pattern.checks

The goal of pattern.checks is to identify entries with patterned responses for psychometric scales. The patterns included in the package are:

Identical responses: e.g., a, a, a
Ascending responses: e.g., a, b, c
Descending responses: e.g., c, b, a
Alternative patterns: e.g., a, b, a, b (ABAB)
Repeating sequences: e.g., a, b, c, a, b, c (ABCABC)

Installation

You can install the development version of pattern.checks like so:

# Install devtools if not already installed
install.packages("devtools")

# Use devtools to install the development version
devtools::install_github("JZL-CK/pattern.checks")

library(pattern.checks)

You can install the released version of pattern.checks from CRAN with:

install.packages("pattern.checks")

Example

Here is a basic example demonstrating how to identify participants with a specific pattern in their responses:

Identical Responses

library(pattern.checks)

# Example dataset
data <- data.frame(
  V1 = c(1, 2, 3, 1, 1),
  V2 = c(1, 3, 2, 1, 1),
  V3 = c(1, 4, 1, 1, 1)
)

# Identify participants with identical responses across columns 1 to 3
result <- pattern.id(data, 1:3)
print(result)
#> $participants
#> [1] 1 4 5
#> 
#> $responses
#>   V1 V2 V3
#> 1  1  1  1
#> 4  1  1  1
#> 5  1  1  1

Ascending Responses

# Identify participants with responses in ascending order
result <- pattern.as(data, 1:3)
print(result)
#> $participants
#> [1] 2
#> 
#> $responses
#>   V1 V2 V3
#> 2  2  3  4

Descending Responses

# Identify participants with responses in descending order
result <- pattern.ds(data, 1:3)
print(result)
#> $participants
#> [1] 3
#> 
#> $responses
#>   V1 V2 V3
#> 3  3  2  1

ABAB Pattern

# Identify participants with ABAB pattern responses
result <- pattern.abab(data, 1:3)
print(result)
#> $participants
#> integer(0)
#> 
#> $responses
#> [1] V1 V2 V3
#> <0 rows> (or 0-length row.names)

ABCABC Pattern

# Identify participants with ABCABC pattern responses
result <- pattern.abcabc(data, 1:3)
print(result)
#> $participants
#> [1] 2 3
#> 
#> $responses
#>   V1 V2 V3
#> 2  2  3  4
#> 3  3  2  1

Note

Each function returns a list with two elements:

participants: A vector of row indices for participants with the specified pattern.
responses: A data frame containing their responses for the specified columns.

For example, the output for pattern.id might look like this:

$participants
[1] 1 4

$responses
  V1 V2 V3
1  1  1  1
4  1  1  1

You can use these functions to systematically identify patterned responses in psychometric data and address potential response biases.

Reference

If you use the pattern.checks package in your research, please cite it as:

C K, J. (2025). pattern.checks: A package to identify patterned responses in psychometric scales. R package version 1.0. Available at: [https://github.com/JZL-CK/pattern.checks].

For any queries and suggestions, contact me via jzlckclt@gmail.com