CONFIGURE YOUR KEY VARIABLES
AutoDiscovery must be properly configured to carry out an efficient discovery process and to provide relevant results.
Consolidation variables
When a data file is imported in AutoDiscovery, it is automatically consolidated with the rest of data already imported. To do that, AutoDiscovery makes use of the "consolidation variables" previously configured by you.
Consolidation variables are the columns in your data files that uniquely identify each of your experiment subjects. E.g. If your experiment consists in studying the effect of a substance in a variety of patients, your consolidation variables would probably be those that identify each patient (code, name or similar). However, if a particular patient is provided with different substances then the consolidation variables might include a unique trial identification (trial number or similar).
What is really important is that a particular combination of values of the consolidation variables might not be repeated in different rows of your consolidated table.
Another relevant fact is that every data file imported should contain at least one (if not all) of the variables configured as "consolidation variables". Otherwise, the data file will simply be appended to the end of the already consolidated data table.
To configure your consolidation variables:
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Import one data file in your project. When the first data file is imported, the consolidation process is not executed.
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Click the AutoDiscovery's title bar to drop down the menu and click the "Configure Variables" button.
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Select the consolidation variables in the list of variables on the left side of the window. If more than one variable is to be selected, keep the Ctrl key pressed as you click on them.
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Click the "Assign" button located under the "Data consolidated by" field within the "Key Variables" section on the right side of the window.
The selected variables are included in the "Data consolidated by" field.
To remove one consolidation variable:
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Check the box corresponding to the variable within the "Data consolidated by" field.
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Press the "Unassign" button to remove the variable.
Subject groups variables
The discovery process consists in finding out relevant correlations among every combination of numerical variables (and ratios). These correlations are evaluated in every subset of your consolidated data which are obtained by filtering the samples using the different values of the qualitative variables configured within the following fields of the "Key Variables" section:
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Experiment phases: variables that uniquely identify the different phases in the research project.
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Experiment sessions: variables that uniquely identify the different working days in the research project.
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Subject groups: variables that uniquely identify the different groups of experimental subjects.
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Subject identification: variables that uniquely identify each of the experimental subjects in the project.
Notice that this is not a mandatory configuration but it really helps AutoDiscovery to improve the discovery process and the results provided.
However, the more key variables are configured the more subsets will be analysed and thus the more time will be required to complete the discovery process.
To configure these key variables:
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Import and consolidate all the experiment data files.
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Click the AutoDiscovery's title bar to drop down the menu and click the "Configure Variables" button.
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Select the key variables in the list of variables on the left side of the window. If more than one variable is to be selected, keep the Ctrl key pressed as you click on them.
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Click the "Assign" button located under the corresponding field within the "Key Variables" section on the right side of the window.
To remove one key variable:
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Check the box corresponding to the variable within field.
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Press the "Unassign" button to remove the variable.
Variables to ignore in calculations
Irrelevant variables consolidated in your experiment project (e.g. duplicated information, numerical variables that must not be considered in correlations, etc.) can be ignored during the discovery process calculations.
To configure the variables to ignore in calculations:
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Import and consolidate all the experiment data files.
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Click the AutoDiscovery's title bar to drop down the menu and click the "Configure Variables" button.
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Select the variables to ignore in the list of variables on the left side of the window. If more than one variable is to be selected, keep the Ctrl key pressed as you click on them.
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Click the "Assign" button located under the "Variables to ignore in calculations" field within the "Key Variables" section on the right side of the window.
The selected variables are included in the "Data consolidated by" field.
To remove one consolidation variable:
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Check the box corresponding to the variable within the "Data consolidated by" field.
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Press the "Unassign" button to remove the variable.