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[mbcann01]

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[zappycoder]

Hello,

I am using codebook in an attempt to generate a codebook for a variety of variable types. One type specifically is a Likert scale variable 1-9, but only has anchor terms for the 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 ratings. In attempting to make a codebook including this variable, I received the following warning message:

"Warning message:
attributes are not identical across measure variables;
they will be dropped"

I believe this has something to do with the anchor terms/labels being dropped from my Likert scale variable. Is there a work around for this where I may still retain the variable labels?

For some more context, it is a thirst rating variable I am using, and I added the following code but to no avail:

df %>% cb_add_col_attributes(
morningthirstmean,
col_type=integer,
description = "Thirst Scale",
source = "Thirst Questionnaire",
value_labels = c(
"Not Thirsty at ALL" = 1,
" "=2,
"A Little Thirsty" = 3,
" "=4,
"Moderately Thirsty" = 5,
" "=6,
"Very Thirsty" = 7,
" "=8,
"Very Very Thirsty" = 9
))

Thank you in advance!
Mitch

[mbcann01]

Hi @zappycoder ,

Thanks for bringing up this issue. When playing around with the built-in study data, I got an error from the following code.

# Load packages
library(codebookr)
library(dplyr, warn.conflicts = FALSE)
library(haven)

# Load data
data(study)

# Add value labels to the Likert column
study_2 <- study %>% 
  cb_add_col_attributes(
    likert,
    value_labels = c(
      "Very dissatisfied" = 1, 
      "" = 2,
      "Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied" = 3,
      "" = 4,
      "Very satisfied" = 5
    )
  )

Error: Error: attempt to use zero-length variable name.

This isn't a codebook error. This is a base R error. In other words, you get the same error from this code.

c("test" = 1, "" = 2)

A simple workaround is to just add a single space in between your quotation marks like this.

study_2 <- study %>% 
  cb_add_col_attributes(
    likert,
    value_labels = c(
      "Very dissatisfied" = 1, 
      " " = 2,
      "Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied" = 3,
      " " = 4,
      "Very satisfied" = 5
    )
  )

And here is the result I got:

Does this solve your problem?