Get 1. Working With Multiple Observations: Long Form And Wide Form 3 ...

A wide dataset will have one record for each individual. The observations made at different time points are coded as different columns. In the wide format every measure that varies in time occupies a set of columns. In the long format there will be multiple records for each individual.

A wide format has values that do not repeat in the first column. A long format has values that do repeat in the first column.

Panel datsets can be organized in mainly two forms: the long form has a column for each variable and a row for each individual-period; the wide form has a column for each variable-period and a row for each individual.

Another way to structure panel data would be the wide format where one row represents one observational unit for all points in time (for the example, the wide format would have only two (first example) or three (second example) rows of data with additional columns for each time-varying variable (income, age).

Introduction of wide and long data A dataset can be written in two different formats: wide and long. A wide format has values that do not repeat in the first column. A long format has values that do repeat in the first column. We can see that in the wide format there is no repetitive value in the first column.

Making data 'tidy' often means transforming the table from a “wide” format into a “long” format. Long format is efficient to use in data analysis and visualisation and can also be considered “computer readable”.

When there are multiple measurements of the same subject, across time or using different tools, the data is often described as being in "wide" format if there is one observation row per subject with each measurement present as a different variable and "long" format if there is one observation row per measurement (thus, ...

Each format works best for certain tasks: the long format allows data to be stored more densely, while the wide format has more explanatory power if tabular formats are required in a report. It's up to you to choose which format works best depending on what you expect to accomplish.