Author: Ruben Arslan
Date: 2026-03-02

# Codebook example with Qualtrics dataset

#### Ruben Arslan

#### 2026-03-02

    knit_by_pkgdown <- !is.null(knitr::opts_chunk$get("fig.retina"))
    knitr::opts_chunk$set(warning = FALSE, message = FALSE, error = FALSE, echo = TRUE)
    ggplot2::theme_set(ggplot2::theme_bw())
    library(codebook)
    library(dplyr)

Here, I try to demonstrate that we can also use the metadata generated by Qualtrics. Because I am not a Qualtrics user, the developer of the `qualtRics` R package sent me two example files, one of data and one for metadata, which I use here. Usually, you’d import these files directly via his package.

## Load

    # library(qualtRics) # currently not on CRAN, so commented out
    results <- readRDS(system.file("extdata", "ryan.rds", package = "codebook"))
    metadata_ex <- readRDS(system.file("extdata", "metadata.rds", package = "codebook"))

Now, we want the metadata not to be just independent of the data frame. It’s easier to change metadata if it is in the form of a list at the dataset level, so let’s use `rio::gather_attrs` for that.

    results <- results %>% rio::gather_attrs()
    attributes(results)$label$Q7

    ##                                                                                  Q7
    ## "How reasonable or unreasonable is the cost of courses/tuition at this university?"

Now, we can loop over the metadata list and put it in the right shape to become attributes. This means given each element the name of the variable it refers to.

    names(metadata_ex$questions) <- lapply(metadata_ex$questions, function(x) {
      x$questionName
    })

We only want the questions that we have data for.

    qs <- names(metadata_ex$questions)
    qs <- qs[qs %in% names(attributes(results)$label)]

Now, we assign our metadata list to the attributes of the data.frame.

    init <- vector("list", ncol(results))
    names(init) <- names(results)
    attributes(results)$item <- init
    attributes(results)$item[qs] <- metadata_ex$questions[qs]

And use rio to put the attributes on the question level again.

    results <- results %>% rio::spread_attrs()

To keep this example, we select a subset of variables.

    results <- results %>% select(ResponseSet, Q7, Q10)
    if (!knit_by_pkgdown) knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE)

Please note, that we just reuse the metadata column names from Qualtrics. Standardising this across multiple survey providers would be great but requires more knowledge of Qualtrics than I have.

    ## No missing values.

### Metadata

#### Description

Dataset name: MOCK Qualtrics dataset

a MOCK dataset used to show how to import Qualtrics metadata into the codebook R package

Metadata for search engines

- Temporal Coverage: 2018

- Spatial Coverage: Nowhere

- URL: https://rubenarslan.github.io/codebook/articles/codebook_qualtrics.html

- Identifier: doi:10.5281/zenodo.1326520

- Date published: 2018-08-01

- Creator:

name | value
--- | ---
@type | Person
givenName | Ruben
familyName | Arslan
email | ruben.arslan@gmail.com
affiliation | @type: Organization, name: MPI Human Development, Berlin

name | value
--- | ---
keywords | ResponseSet, Q7, Q10

## Variables

### ResponseSet

ResponseSet

#### Distribution

Distribution of values for ResponseSet

0 missing values.

#### Summary statistics

name | data_type | n_missing | complete_rate | n_unique | empty | min | max | whitespace | ResponseSet | label
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
ResponseSet | character | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 | ResponseSet | NA

### Q7

How reasonable or unreasonable is the cost of courses/tuition at this university?

#### Distribution

Distribution of values for Q7

0 missing values.

#### Summary statistics

name | type | data_type | ordered | value_labels | n_missing | complete_rate | n_unique | top_counts | Q7 | selector | subSelector | questionText | doesForceResponse | questionName | label
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Q7 | MC | factor | TRUE | 1. Extremely reasonable, 2. Moderately reasonable, 3. Slightly reasonable, 4. Neither reasonable nor unreasonable, 5. Slightly unreasonable, 6. Moderately unreasonable, 7. Extremely unreasonable | 0 | 1 | 2 | Mod: 1, Sli: 1, Ext: 0, Nei: 0 | How reasonable or unreasonable is the cost of courses/tuition at this university? | SAVR | TX | How reasonable or unreasonable is the cost of courses/tuition at this university? | FALSE | Q7 | NA

#### Item

Item options
type | selector | subSelector | questionText | doesForceResponse | questionName
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
MC | SAVR | TX | How reasonable or unreasonable is the cost of courses/tuition at this university? | FALSE | Q7

#### Value labels

Response choices
name | value
--- | ---
1 | 1 , Extremely reasonable, Extremely reasonable, TRUE
2 | 2 , Moderately reasonable, Moderately reasonable, TRUE
3 | 3 , Slightly reasonable, Slightly reasonable, TRUE
4 | 4 , Neither reasonable nor unreasonable, Neither reasonable nor unreasonable, TRUE
5 | 5 , Slightly unreasonable, Slightly unreasonable, TRUE
6 | 6 , Moderately unreasonable, Moderately unreasonable, TRUE
7 | 7 , Extremely unreasonable, Extremely unreasonable, TRUE

### Q10

How helpful or unhelpful is the staff at the on-campus health center?

#### Distribution

Distribution of values for Q10

0 missing values.

#### Summary statistics

name | type | data_type | ordered | value_labels | n_missing | complete_rate | n_unique | top_counts | Q10 | selector | subSelector | questionText | doesForceResponse | questionName | label
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Q10 | MC | factor | TRUE | 1. Extremely helpful, 2. Moderately helpful, 3. Slightly helpful, 4. Neither helpful nor unhelpful, 5. Slightly unhelpful, 6. Moderately unhelpful, 7. Extremely unhelpful | 0 | 1 | 2 | Mod: 1, Ext: 1, Ext: 0, Sli: 0 | How helpful or unhelpful is the staff at the on-campus health center? | SAVR | TX | How helpful or unhelpful is the staff at the on-campus health center? | FALSE | Q10 | NA

#### Item

Item options
type | selector | subSelector | questionText | doesForceResponse | questionName
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
MC | SAVR | TX | How helpful or unhelpful is the staff at the on-campus health center? | FALSE | Q10

#### Value labels

Response choices
name | value
--- | ---
1 | 1 , Extremely helpful, Extremely helpful, TRUE
2 | 2 , Moderately helpful, Moderately helpful, TRUE
3 | 3 , Slightly helpful, Slightly helpful, TRUE
4 | 4 , Neither helpful nor unhelpful, Neither helpful nor unhelpful, TRUE
5 | 5 , Slightly unhelpful, Slightly unhelpful, TRUE
6 | 6 , Moderately unhelpful, Moderately unhelpful, TRUE
7 | 7 , Extremely unhelpful, Extremely unhelpful, TRUE

## Missingness report

### Codebook table

name | type | data_type | ordered | value_labels | n_missing | complete_rate | n_unique | empty | top_counts | min | max | whitespace | ResponseSet | Q7 | selector | subSelector | questionText | doesForceResponse | questionName | Q10 | label
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
ResponseSet | NA | character | NA | NA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | NA | 20 | 20 | 0 | ResponseSet | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA
Q7 | MC | factor | TRUE | 1. Extremely reasonable, 2. Moderately reasonable, 3. Slightly reasonable, 4. Neither reasonable nor unreasonable, 5. Slightly unreasonable, 6. Moderately unreasonable, 7. Extremely unreasonable | 0 | 1 | 2 | NA | Mod: 1, Sli: 1, Ext: 0, Nei: 0 | NA | NA | NA | NA | How reasonable or unreasonable is the cost of courses/tuition at this university? | SAVR | TX | How reasonable or unreasonable is the cost of courses/tuition at this university? | FALSE | Q7 | NA | NA
Q10 | MC | factor | TRUE | 1. Extremely helpful, 2. Moderately helpful, 3. Slightly helpful, 4. Neither helpful nor unhelpful, 5. Slightly unhelpful, 6. Moderately unhelpful, 7. Extremely unhelpful | 0 | 1 | 2 | NA | Mod: 1, Ext: 1, Ext: 0, Sli: 0 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | SAVR | TX | How helpful or unhelpful is the staff at the on-campus health center? | FALSE | Q10 | How helpful or unhelpful is the staff at the on-campus health center? | NA