write_sav() fails to set missing values

[dusadrian]

Information about missing values is lost, roundtrip reprex below

library(haven)
library(tibble)
test <- tibble(A = labelled_spss(1:10, c(Good = 1, Bad = 8, DK = 9, NR = 10), na_values = c(9, 10)))
test$A
# <labelled_spss<integer>[10]>
#  [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
# Missing values: 9, 10

# Labels:
#  value label
#      1  Good
#      8   Bad
#      9    DK
#     10    NR

write_sav(test, "test.sav")

testback <- read_sav("test.sav")
testback$A
# <labelled<double>[10]>
#  [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10

# Labels:
#  value label
#      1  Good
#      8   Bad
#      9    DK
#     10    NR

[gorcha]

HI @dusadrian,

This appears to be an issue in readstat - it supports writing missing values for doubles, but not for integers.
It'll need to be fixed in readstat before we can do anything in haven, I'll raise an issue over there.

In the mean time, as a work around you can convert to numeric before making it a labelled vector:

library(haven)
library(tibble)
test <- tibble(A = labelled_spss(as.numeric(1:10), c(Good = 1, Bad = 8, DK = 9, NR = 10), na_values = c(9, 10)))
test$A
#> <labelled_spss<double>[10]>
#>  [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
#> Missing values: 9, 10
#> 
#> Labels:
#>  value label
#>      1  Good
#>      8   Bad
#>      9    DK
#>     10    NR

write_sav(test, "test.sav")

testback <- read_sav("test.sav", user_na = TRUE)
testback$A
#> <labelled_spss<double>[10]>
#>  [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
#> Missing values: 9, 10
#> 
#> Labels:
#>  value label
#>      1  Good
#>      8   Bad
#>      9    DK
#>     10    NR

^{Created on 2021-08-04 by the reprex package (v2.0.0)}

[dusadrian]

Thanks @gorcha, that is a good workaround in the meantime. And hopefully, it will be solved in ReadStat soon.

[gorcha]

Hi @dusadrian - sorry, to clarify I think this issue should stay open in haven.

This change will still need to be made in haven, it just needs to be implemented in readstat first 🙂

[dusadrian]

Oh, I see. Alright then, I am reopening it to make sure it will be solved at some point.