[R] how to read BRFSS file

[David Winsemius]

On Nov 21, 2009, at 8:41 PM, David Winsemius wrote:

>
> On Nov 21, 2009, at 7:58 PM, chloe yoon wrote:
>
>> hello,
>> I am trying to do exploratory factor analysis with BRFSS dataset (
>> http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/technical_infodata/surveydata/2008.htm)  
>> for a
>> couple of days, but I was not able to do that and got frustrated. Can
>
>> anybody help me with step by step guide? BRFSS dataset provides  
>> ASCII or SAS
>> format.
>
> I am not sure I have the time to create a step by step guide for a  
> dataset that is 47 MB long which I don't intend to use. I have  
> experience with loading datasets from NCHS from NHANES. Which  
> dataset do you intend to use? Perhaps if you posed more discrete  
> questions, then people could chime in as you proceeded stap by step.
>
> The data layout for the ASCII data is described on:
> http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/technical_infodata/surveydata/2008/varLayout_table_08.htm
>
> So it looks like you will be using either read.sas or read.fwf? Have  
> you tried either one? What experiences or preparation have you you  
> to report?

Actually, that would be foreign:::read.xport, not read.sas.

After downloading andunzipping the sas xport file, the following  
worked fairly painlessly. There would also be the option of using  
Hmisc:::sasxport.get

library(foreign)
  brfss <- read.xport("/Users/davidwinsemius/Downloads/CDBRFS08.XPT")

-- 


David Winsemius, MD
Heritage Laboratories
West Hartford, CT