Data Analysis

Overview

The Data Analysis section in the Open Lab platform provides tools to visualize, inspect, and manage participant data collected from your studies. It includes interactive charts for response trends and participant activity, a detailed dataset table with filtering and sorting, decryption for encrypted data, and download options for CSV exports. Summary statistics offer quick insights into total responses, averages, and peak activity. This feature helps researchers monitor data collection in real-time, identify trends, and prepare data for further analysis. Note that only datasets marked for inclusion in analysis are visualized and downloadable.

Access Data Analysis for a specific study from the study dashboard by clicking the "Data Collected" stats card or navigating to https://research.open-lab.online/dashboard/studies/[study-id]/data. A similar functionality is available for viewing and managing data based on tasks, accessible via the tasks page at https://research.open-lab.online/dashboard/tasks/[task-id]/data. Task-based analysis aggregates data across all studies using that task, with comparable charts, tables, and decryption tools.

Data updates in real-time every 30 seconds, ensuring you see the latest submissions. For encrypted data (common in secure studies), upload private keys to decrypt before viewing details or downloading.

Decryption and Downloads

If your study includes encrypted data (indicated by an "Encrypted" column in the table), you'll need to decrypt it for full access. The decryption controls appear when encrypted data is detected. Upload one or more private key files (.pem format) generated from the study's settings. Once uploaded, click "Decrypt Now" to process the data—a modal will show progress and any errors (e.g., mismatched keys). Decryption is client-side for security, and errors are reported per dataset.

After decryption (or for unencrypted data), use the download buttons:

• Download Individual Responses: Exports a CSV with one row per event in non-encrypted datasets (or a single row for encrypted ones), including participant code, task title, completion time, and data fields. For task-based views, includes study identifiers.
• Download Response Statistics: Generates a CSV summarizing total responses, averages, and participant activity, useful for quick overviews.

Example: Upload a .pem key, decrypt, then download individual responses to get detailed event-level data for analysis in tools like Excel or R.

Troubleshooting Tip: If decryption fails, verify the key matches the study's encryption settings. For large datasets, decryption may take time—monitor the modal for status.

Data Tabs

The analysis is organized into tabs for focused views:

Data Overview

This tab displays a table of datasets with columns like Participant Code, Stable ID, Completed At, Encrypted, Include in Analysis, Is Final, and Task. Use filters for participant code or stable ID, sort by columns (e.g., Completed At ascending), and paginate results (default 20 per page). Date range selection filters data by completion time. Actions per row include inspecting details (in a modal with JSON view) or deleting (with confirmation).

Bulk actions allow selecting multiple datasets for deletion. Charts show responses over time (line chart) and per day (bar chart), updating with filters.

Participant Inactivity

This tab focuses on participant engagement with a horizontal bar chart showing days since last response per participant (sorted by inactivity). Set an inactivity threshold (default 1 day) to color-code inactive participants (red) vs. active (green). A legend clarifies the colors. This helps identify drop-offs and re-engage participants.

Example: Set threshold to 7 days; bars exceeding 7 turn red, highlighting long-inactive users.

Summary Statistics

Below the charts, a summary lists key metrics: Total Responses (count of included datasets), Average Responses per Day, Most Active Day (with response count), and Unique Participants. These provide a quick snapshot of study performance.

Example: "Total Responses: 150; Average Responses per Day: 5.2; Most Active Day: 2025-10-15 (20 responses); Unique Participants: 45."

Task-Based Data Analysis

Similar functionality is available for viewing and managing data based on tasks, aggregating datasets across all studies using that task. Access it from the tasks dashboard by clicking the "Data Collected" stats card for a task. The interface mirrors study analysis, with decryption (trying keys across studies), downloads (including study identifiers in CSVs), tabs for overview and inactivity, and summary statistics. This is useful for analyzing task-specific performance independent of studies.

Example: For a reaction time task used in multiple studies, view combined response trends and export data with study labels for cross-study comparison.

Troubleshooting Tip: If data from a study doesn't appear in task view, ensure the task is associated and datasets are marked for inclusion.

Next Steps

With data analyzed, explore the following sections to generate reports or continue collaboration on the Open Lab platform:

• Data

  • Data Reports: Generate comprehensive reports from study data.

• Collaboration

  • Projects: Create and manage project cards to describe your research needs.
  • Collaborators: Find, invite, and collaborate with other researchers.