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. How the data is protected depends on the encryption option chosen for the study (in Settings → Encryption). With end-to-end account-key encryption, data is decrypted automatically once you unlock your encryption vault — no key files needed. With a self-managed study key, you upload the study's private key (.pem) to decrypt. With server-side encryption, Open Lab manages the keys, so the data is shown without any decryption step. Each flow is described below.

Decryption and Downloads

Open Lab supports three ways of protecting a study's data, chosen in Settings → Encryption. Two are end-to-end (only you can read the data); the third is server-side (Open Lab manages the keys). Which controls you see on the data page depends on the option the study uses.

End-to-end account-key (vault) encryption — the default. With this option, participant data is encrypted with your account key, and only you and the collaborators you authorise can read it. When such data is present, the page shows an "Unlock vault" prompt. Unlock your encryption vault (from Settings → Security) and the data is decrypted automatically — you don't upload any key files. Once the vault is unlocked, a green banner confirms the study's data is decrypted with your account key. Collaborators you have authorised can decrypt shared studies the same way, using their own vault.

Self-managed study key (RSA .pem). A study can instead use its own downloadable key pair, where you generate and keep the private key yourself and Open Lab never stores it. For these studies a "Data decryption" panel appears where you upload one or more private key files (.pem format) and click "Decrypt now". A modal shows progress and any errors (e.g., mismatched keys). This is a fully supported alternative for researchers who prefer to hold their own study key files rather than use the account vault. Decryption is client-side for security in both this and the account-key flow, and errors are reported per dataset.

Server-side encryption. If a study uses server-side encryption, its data is encrypted at rest on Open Lab's GDPR-compliant servers in Germany, but Open Lab manages the keys rather than you — so it is not end-to-end, and the platform can access the data (for example, to provide support). Because the keys are managed for you, this data appears in the Data view without any vault-unlock or key-upload step. This option suits pilot studies or testing; choose one of the end-to-end options above when only you should be able to read the data.

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: Unlock your vault so account-encrypted data decrypts automatically, then download individual responses to get detailed event-level data for analysis in tools like Excel or R. (For a study that uses its own key file, upload the study's .pem private key and click "Decrypt now" first.)

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.