Format of the crosstabs' data • crosstabser

In this vignette we’ll show the underlying data format of the crosstabs generated by crosstabser. Basically, it’s a long format of tidy data such as the one needed if you’d want to plot the crosstab with ggplot2 or observable plot (like in table_charter; see here for an interactive demo). However, in order to reduce redundancy and to save space we store the data in multiple data.frames that can be merged together in the end. First, let’s load the needed libraries:

library(crosstabser)
library(dplyr)
library(ggplot2)
library(purrr)
library(tidyr)
library(haven)

and define a labelled data.frame:

df <- tibble::tibble(
  q1 = c(1, 2, 1) |> haven::labelled(c(Yes = 1, No = 2), label = "Super important question"),
  age = c(2, 1, 1) |> haven::labelled(c("18-39" = 1, "40+" = 2), label = "age")
)
df
#> # A tibble: 3 × 2
#>   q1        age      
#>   <dbl+lbl> <dbl+lbl>
#> 1 1 [Yes]   2 [40+]  
#> 2 2 [No]    1 [18-39]
#> 3 1 [Yes]   1 [18-39]

Next we define the syntax to generate a crosstab:

Questions <- tibble::tibble(
  Type  = "cat",
  RowVar = "q1",
  Title = "The crosstab's title"
)

We’ll use the age variable for the x-axis of the crosstab:

ColVar <- "age"

Now we can construct an R6 object of class “Tabula”:

mapping_file <- list(Questions = Questions, Macro = list(ColVar = ColVar))
m <- Tabula$new(
  df,
  mapping_file,
)

The Tabula$get_crosstabs_data() method returns a list of dataframes containing the crosstabs’ underlying data:

l <- m$get_crosstabs_data()
l
#> $tab_table
#> # A tibble: 1 × 15
#>      BookNo QuestNo TabName QuestLine TabNo TabType TabTitle TabTitle1 TabTitle2
#>       <dbl> <chr>   <chr>       <dbl> <int> <chr>   <chr>    <chr>     <chr>    
#> 1 999999999 _row_2  CAT#_r…         2     1 CAT     The cro… The cros… The cros…
#> # ℹ 6 more variables: TabTitle3 <chr>, TabCaption <chr>, SelVal <chr>,
#> #   repov_name <chr>, TabCount <int>, TabRowTypes <int>
#> 
#> $val_table
#> # A tibble: 21 × 6
#>       BookNo QuestNo TabNo RowNo ColNo Value
#>        <dbl> <chr>   <int> <int> <int> <dbl>
#>  1 999999999 _row_2      1     4     4   3  
#>  2 999999999 _row_2      1     4     5   2  
#>  3 999999999 _row_2      1     4     6   1  
#>  4 999999999 _row_2      1     5     4   2  
#>  5 999999999 _row_2      1     5     5   1  
#>  6 999999999 _row_2      1     5     6   1  
#>  7 999999999 _row_2      1     6     4  66.7
#>  8 999999999 _row_2      1     6     5  50  
#>  9 999999999 _row_2      1     6     6 100  
#> 10 999999999 _row_2      1     7     4   1  
#> # ℹ 11 more rows
#> 
#> $row_table
#> # A tibble: 11 × 18
#>      BookNo RowNo RowContent RowAbsPercent RowWeighted TabNo RowTitle1 RowTitle2
#>       <dbl> <int> <chr>      <chr>         <chr>       <int> <chr>     <chr>    
#>  1  1.000e9     1 Title      ""            ""              1 "The cro… ""       
#>  2  1.000e9     2 Header     ""            ""              1  NA       ""       
#>  3  1.000e9     3 Header     ""            ""              1  NA       ""       
#>  4  1.000e9     4 Total      "Abs"         "Unweighte…     1 "TOTAL"   "TOTAL"  
#>  5  1.000e9     5 Detail     "Abs"         "Unweighte…     1 "Yes"     "Yes"    
#>  6  1.000e9     6 Detail     "Percent"     "Unweighte…     1 "Yes"     "Yes"    
#>  7  1.000e9     7 Detail     "Abs"         "Unweighte…     1 "No"      "No"     
#>  8  1.000e9     8 Detail     "Percent"     "Unweighte…     1 "No"      "No"     
#>  9  1.000e9     9 Valid      "Abs"         "Unweighte…     1 "VALID C… "VALID C…
#> 10  1.000e9    10 Valid      "Percent"     "Unweighte…     1 "VALID C… "VALID C…
#> 11  1.000e9    11 Empty      ""            ""              1 ""        ""       
#> # ℹ 10 more variables: RowTitle3 <chr>, RowFormat <chr>, RowDecimals <int>,
#> #   RowVariable <chr>, RowValue <dbl>, row_type <chr>, QuestNo <chr>,
#> #   RowTypeS <chr>, RowType <int>, RowContentDetail <chr>
#> 
#> $head_table
#> # A tibble: 5 × 5
#>      BookNo HeadNo HeadName     HeadTitle HeadCount
#>       <dbl>  <int> <chr>        <chr>         <int>
#> 1 999999999      1 DC#ROWHEADER NA                3
#> 2 999999999      2 DC#TOTAL     TOTAL             1
#> 3 999999999      3 age@1        age               2
#> 4 999999999      4 DC#EMPTY     NA                1
#> 5 999999999      5 DC#TITLE     NA                1
#> 
#> $col_table_all
#>   BookNo ColNo HeadNo ColTitle1 ColTitle2  ColVariable ColValue
#> 1  1e+09     1      1                     DC#ROWHEADER       NA
#> 2  1e+09     2      1                     DC#ROWHEADER       NA
#> 3  1e+09     3      1                     DC#ROWHEADER       NA
#> 4  1e+09     4      2     TOTAL               DC#TOTAL        1
#> 5  1e+09     5      3       age     18-39          age        1
#> 6  1e+09     6      3       age       40+          age        2
#> 7  1e+09     7      4                         DC#EMPTY       NA
#> 8  1e+09     8      5                         DC#TITLE       NA

It contains 5 data.frames:

tab_table: For every crosstab generated, this dataframe contains 1 row; QuestNo is the unique identifier from Questions$Abbreviation; if multiple crosstabs are generated by a row, they are identified by TabNo.
val_table: Contains the values of the crosstabs in long format in the column Value.
row_table: Contains the label information of the crosstabs’ rows and some information about the format in the rows.
head_table: Contains the label information of the crosstabs’ headers.
col_table_all: Contains the label information of the crosstabs’ columns.

Now we’re ready to merge all this data into one data.frame:

res <- l[c(
  "tab_table", 
  "val_table", 
  "row_table", 
  "col_table_all",
  "head_table"
)] |> 
  reduce(left_join)
#> Joining with `by = join_by(BookNo, QuestNo, TabNo)`
#> Joining with `by = join_by(BookNo, QuestNo, TabNo, RowNo)`
#> Joining with `by = join_by(BookNo, ColNo)`
#> Joining with `by = join_by(BookNo, HeadNo)`

Click here to see the full data.frame

knitr::kable(res)

BookNo	QuestNo	TabName	QuestLine	TabNo	TabType	TabTitle	TabTitle1	TabTitle2	TabTitle3	TabCaption	SelVal	repov_name	TabCount	TabRowTypes	RowNo	ColNo	Value	RowContent	RowAbsPercent	RowWeighted	RowTitle1	RowTitle2	RowTitle3	RowFormat	RowDecimals	RowVariable	RowValue	row_type	RowTypeS	RowType	HeadNo	ColTitle1	ColTitle2	ColVariable	ColValue	HeadName	HeadTitle	HeadCount
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	4	4	3.00000	Total	Abs	Unweighted	TOTAL	TOTAL	abs	NA	0	q1	1	total	Total\|AbsUnweighted	2097408	2	TOTAL		DC#TOTAL	1	DC#TOTAL	TOTAL	1
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	4	5	2.00000	Total	Abs	Unweighted	TOTAL	TOTAL	abs	NA	0	q1	1	total	Total\|AbsUnweighted	2097408	3	age	18-39	age	1	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	4	6	1.00000	Total	Abs	Unweighted	TOTAL	TOTAL	abs	NA	0	q1	1	total	Total\|AbsUnweighted	2097408	3	age	40+	age	2	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	5	4	2.00000	Detail	Abs	Unweighted	Yes	Yes	abs	NA	0	q1	1	detail_freqs_valid	Detail\|AbsUnweighted	2097168	2	TOTAL		DC#TOTAL	1	DC#TOTAL	TOTAL	1
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	5	5	1.00000	Detail	Abs	Unweighted	Yes	Yes	abs	NA	0	q1	1	detail_freqs_valid	Detail\|AbsUnweighted	2097168	3	age	18-39	age	1	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	5	6	1.00000	Detail	Abs	Unweighted	Yes	Yes	abs	NA	0	q1	1	detail_freqs_valid	Detail\|AbsUnweighted	2097168	3	age	40+	age	2	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	6	4	66.66667	Detail	Percent	Unweighted	Yes	Yes	in %	NA	1	q1	1	detail_perc_valid	Detail\|PercentUnweighted	33554448	2	TOTAL		DC#TOTAL	1	DC#TOTAL	TOTAL	1
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	6	5	50.00000	Detail	Percent	Unweighted	Yes	Yes	in %	NA	1	q1	1	detail_perc_valid	Detail\|PercentUnweighted	33554448	3	age	18-39	age	1	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	6	6	100.00000	Detail	Percent	Unweighted	Yes	Yes	in %	NA	1	q1	1	detail_perc_valid	Detail\|PercentUnweighted	33554448	3	age	40+	age	2	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	7	4	1.00000	Detail	Abs	Unweighted	No	No	abs	NA	0	q1	2	detail_freqs_valid	Detail\|AbsUnweighted	2097168	2	TOTAL		DC#TOTAL	1	DC#TOTAL	TOTAL	1
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	7	5	1.00000	Detail	Abs	Unweighted	No	No	abs	NA	0	q1	2	detail_freqs_valid	Detail\|AbsUnweighted	2097168	3	age	18-39	age	1	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	7	6	0.00000	Detail	Abs	Unweighted	No	No	abs	NA	0	q1	2	detail_freqs_valid	Detail\|AbsUnweighted	2097168	3	age	40+	age	2	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	8	4	33.33333	Detail	Percent	Unweighted	No	No	in %	NA	1	q1	2	detail_perc_valid	Detail\|PercentUnweighted	33554448	2	TOTAL		DC#TOTAL	1	DC#TOTAL	TOTAL	1
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	8	5	50.00000	Detail	Percent	Unweighted	No	No	in %	NA	1	q1	2	detail_perc_valid	Detail\|PercentUnweighted	33554448	3	age	18-39	age	1	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	8	6	0.00000	Detail	Percent	Unweighted	No	No	in %	NA	1	q1	2	detail_perc_valid	Detail\|PercentUnweighted	33554448	3	age	40+	age	2	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	9	4	3.00000	Valid	Abs	Unweighted	VALID CASES	VALID CASES	abs	NA	0	q1	1	n_valid_freqs	Valid\|AbsUnweighted	2097664	2	TOTAL		DC#TOTAL	1	DC#TOTAL	TOTAL	1
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	9	5	2.00000	Valid	Abs	Unweighted	VALID CASES	VALID CASES	abs	NA	0	q1	1	n_valid_freqs	Valid\|AbsUnweighted	2097664	3	age	18-39	age	1	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	9	6	1.00000	Valid	Abs	Unweighted	VALID CASES	VALID CASES	abs	NA	0	q1	1	n_valid_freqs	Valid\|AbsUnweighted	2097664	3	age	40+	age	2	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	10	4	100.00000	Valid	Percent	Unweighted	VALID CASES	VALID CASES	in %	NA	1	q1	1	n_valid_perc	Valid\|PercentUnweighted	33554944	2	TOTAL		DC#TOTAL	1	DC#TOTAL	TOTAL	1
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	10	5	100.00000	Valid	Percent	Unweighted	VALID CASES	VALID CASES	in %	NA	1	q1	1	n_valid_perc	Valid\|PercentUnweighted	33554944	3	age	18-39	age	1	age@1	age	2
1e+09	_row_2	CAT#_row_2@1	2	1	CAT	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	The crosstab’s title	NA	NA	NA	11	NA	10	6	100.00000	Valid	Percent	Unweighted	VALID CASES	VALID CASES	in %	NA	1	q1	1	n_valid_perc	Valid\|PercentUnweighted	33554944	3	age	40+	age	2	age@1	age	2

If we look at the crosstab

m
#> $`2`
#> $`2`[[1]]
#> # The crosstab's title
#>                            TOTAL   age -----
#>                                  18-39   40+
#> TOTAL                abs     3       2     1
#> Yes                  abs     2       1     1
#>                      in %   66.7    50   100
#> No                   abs     1       1     0
#>                      in %   33.3    50     0
#> VALID CASES          abs     3       2     1
#>                      in %  100     100   100

and say we wanted to generated a color-coded raster of the percent values, we could do this like this:

res |> 
  filter(
    # This removes the data of the "TOTAL" & "VALID CASES" rows:
    RowContent == "Detail", 
    # remove rows with absolute values:
    RowAbsPercent == "Percent"
  ) |> 
  ggplot() +
  geom_tile(aes(
    x = ColTitle2,
    y = RowTitle1,
    fill = Value
  )) + 
  facet_grid(
    ~ as_factor(ColTitle1), 
    scales = "free_x"
  ) +
  scale_x_discrete(position = "top") +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(
    axis.title.x = element_blank(),
    axis.title.y = element_blank()
  )

(This plot isn’t really interesting; this is just to demonstrate the structure of the crosstabs’ underlying data)