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Explore the files associated with a GESIS Search record. The output of this function may guide you in selecting a file to download using gesis_data.

gesis_file_types gives an overview of the file categories, i.e. datasets, questionnaires, codebooks or other documents, that are available for a specific record.

Usage

gesis_files(record, type = "dataset")

gesis_file_types(record)

Arguments

record

Object of class gesis_record as returned by gesis_search and gesis_get or dataset ID. If a dataset ID is passed, the function performs a call to gesis_get.

type

Type of data to download. A list of file types available for a given record can be retrieved using gesis_file_types. Common types include:

  • data: Research or survey dataset, usually in a Stata or SPSS data format.

  • questionnaire: Survey questionnaire, usually in PDF format

  • codebook: Survey codebook, usually in PDF format

  • report: Method, project or technical reports, usually in PDF format.

  • syntax: Code files, e.g. for replication or data cleaning

  • other: Other files like READMEs, method reports, or variable lists, usually in PDF format.

  • uncategorized: Other files that are not categorized, usually used for external links to full texts (DOI, URN)

Defaults to "data" because downloading PDF or HTML files rarely makes sense in R. Note that "data", "report", and "other" are keywords that cover all types of datasets, written reports, and other documents respectively.

Value

gesis_files returns a list of class gesis_file containing information about the file name, format, size, download URL, and whether the file needs a login to download.

gesis_file_types returns a character vector containing the file types that are available. If "none", files are available but not categorized. If NULL, no files are available for download.

Examples

# check what file types are available
gesis_file_types("ZA3753")
#> [1] "dataset"       "questionnaire" "codebook"      "otherdocs"    

# show all dataset files for ALLBUS 1998
gesis_files("ZA3753")
#> <gesis_files>
#> → File 1
#> Label: ZA3753.por
#> Format: application/x-spss-por
#> File size: 3.53 MB
#> Login required? yes
#> ────
#> → File 2
#> Label: ZA3753.sav
#> Format: application/x-spss-sav
#> File size: 2.55 MB
#> Login required? yes
#> ────
#> → File 3
#> Label: ZA3753_missing.sps
#> File size: 0.02 MB
#> Login required? yes
#> ────
#> → File 4
#> Label: ZA3753_variable-list.txt
#> File size: 0.02 MB
#> Login required? yes
#> ────
#> → File 5
#> Label: ZA3753_v1-0-0.dta.zip
#> File size: 0.64 MB
#> Login required? yes

# show all of its questionnaire files
gesis_files("ZA3753", type = "questionnaire")
#> <gesis_files>
#> → File 1
#> Label: ZA3000_fb.pdf
#> Format: pdf
#> Login required? no
#> ────
#> → File 2
#> Label: ZA3753_q.pdf
#> Format: pdf
#> Login required? no

# other record types can have files, too
type <- gesis_file_types("pretest-129")
gesis_files("pretest-129", type = "uncategorized")
#> <gesis_files>
#> → File 1
#> Label: Projektbericht
#> Login required? no