UofS-Pulse-Binfo / rawphenotypes

A Tripal module for storing raw phenotypic data. Specifically meant to help researchers contribute raw data, visualize summaries and download for further analysis.
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Should we reconsider separating multiple values for a single phenotype with a comma? #70

Open carolyncaron opened 5 years ago

carolyncaron commented 5 years ago

Currently, the module allows multiple values for a single phenotypic observation in the cases where multiple phenotypers may be uploading for the same project, and it does this by appending new values separated by a comma.

Derek suggests that commas, especially where numerical values occur, can be confusing for users who download the data down the road since other parts of the world use commas in place of decimals points. For example, 1st value = 2,3 and 2nd value = 2,6 to result in 2,3,2,6. Additionally, comments may also become hard to understand or separate.

He suggests we can use semicolons instead, which are R-friendly as well as human-readable. Thus, the previous example would look like 2,3;2,6.

Any thoughts?