[R] How to represent tree-structured values

[Jeff Newmiller]

Really this depends on the analysis you want to perform.

In the past, I have used a super/sub two-column format as a compact, non-redundant representation for data entry, and after applying a recursive algorithm to convert this to a super/sub/level/id table where _all_ sub components have (duplicative) entries corresponding to each super component.

But there is always the recursive list structure that formats such as yaml and json functions typically return.

On May 29, 2022 9:54:44 PM PDT, Richard O'Keefe <raoknz using gmail.com> wrote:
>There is a kind of data I run into fairly often
>which I have never known how to represent in R,
>and nothing I've tried really satisfies me.
>
>Consider for example
> ...
> - injuries
>   ...
>   - injuries to limbs
>     ...
>     - injuries to extremities
>       ...
>       - injuries to hands
>         - injuries to dominant hand
>         - injuries to non-dominant hand
>       ...
>     ...
>   ...
>
>This isn't ordinal data, because there is no
>"left to right" order on the values.  But there
>IS a "part/whole" order, which an analysis should
>respect, so it's not pure nominal data either.
>
>As one particular example, if I want to
>tabulate data like this, an occurrence of one
>value should be counted as an occurrence of
>*every* superordinate value.
>
>Examples of such data include "why is this patient
>being treated", "what drug is this patient being
>treated with", "what geographic region is this
>school from", "what biological group does this
>insect belong to".
>
>So what is the recommended way to represent
>and the recommended way to analyse such data in R?
>
>	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.