Identify terms after the first completion term — record

For each student's term in a data frame, determine its relationship to the student's first degree term (pre-degree, first-degree, or post-first-degree) and add columns that support the findings. Post-first-baccalaureate terms are typically excluded from the term, course, and degree data tables.

Usage

record_bracket(dframe, midf_table = degree)

Arguments

dframe: Data frame or data frame extension (e.g., data.table or tibble) with required variables {mcid} and one of {term, term_course, term_degree}.
midf_table: degree data frame with required variables {mcid, term_degree}.

Value

Data frame with the following properties:

Data frame class is preserved. Groups and keys are not preserved.
Row order is preserved. Rows with NA values in any of the required variables are removed. Duplicated rows are removed.
New columns are added or replace existing columns of the same name (if any). Other columns are not modified. The following variables are added:
- term_1st_degree Character. Term of a student's first baccalaureate, encoded YYYYT or, if no degree recorded, NA. Joined from the term_degree variable in midf_table.
- bracket Character, indicating that a term belongs to one of two groups: "undergrad" terms are those leading up to and including the term in which a student completes their first degree; and "post-bacc" (post-baccalaureate) for all terms after the first degree.
Groups and keys are not preserved.

Details

In a typical analysis, one is interested in a student's progress up to and including the term in which they earn their first degree or degrees. Any terms later than the first baccalaureate can usually be excluded from study.

Examples

# select min required columns
term <- toy_term[, .(mcid, term)]
course <- toy_course[, .(mcid, term_course)]
degree <- toy_degree[, .(mcid, term_degree)]

# labeling terms by group: undergrad & grad
term <- record_bracket(term, midf_table = degree)
course <- record_bracket(course, midf_table = degree)
degree <- record_bracket(degree, midf_table = degree)

# results
term[order(-bracket)]
#>                 mcid   term term_1st_degree   bracket
#>               <char> <char>          <char>    <char>
#>    1: MCID3111142897  19881            <NA> undergrad
#>    2: MCID3111157634  19881            <NA> undergrad
#>    3: MCID3111157634  19883            <NA> undergrad
#>    4: MCID3111157634  19891            <NA> undergrad
#>    5: MCID3111157634  19893            <NA> undergrad
#>   ---                                                
#> 1817: MCID3112212659  20085           20083 post-bacc
#> 1818: MCID3112217217  20091           20083 post-bacc
#> 1819: MCID3112219157  20111           20091 post-bacc
#> 1820: MCID3112291627  20101           20093 post-bacc
#> 1821: MCID3112352960  20121           20114 post-bacc
term[, .N, by = "bracket"][order(-N)]
#>      bracket     N
#>       <char> <int>
#> 1: undergrad  1802
#> 2: post-bacc    19

course[order(-bracket)]
#>                 mcid term_course term_1st_degree   bracket
#>               <char>      <char>          <char>    <char>
#>    1: MCID3111142897       19881            <NA> undergrad
#>    2: MCID3111142897       19883            <NA> undergrad
#>    3: MCID3111157634       19881            <NA> undergrad
#>    4: MCID3111157634       19883            <NA> undergrad
#>    5: MCID3111157634       19891            <NA> undergrad
#>   ---                                                     
#> 2023: MCID3112217217       20085           20083 post-bacc
#> 2024: MCID3112217217       20091           20083 post-bacc
#> 2025: MCID3112219157       20111           20091 post-bacc
#> 2026: MCID3112291627       20101           20093 post-bacc
#> 2027: MCID3112352960       20121           20114 post-bacc
course[, .N, by = "bracket"][order(-N)]
#>      bracket     N
#>       <char> <int>
#> 1: undergrad  2004
#> 2: post-bacc    23

degree[order(-bracket)]
#>                mcid term_degree term_1st_degree   bracket
#>              <char>      <char>          <char>    <char>
#>   1: MCID3111169601       19903           19903 undergrad
#>   2: MCID3111169729       19901           19901 undergrad
#>   3: MCID3111213539       19923           19923 undergrad
#>   4: MCID3111213856       19911           19911 undergrad
#>   5: MCID3111254225       19923           19923 undergrad
#>  ---                                                     
#> 189: MCID3112727716       20171           20171 undergrad
#> 190: MCID3112749981       20173           20173 undergrad
#> 191: MCID3112751130       20171           20171 undergrad
#> 192: MCID3112839623       20181           20181 undergrad
#> 193: MCID3112012180       20151           20043 post-bacc
degree[, .N, by = "bracket"][order(-N)]
#>      bracket     N
#>       <char> <int>
#> 1: undergrad   192
#> 2: post-bacc     1