.labels))

## Cleaning up the haven result is difficult. As far as I can tell getting
## these data into a usable form (e.g., age should be an number,
## zodiac should be a factor or a character) requires examining
## each variable and manually converting it:

factor.vars <- c("sex", "usecomp", "usemail", "useweb", "hapmar", "happy", "rincome", 
"income", "marital", "postlife", "pres96", "richwork", "satjob", 
"spdeg", "spwrksta", "vote96", "wrkstat", "zodiac", "husbft", 
"wifeft")
num.vars <- setdiff(names(xh), factor.vars)

xh[num.vars] <- lapply(xh[num.vars], as.numeric)
xh[factor.vars] <- lapply(xh[factor.vars], as_factor)

## Well, I guess that wasn't so bad, but mostly that's because I cheated
## and looked at the output form the foreign package to make the list of
## factor variables.