Skip to contents

# Data types

Source: `vignettes/data-types.Rmd`
`data-types.Rmd`

    library(FreesearchR)
    #>
    #> Attaching package: 'FreesearchR'
    #> The following object is masked from 'package:base':
    #>
    #>     sort_by

## A clinical data class

Traditionally in R, data is identified by classes, like numeric, integer, double, logical, factor etc. These classes can be a little confusing from a clinical or operational standpoint. In the FreesearchR app, these classes has been simplified and modified to the following data types, that are assigned on a prioritised order like the following:

Data type | Description | Data classes included
--- | --- | ---
empty | Variable of all NAs | Any class
monotone | Variable with only one unique value | Any class
dichotomous | Variable with only two unique values | Any class
categorical | Factor variable | factor (ordered or unordered)
text | Character variable | character
datetime | Variable of time, date or datetime values | hms, Date, POSIXct and POSIXt
continuous | Numeric variable | numeric, integer or double
unknown | Anything not falling within the previous | Any other class

Categorising data in this way makes sense when making choices on how to evaluate and analyse data. This is used throughout the FreesearchR app to simplify data handling.