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Downloading Results Files With Delimiter of Your Choice
In order to perform statistical analyses on the results of ProtoGenie studies, to export them to other software programs, or to transmit them to other researchers the data must be downloaded from the data archives on the ProtoGenie server in a format that supports those research tasks. In particular, these files must indicate where one event ends and the next event begins. This information is conveyed in what is called file "delimiters."
Because of the popularity of comma delimiters, ProtoGenie provides a special option that applies the comma delimiter. See Comma Delimited Results Files. However, delimiters can be most any alpha-numeric character or character set. However, there are times when a user needs or simply prefers the ability to format a data file using a delimiter different from commas. For example, a user may wish to use tabs, spaces, semi-colons, quotation marks, ampersands, and so forth for delimiters. Whatever the author selects as a delimiter will be used to separate events (variables) in the data file. Naturally, your choice of delimiters should anticipate what delimiters your intended data analysis program will accept.
To avoid the data file delimiter problem in the results file, ProtoGenie automatically scans results for all sessions for characters embedded that are the same as your designated delimiter and replaces them with a character or set of characters of your choice. If desired, instances of these converted delimiters in subject/respondent text subsequently can be edited out by the researcher.
Also, ProtoGenie automatically inserts in the top row of the data table the "variable labels" assigned to events in the Composer/Editor. If these labels are not given during protocol construction, the number of the column in which the event resides is used instead.
Formatted results file are downloaded from the All-Sessions Index Table page by clicking on the third of the three links appearing above the All-Session Index Table. See below.
View all sessions as a single data table
Download Comma Delimited (RxC) Results File
Download Results File Using a Delimiter of Your Choice
When the link called "Download Results File Using a Delimiter of Your Choice" is selected, a dialog box will request that you enter the delimiter that you wish to use in your formatted data file and it will also request that you enter a character or set of characters that you wish to replace instances of your delimiter in the study results. For example, you might chose to use a question mark as a delimiter and then specify that the letters "QQ" should appear every time a subject or respondent uses a question mark in his/her responses during a session.
After you have entered this information and clicked on OK, a dialog will come up that asks you whether you want to SAVE or OPEN this file. If you click OPEN, a .csv file will open and display the formatted results in the standard row and column table. This file can be edited and it can be saved under a name of your choice and under a format (file extension) of your choice. For example, you might save the data file as a standard text file with a .txt extension.
If you click on SAVE, a standard Save dialog will appear containing a temporary file name made up of the alphanumeric string "ProtocolData####," where #### is the number of your protocol. For example, this file name may be ProtocolData3402. Before saving, you need to indicate where you want the file to be saved on your system and you can change the file name if desired.
Related Topics
Managing The Results of ProtoGenie Data Collection
Viewing Single-Session Results
Saving Results of a ProtoGenie Run
Using the All-Session Index Table
Viewing The All-Sessions Data Table
Creating Formatted Data Files
File Delimiter Problem and Solution
Downloading Comma Delimited (RxC) Results File
Porting Results To Your Favorite Data Analysis Program
Using StatCrunch With ProtoGenie