Build a Custom Sum-Score Composite Index

Lets you combine individual items from the bundled items dataset into your own sum-score composite(s), merged into your data by state and year. Each composite is the row-wise sum of the items you choose, computed within a single year (you cannot mix items from different years into one composite). To merge individual items without combining them, see item_stigmaR().

Usage

cust_stigmaR(df, state, year, cust_index, var_name, na_rm = FALSE)

Arguments

df

A data frame containing your data.

state

Character string. Name of the column in df containing two-letter state abbreviations (e.g., "IL", "CA").

year

Character vector. Years to merge in (e.g., c("2016", "2017")). Each custom index is computed separately for each requested year and added as a column named YYYY_varname.

cust_index

A character vector of item names to sum into a single custom index, or a list of such character vectors to build multiple custom indices at once. Valid item names are determined automatically from the columns of the bundled items dataset (every iat_sex_* mean column, excluding the iat_sex_n_* respondent-count columns). See names(stigmaR::items) for the full, current list.

var_name

Character vector of names for the new column(s), one per group in cust_index (i.e., length(var_name) must equal length(cust_index), or be 1 if cust_index is a single vector).

na_rm

Logical. If FALSE (default), a composite is NA for a given state-year if any of its component items are NA for that state-year. If TRUE, the composite is the sum of whatever component items are non-missing (and NA only if all are missing).

Value

The input data frame with new columns named YYYY_varname containing the summed custom index for each requested year and var_name.

References

Kim, S. & Todd, N. R. (2027). stigmaR: Enhancing Accessibility, Reproducibility, and Transparency of Structural Stigma Research.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# One custom index
new_df <- cust_stigmaR(
  df         = my_data,
  state      = "state_abbrev",
  year       = c("2016", "2017"),
  cust_index = c("iat_sex_imp_d", "iat_sex_exp_therm_gm"),
  var_name   = "my_custom_index"
)

# Multiple custom indices at once
new_df <- cust_stigmaR(
  df         = my_data,
  state      = "state_abbrev",
  year       = "2016",
  cust_index = list(
    c("iat_sex_imp_d", "iat_sex_exp_therm_gm"),
    c("iat_sex_exp_pol_marr", "iat_sex_exp_pol_legal", "iat_sex_exp_pol_adopt")
  ),
  var_name   = c("implicit_plus_therm", "policy_sum")
)
} # }