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Join Matched Pairs with Original Data

Source: R/matching_join.R
join_matched.Rd

Creates an analysis-ready dataset by joining matched pairs with variables from the original left and right datasets. This eliminates the need for manual joins and provides a convenient format for downstream analysis.

Usage

join_matched(
  result,
  left,
  right,
  left_vars = NULL,
  right_vars = NULL,
  left_id = "id",
  right_id = "id",
  suffix = c("_left", "_right"),
  include_distance = TRUE,
  include_pair_id = TRUE,
  include_block_id = TRUE
)

Arguments

result

A matching_result object from match_couples() or greedy_couples()

left

The original left dataset

right

The original right dataset

left_vars

Character vector of variable names to include from left. If NULL (default), includes all variables except the ID column.

right_vars

Character vector of variable names to include from right. If NULL (default), includes all variables except the ID column.

left_id

Name of the ID column in left dataset (default: "id")

right_id

Name of the ID column in right dataset (default: "id")

suffix

Character vector of length 2 specifying suffixes for left and right variables (default: c("_left", "_right"))

include_distance

Include the matching distance in output (default: TRUE)

include_pair_id

Include pair_id column (default: TRUE)

include_block_id

Include block_id if blocking was used (default: TRUE)

Value

A tibble with one row per matched pair, containing:

  • pair_id: Sequential pair identifier (if include_pair_id = TRUE)

  • left_id: ID from left dataset

  • right_id: ID from right dataset

  • distance: Matching distance (if include_distance = TRUE)

  • block_id: Block identifier (if blocking used and include_block_id = TRUE)

  • Variables from left dataset (with left suffix)

  • Variables from right dataset (with right suffix)

Details

This function simplifies the common workflow of joining matched pairs with original data. Instead of manually merging result$pairs with left and right datasets, join_matched() handles the joins automatically and applies consistent naming conventions.

When variables appear in both left and right datasets, suffixes are appended to distinguish them (e.g., "age_left" and "age_right"). This makes it easy to compute differences or use both values in models.

Examples

# Basic usage
left <- data.frame(
  id = 1:5,
  treatment = 1,
  age = c(25, 30, 35, 40, 45),
  income = c(45000, 52000, 48000, 61000, 55000)
)

right <- data.frame(
  id = 6:10,
  treatment = 0,
  age = c(24, 29, 36, 41, 44),
  income = c(46000, 51500, 47500, 60000, 54000)
)

result <- match_couples(left, right, vars = c("age", "income"))
matched_data <- join_matched(result, left, right)
head(matched_data)

# Specify which variables to include
matched_data <- join_matched(
  result, left, right,
  left_vars = c("treatment", "age", "income"),
  right_vars = c("age", "income"),
  suffix = c("_treated", "_control")
)

# Without distance or pair_id
matched_data <- join_matched(
  result, left, right,
  include_distance = FALSE,
  include_pair_id = FALSE
)