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irw: R Package for the Item Response Warehouse

This repository hosts the R package irw, which provides programmatic access to the Item Response Warehouse (IRW), an open repository of harmonized item response data.

Installation 

# Install the development version of irw from GitHub
devtools::install_github("itemresponsewarehouse/Rpkg")

# Load the package
library(irw)

IMPORTANT: Redivis Authentication

The IRW tables are hosted on Redivis, a data management platform. To access these datasets, you’ll need to:

  1. Have a Redivis account (create one at https://redivis.com/?createAccount if you don’t have one).

  2. Authenticate using the Redivis R Client:

    1. When you first use a function in irw that connects to Redivis (e.g. irw_info()), a browser window will open, prompting you to sign in to your Redivis account.

    2. After signing in, click Allow to grant access for the Redivis R Client.

    3. Once authentication is successful, close the browser window. You will see the message “Authentication was successful” in the R console.

Note: You only need to authenticate once per session. For detailed instructions, refer to the Redivis R Client documentation.

Usage Examples 

# Get information about the IRW
irw_info() 

# View list of available tables in IRW
irw_list_tables()

# Filter tables containing the variable `rt`
irw_filter(var = "rt")
# fetch an IRW table
x = irw_fetch("4thgrade_math_sirt")

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

  • No Browser Pop-up: If the browser window doesn’t open automatically, check your pop-up blocker settings.

  • Authentication errors: If you see an authentication error, try clearing your browser cookies and attempting again.

Feedback and Contributions

If you encounter issues or have suggestions for improving irw, please submit them on the GitHub Issues page. Contributions are welcome!