Prism's five data table formats

The format of a Prism data table determines what kinds of graphs you can make and what kind of analyses you can perform. Choosing a data table format lets Prism create a data table that fits your data and makes it easy to create the kind of graph you want and perform the appropriate analyses. You can always change the format of a data table.

The five basic types of data tables are:

XY tables - An XY table is a graph where every point is defined by both an X and a Y value. This kind of data are often fit with linear or nonlinear regression.

Column tables - Use column tables if your groups are defined by one scheme, perhaps control vs. treated, or placebo vs. low-dose vs. high-dose. Each column defines one group.

Grouped tables - The idea of two-way variables is best understood by example. One grouping variable (male vs. female in the example below) is defined by rows; the other grouping variable (control vs. treated) is defined by columns.

Contingency tables - Contingency tables are used to tabulate the actual number of subjects (or observations) that fall into the categories defined by the rows and columns of a table.

Survival tables - Survival tables are used to enter information for each subject. Prism then computes percent survival at each time, and plots a Kaplan-Meier survival plot (and also compares survival with the log-rank and Gehan-Wilcoxon tests).