Recode logical code variables and optionally relabel them

recode_themes() combines multiple logical (TRUE/FALSE) code variables into new composite variables. For each new variable, the function computes a logical OR across the specified source variables—meaning the new variable is TRUE when any source variable is TRUE. Optionally, descriptive labels can be supplied for the newly created variables, and a codebook summarizing the resulting dataset is returned.

Usage

recode_themes(data, recodes, relabel_vars = NULL)

Arguments

data: A data frame, tibble, or haven-labelled data frame (for example, the output from clean_data() or a dataset read from a .dta file) containing logical code variables.
recodes: A named list where each name is a new variable to create and each value is a character vector of existing variable names to combine. For example: list(c_help = c("c_support", "c_assist"), c_stress = c("c_anxiety", "c_pressure"))
relabel_vars: Optional named list of variable labels for the new composite variables in the format list(new_var = "New variable label"). If omitted, the new variable names are used as default labels.

Value

A list with four elements:

data_recode: A data frame containing the updated dataset with recoded logical code variables.
codebook_recode: A data frame summarizing variable names, labels (if available), and data types.
data_merged: Alias for data_recode retained for backward compatibility.
codebook_merged: Alias for codebook_recode retained for backward compatibility.

Details

The function first verifies that the specified source variables exist in the dataset. It then creates the new logical variables defined by recodes, assigns user-specified or default labels, removes the original source variables (unless one overlaps with a new variable name), and builds a codebook summarizing the recoded dataset.

Examples

# Example dataset
df <- data.frame(
c_support = c(TRUE, FALSE, TRUE),
c_assist = c(FALSE, TRUE, TRUE),
c_anxiety = c(TRUE, FALSE, FALSE),
c_pressure = c(FALSE, TRUE, FALSE)
)

# Define recodes
recode_plan <- list(
c_help = c("c_support", "c_assist"),
c_stress = c("c_anxiety", "c_pressure")
)

# Run recode_themes() with new labels
result <- recode_themes(
data = df,
recodes = recode_plan,
relabel_vars = list(
c_help = "Mentions of helping or supporting others",
c_stress = "Mentions of stress or pressure"
)
)

# Extract recoded data and codebook
data_recode <- result$data_recode
codebook_recode <- result$codebook_recode

# View recoded dataset
head(data_recode)
#>   c_help c_stress
#> 1   TRUE     TRUE
#> 2   TRUE     TRUE
#> 3   TRUE    FALSE

# View codebook
head(codebook_recode)
#>          variable                                    label    type
#> c_help     c_help Mentions of helping or supporting others logical
#> c_stress c_stress           Mentions of stress or pressure logical