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POR and version control for the solo data analyst
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  1. POR and version control for the solo data analyst
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    copied!<p>Many data analysts that I respect use version control. For example: </p> <ul> <li><a href="http://github.com/hadley/" rel="noreferrer">http://github.com/hadley/</a></li> <li>See comments on <a href="http://permut.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/revision-control-statistics-bleg/" rel="noreferrer">http://permut.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/revision-control-statistics-bleg/</a></li> </ul> <p>However, I'm evaluating whether adopting a version control system such as git would be worthwhile.</p> <p><b>A brief overview:</b> I'm a social scientist who uses R to analyse data for research publications. I don't currently produce R packages. My R code for a project typically includes a few thousand lines of code for data input, cleaning, manipulation, analyses, and output generation. Publications are typically written using LaTeX.</p> <p>With regards to version control there are many benefits which I have read about, yet they seem to be less relevant to the solo data analyst.</p> <ul> <li><b>Backup:</b> I have a backup system already in place. </li> <li><b>Forking and rewinding:</b> I've never felt the need to do this, but I can see how it could be useful (e.g., you are preparing multiple journal articles based on the same dataset; you are preparing a report that is updated monthly, etc)</li> <li><b>Collaboration:</b> Most of the time I am analysing data myself, thus, I wouldn't get the collaboration benefits of version control.</li> </ul> <p>There are also several potential costs involved with adopting version control:</p> <ul> <li>Time to evaluate and learn a version control system</li> <li>A possible increase in complexity over my current file management system</li> </ul> <p>However, I still have the feeling that I'm missing something. General guides on version control seem to be addressed more towards computer scientists than data analysts.</p> <p>Thus, specifically <b>in relation to data analysts</b> in circumstances similar to those listed above:</p> <ol> <li>Is version control worth the effort?</li> <li>What are the main pros and cons of adopting version control? </li> <li>What is a good strategy for getting started with version control for data analysis with R (e.g., examples, workflow ideas, software, links to guides)?</li> </ol>
 

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