The read.spss parameter defaults are: use.value.labels=TRUE, to.data.frame=FALSE, Is there some reasoning other than historical for this choice? In most instances, it seems that the opposite default choice (use.value.labels=FALSE, to.data.frame=TRUE,) would better preserve any existing structure of the underlying SPSS dataset as it is imported in to R. I feel especially strongly about the to.data.frame=TRUE being the desirable default given the central role of data frames in R. Of course, I guess a user could always write a wrapper function, but the instances where you wouldn't find the wrapper function useful seem minimal.. Any insights? Rob Baer
read.spss defaults
2 messages · Robert Baer, Thomas Lumley
On Wed, 25 Feb 2004, Robert W. Baer, Ph.D. wrote:
The read.spss parameter defaults are: use.value.labels=TRUE, to.data.frame=FALSE, Is there some reasoning other than historical for this choice? In most instances, it seems that the opposite default choice (use.value.labels=FALSE, to.data.frame=TRUE,) would better preserve any existing structure of the underlying SPSS dataset as it is imported in to R. I feel especially strongly about the to.data.frame=TRUE being the desirable default given the central role of data frames in R.
I think the reason for to.data.frame=FALSE is that for a large dataset the conversion to data frame takes a lot longer than the reading. In particular, if you want to use just a subset of variables it will be quicker to subset before you construct the data frame. -thomas