We import a dataset into a statistical software package, run a procedure to get all results, then copy and paste selected pieces into a typesetting program, add a few descriptions, and finish a report. This is a common practice in writing statistical reports. There are obvious dangers and disadvantages in this process.
1. It is error-prone due to too much manual work.
2. It requires lots of human effort to do tedious jobs such as copying results across documents.
3. The workflow is barely recordable especially when it involves GUI (Graphical User Interface) operations, therefore it is difficult to reproduce.
4. A tiny change of the data source in the future will require the author(s) to go through the same procedure again, which ...
Get Dynamic Documents with R and knitr, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.