Data Analysis

Data Analysis

Run an end-to-end data analysis in R through 5 phases.

Phase 1: Setup and Data Loading

• Read R code conventions from .claude/rules/r-code-conventions.md
• Create script with proper header (title, author, purpose, inputs, outputs)
• Load packages with library() (never require())
• Set set.seed() if stochastic elements are involved
• Load data using relative paths

Phase 2: Exploratory Data Analysis

• Summary statistics (mean, sd, min, max, N)
• Missingness patterns
• Distributions of key variables
• Bivariate relationships
• Time patterns (if panel data)
• Group comparisons
• Save diagnostics to output/diagnostics/

Phase 3: Main Analysis

• Use fixest for panel data with fixed effects (see /econometrics-r for detailed patterns)
• Use lm/glm for cross-section
• Cluster standard errors appropriately
• Run multiple specifications (simple to complex)
• Report both statistical and economic significance
• For causal inference (IV, DiD, RDD), see /causal-inference-r for diagnostics and modern estimators
• For spatial econometrics, see /econometrics-r for spdep/spatialreg patterns

Phase 4: Publication-Ready Output

• Tables: modelsummary (preferred) or stargazer, export as .tex and .html
• Figures: ggplot2 with project theme, explicit dimensions, white background, 300 DPI
• Export figures as .pdf and .png

Phase 5: Save and Review

• saveRDS() for all computed objects
• Run r-reviewer agent on generated script
• Address Critical/High issues

Script Structure Template

# ==============================================================================
# Title: [Analysis Name]
# Author: [Name]
# Date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
# Purpose: [What this script does]
# Inputs: [Data files]
# Outputs: [Tables, figures, RDS files]
# ==============================================================================

# 0. Setup ----
library(tidyverse)
library(fixest)
library(modelsummary)

# 1. Data Loading ----

# 2. Exploratory Analysis ----

# 3. Main Analysis ----

# 4. Tables and Figures ----

# 5. Export ----

All scripts saved to scripts/R/, all outputs to output/.