{colleyRstats}: Functions to Streamline Statistical Analysis and Reporting

Created by Mark Colley

Status Usage Miscellaneous
R build status Total downloads codecov
lifecycle Daily downloads DOI

colleyRstats is a collection of custom R functions that streamline statistical analysis and result reporting. Built upon popular R packages such as ggstatsplot and ARTool, this collection offers a wide array of tools for simplifying reproducible analyses, generating high-quality visualizations, and producing APA-compliant outputs.

The primary goal of this package is to significantly reduce repetitive coding efforts, allowing you to focus on interpreting results. Whether you’re dealing with ANOVA assumptions, reporting effect sizes, or creating publication-ready visualizations, colleyRstats makes these tasks easier.

Key Features

Installation

Type Command
Release install.packages("colleyRstats")
Development remotes::install_github("M-Colley/colleyRstats")

Getting Started

The vignettes walk through the main workflows end-to-end:

The quickest way to see what the package does is the one-call pipeline:

library(colleyRstats)

result <- analyze_and_report(mtcars, dv = "mpg", iv = "cyl")
result$plot       # ggstatsplot figure (parametric/non-parametric auto-selected)
result$sentences  # methods sentence + omnibus result + post-hoc comparisons

Session setup

colleyRstats_setup() applies the package’s ggplot2 theme so your figures come out with consistent typography:

library(colleyRstats)

colleyRstats_setup()

It can also register the package’s conflicted preferences – dplyr::filter() over stats::filter(), psych::describe() over Hmisc::describe(), and so on. That part is opt-in, and the call belongs after every library() call in your script:

library(colleyRstats)
library(easystats)
library(dplyr)

colleyRstats_setup(set_conflicts = TRUE)   # last

The ordering matters in both directions. Activating conflicted replaces library() for the rest of the session, and meta-packages such as easystats cannot be attached once it has. And conflicted resolves only those names that are ambiguous among the packages attached at the time, so a call made before the rest of your library() calls has less to work with. See ?colleyRstats_setup.

Summary of Benefits


Primary Functions

Naming. Every function below has a snake_case name with a report_* / plot_* / check_* prefix, which is the spelling this documentation uses and the one to reach for in new code – the prefixes make the API discoverable through autocomplete. The original camelCase spellings – reportART(), generateEffectPlot(), checkAssumptionsForAnova() and the rest – are superseded but remain fully supported and are not going away, so existing scripts keep working unchanged. Both names refer to the same function object and share one help page.

score_questionnaire

Applies a published questionnaire’s own scoring key to raw item columns: reverse-coding, the recoding it prescribes (centring a semantic differential to -3..+3, zero-basing the SUS), its subscale structure, and its published weights.

score_questionnaire(study, "sus", prefix = "sus_")
#>    SUS Usability Learnability
#> 1 42.5    34.375         75.0
#> 2 40.0    40.625         37.5
#> 3 55.0    59.375         37.5

# Any sheet, scored onto the range the instrument is reported on
score_questionnaire(tlx, "nasa_tlx", scale = c(1, 21))
#>   Mental_Demand Physical_Demand Temporal_Demand Performance Effort Frustration     RTLX
#> 1            65               5              50          25     60          40 40.83333

Ten instruments ship: NASA-TLX (raw), SUS, UEQ and UEQ-S, TiA, AttrakDiff 2, IPQ, SSQ, FMS, MISC. list_questionnaires() lists them, questionnaire_items() shows one instrument’s items and scoring notes, and define_questionnaire() registers your own.

Verify the mapping before you trust the scores. Item numbers, order and polarity belong to the sheet your participants actually saw — survey tools renumber items, translations reorder them, short forms drop them. This package applies the published key, so a shifted or re-ordered export scores silently, plausibly, and wrongly. R says so too: a caution prints alongside the mapping the first time each instrument is scored in a session. Read it, and check:

check_questionnaire(study, "sus", prefix = "sus_")
#> System Usability Scale (SUS) -- Brooke (1996); Lewis & Sauro (2009), HCII
#> Assumed response range: 1-5 (the instrument's own; pass `scale` if your survey differed)
#>
#> Item mapping (verify against the survey your participants saw):
#>  item  code column     subscale reverse observed_min observed_max n_missing
#>     1  sus1  sus_1    Usability   FALSE            1            4         0
#>     2  sus2  sus_2    Usability    TRUE            2            5         0
#>     3  sus3  sus_3    Usability   FALSE            2            3         0
#>     4  sus4  sus_4 Learnability    TRUE            1            5         0
#>   ...

Related: score_reliability() for Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega per subscale, computed on the reverse-coded items so a negative alpha means a real problem; reverse_code(); and summarize_sickness(), which reduces a repeated FMS or MISC rating to peak, mean, final value, area under the curve and time to threshold. See vignette("scoring-questionnaires").

recommend_test() stops at advice. fit_recommended() carries it through: coerces the outcome into the class the model family needs, builds the random-effect term, fits, computes the post-hoc contrasts with the machinery that matches the fit, and produces the manuscript sentence.

fit <- fit_recommended(data, outcome = "rating", predictors = "condition", cluster = "participant")
#> Coerced `rating` to an ordered factor with 4 levels (2 < 3 < 4 < ...).
#> Fitting: Cumulative Link Mixed Model (CLMM) via ordinal::clmm().

fit$text
#> A cumulative link mixed model was fitted for rating.
#> The effect of \textit{conditionB} on rating was not significant
#>   ($OR = 2.83$, 95\% CI $[0.92, 8.69]$, $z = 1.81$, \p{0.070}).
#> The effect of \textit{conditionC} on rating was significant
#>   ($OR = 21.38$, 95\% CI $[5.36, 85.29]$, $z = 4.34$, \pminor{0.001}).

as.data.frame(fit$contrasts)   # Holm-adjusted pairwise comparisons
#>  contrast estimate    SE  df z.ratio p.value
#>  A - B       -1.04 0.573 Inf   -1.81  0.0697
#>  A - C       -3.06 0.706 Inf   -4.34 <0.0001
#>  B - C       -2.02 0.640 Inf   -3.16  0.0032

It covers cumulative link models with and without random effects, linear and generalized linear mixed models, GLMs, ART, nparLD, multinomial regression, and the classical ANOVA / Welch / Kruskal-Wallis / Wilcoxon tests.

One thing worth knowing: an outcome whose scores stay whole numbers is taken for a count and fitted with a Poisson model. That catches the six raw NASA-TLX subscales, a single MISC rating, and item-level ratings — but not SUS or RTLX, whose multipliers and means make them fractional and therefore continuous. Pass outcome_type = "continuous" (or "ordinal") when the classification is wrong; use_study_project() writes those declarations for you.

use_study_project

Scaffolds a study analysis as a reproducible pipeline rather than a directory of scripts, so every study in a group has the same shape:

use_study_project("~/studies/av-communication", questionnaires = c("nasa_tlx", "sus"))
_targets.R              the pipeline: which stage depends on what
R/read.R                reads the raw export, and nothing else
R/prepare.R             cleaning, exclusions, questionnaire scoring
R/analysis.R            the models, and the LaTeX the manuscript reads
R/figures.R             figures at publication sizes
report/report.qmd       a Quarto report of everything the pipeline produced
paper/generated/        generated .tex snippets -- the manuscript \input{}s these
data-raw/               the raw export, never edited by hand
renv.lock               pinned package versions

It ships synthetic example data with a column per item of every instrument you name, so targets::tar_make() runs end to end before any real data exists. Re-running it on a live project adds missing pieces without touching your work.

check_assumptions_anova

This function suite checks normality and homogeneity of variance assumptions for ANOVA models. Takes a vector of factors. For details on assumptions checking, refer to Datanovia.

Example:

check_assumptions_anova(data = main_df, y = "dependent_var", factors = c("factor1", "factor2"))

plot_within_stats_asterisk and plot_between_stats_asterisk

These functions include APA-compliant asterisks (e.g., *** for p < 0.001) on your ggwithinstats or ggbetweenstats plots. They automatically adjust for the appropriate test based on the data’s normality.

Note: Avoid using these functions if your data has more than two groups, as geom_signif does not support more than two groups.

plot_within_stats_asterisk Plot Example

plot_effect

Generates a plot that emphasizes either main effects or interaction effects, with clear formatting and options for publication-ready visuals. This function supports customizing group colors, axis labels, and plot size.

Example:

plot_effect(df = main_df, x = "factor1", y = "dependent_var", fillColourGroup = "group", ytext = "Y Label", xtext = "X Label", legendPos = c(0.1, 0.2), shownEffect = "interaction")
Effect Plot Example

reportNPAV

Generates APA-compliant LaTeX output for within-subject designs analyzed using np.anova. The function handles both main and interaction effects. The necessary LaTeX commands are:

\newcommand{\F}[3]{$F({#1},{#2})={#3}$}
\newcommand{\p}{\textit{p=}}
\newcommand{\pminor}{\textit{p$<$}}

Deprecated: reportNPAV() is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Use report_art() with ARTool instead.

Example:

model <- np.anova(tlx_mental ~ factor1 * factor2 + Error(Subject / factor1), data = main_df)
reportNPAV(model, "Dependent Variable")

report_nparld

Reports the model produced by nparLD in APA-compliant format. For factorial non-parametric designs, the Aligned Rank Transform (report_art() with ARTool) is usually the more general choice.

report_mean_sd

For each level of an independent variable, this function calculates the mean and standard deviation of a dependent variable and returns them in APA-compliant LaTeX format:

\newcommand{\m}{\textit{M=}}
\newcommand{\sd}{\textit{SD=}}

Example:

report_mean_sd(main_df, iv = "factor1", dv = "dependent_var")

report_dunn_test and report_dunn_test_table

This function summarizes the results of FSA::dunnTest objects in text or table form. Both versions output LaTeX-ready results:

\newcommand{\padjminor}{\textit{p$_{adj}<$}}
\newcommand{\padj}{\textit{p$_{adj}$=}}

Example:

d <- dunnTest(dependent_var ~ factor1, data = main_df, method = "holm")
report_dunn_test(main_df, d, iv = "factor1", dv = "dependent_var")

report_art

Generates LaTeX-formatted results from art models for factorial designs. The necessary LaTeX commands are:

\newcommand{\F}[3]{$F({#1},{#2})={#3}$}
\newcommand{\p}{\textit{p=}}
\newcommand{\pminor}{\textit{p$<$}}

Example:

model <- art(formula = dependent_var ~ factor1 * factor2 + Error(Subject / (factor1 * factor2)), data = main_df)
report_art(anova(model), "Dependent Variable")

Follow up significant effects with report_art_con() / report_art_con_table(), which report the pairwise art.con() contrasts as sentences or a LaTeX table (including rank-biserial effect sizes).

add_pareto_emoa_column

This function adds a Pareto front classification column to a dataset, useful in multi-objective optimization scenarios. add_pareto_moocore_column() is the equivalent based on the moocore package (adds a PARETO_MOOCORE column).

Attention: must be done per User - Condition etc group.

Example:

# This would do it over **all** participants and **all** conditions
objectives <- c("objective1", "objective2", "objective3")
main_df <- add_pareto_emoa_column(main_df, objectives)

# This would do it **per** participant and **per** condition combination
# (so far, does not natively support piping ``|>'')
main_df <- main_df |> 
  group_by(User_ID, ConditionID) |> 
  mutate(PARETO_EMOA = add_pareto_emoa_column(pick(everything()), objectives = objectives)$PARETO_EMOA) |> 
  ungroup()

plot_mobo and plot_mobo2

Creates a multi-objective optimization plot, visualizing sampling and optimization phases. This is particularly useful for visualizing iterations in optimization problems. plot_mobo2 is appropriate when using https://github.com/Pascal-Jansen/Bayesian-Optimization-for-Unity/releases starting version 1.1.0.

Example:

plot_mobo2(data = main_df, x = "Iteration", y = "objective1", fillColourGroup = "group", ytext = "Y Axis Label")

Example Plot: MOBO Plot Example

animate_mobo2

Writes the same plot as a video, one frame per iteration, so a talk or a supplement can show the run building up instead of only its end state. The axes, phase guides and legend are taken from the complete data, so only the points, intervals and fitted line move. Requires the av package; the file extension picks the container (.mp4, .gif, …).

Example:

animate_mobo2(main_df, x = "Iteration", y = "objective1", filename = "mobo.mp4", ytext = "Y Axis Label")

remove_outliers_REI

Calculates the Response Entropy Index (REI) and flags suspicious entries based on their REI percentile. This function is useful for identifying outliers in Likert scale data.

Example:

result <- remove_outliers_REI(main_df, header = TRUE, variables = "var1,var2,var3", range = c(1, 5))

replace_values

Replaces specified values in a data frame with custom replacements. This can be used to clean or preprocess your data.

Example:

new_df <- replace_values(main_df, to_replace = c("bad_val1", "bad_val2"), replace_with = c("good_val1", "good_val2"))

Using NPAV (Lüpsen) with this package

reportNPAV() formats results from Lüpsen’s nonparametric ANOVA (np.anova) output. Deprecated: reportNPAV() is deprecated and will be removed in a future release; use report_art() with ARTool instead. NPAV is not shipped with this package, and it is loaded manually by the user from Lüpsen’s site: https://www.uni-koeln.de/~luepsen/R/.

This step requires internet access, so it is documented here (not in @examples, which should run offline during package checks).

# Download Lüpsen's NPAV bundle (anova.lib) and load it into a dedicated environment
npav_file <- tempfile(fileext = ".lib")
utils::download.file(
  url      = "https://www.uni-koeln.de/~luepsen/R/anova.lib",
  destfile = npav_file,
  mode     = "wb",
  quiet    = TRUE
)

npav_env <- new.env(parent = base::emptyenv())
base::load(npav_file, envir = npav_env)

# Example
set.seed(1)
main_df <- data.frame(
  UserID     = factor(rep(1:12, each = 8)),
  Video      = factor(rep(c("V1", "V2"), times = 48)),
  gesture    = factor(rep(c("g1", "g2"), each = 4, times = 12)),
  eHMI       = factor(rep(c("off", "on"), each = 2, times = 24)),
  tlx_mental = rnorm(96)
)

model <- npav_env$np.anova(
  tlx_mental ~ Video * gesture * eHMI + Error(UserID / (gesture * eHMI)),
  data = main_df
)

reportNPAV(model, dv = "mental workload")

If download.file() is blocked in your environment, download anova.lib manually from the NPAV page and point npav_file to the local path

Contact

For questions or remarks, please contact Mark Colley.

Citations

@misc{colley2025rstats,
  author       = {Mark Colley},
  title        = {colleyRstats: Functions to Streamline Statistical Analysis and Reporting},
  year         = {2025},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/M-Colley/colleyRstats}},
  note         = {A collection of custom R functions for streamlining statistical analysis, visualizations, and APA-compliant reporting.},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.18046754},
  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18046754},
}

Contributing

I am happy to receive any bug reports, suggestions, questions, and contributions to fix problems and add features. Please use the GitHub issues system. Pull Requests for contributions are encouraged.

The following presents some simple ways in which you can contribute (in increasing order of commitment):