This repository contains an R script to clean and preprocess .csv data exported from Qualtrics surveys. The script removes unnecessary columns, formats the data, and exports a cleaned version to an Excel file.
Also available as a web app!
The script was created for my own research purposes, but I hope it can be useful to others as well. If you have any suggestions or improvements, please feel free to contribute.
When exporting survey data from Qualtrics, the dataset often includes many unnecessary columns that aren't needed for analysis. This script helps streamline the process of cleaning such datasets by:
-
Removing default columns (e.g., location, Language, StartDate, EndDate, etc.)
-
Eliminating usually uneeded timing variables (e.g., First Click, Last Click, etc.)
-
Adding a unique participant ID as a first column (useful for merging datasets later on)
-
Exporting the cleaned data into a new csv file.
To use this script, you need to have R installed on your computer. You can download R from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). You can run it directly or through an IDE, such as RStudio (which you can get at RStudio's website). All needed packages are installed and loaded at the beginning of the script.
The script expects the dataset to be called "data.csv" and to be in the project's working directory. Change the name of your data file and move it, or change the script accordingly.
I have also created a Shiny app that allows you to upload your Qualtrics data and clean it without having to run the script in R. You can find the app here