User`s guide

E-Prime User’s Guide
Chapter 5: Data Handling
Page 180
each level of the experiment, E-Run logs many other variables for each List and Procedure object
used in the experiment. This is by design, and is an important feature for verifying the
correctness of the experiment’s structure. However, during the data-handling phase, these
“extra” variables may lose their usefulness, and even hamper the user’s ability to view the data.
Therefore, whether the goal is to view, edit, analyze, and/or export the data, reduction of the
visible data set is recommended.
E-DataAid has a number of special, built-in features that allow the user to easily simplify the data
(i.e., reduce the visible data set). This section will discuss three of them: 1) collapsing levels, 2)
arranging columns, and 3) filtering rows. It will also illustrate how to restore the spreadsheet to its
“original,” or default format.
5.3.2.1 Collapse Levels
E-Prime experiment data has a hierarchical format. That is, experiments start with a top level of
data, which is the session level. From there, experiments branch off into lower levels, such as
block, trial, sub-trial, etc. The lower levels share data collected at the parent level. For example,
in the image below, the Trial level shares the Block number and PracticeMode data from the
Block level. Likewise, the Block level shares data from the Session level (e.g., Subject and
Session information).
Because the data is in a flat spreadsheet format, it is necessary for the spreadsheet to repeat
higher-level data across consecutive rows of the spreadsheet. For example, the value of
PracticeMode changes only at the block level. Thus, the value of PracticeMode is repeated for
each instance of the lower level (i.e., Trial). The image above illustrates only a single block of
data in which the value of PracticeMode was set to “no.” Thus, the value of PracticeMode is
simply repeated for each instance at the lower Trial level.
When examining the lowest level of data, the repetition of higher level data is not an issue.
However, to examine one of the higher levels of the experiment, it would be extremely convenient
to view only the unique occurrences for that level, or in other words, “collapse” the lower levels of
the spreadsheet. This may be done using E-DataAid’s Collapse Levels command on the Tools
menu, or clicking on the Collapse Levels tool button. Activating this command displays the
Collapse Levels dialog.