Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of the main database formats for evidence syntheses
data.format | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
Condensed | Easier to read and navigate (smaller, easier to scan, fits in a manuscript) Easy to enter data into Easy to understand (nested columns show relationships) No unnecessary blank spaces (avoids confusion) | Cannot be fed directly into visualisation or analysis Difficult to convert to wide or long format Easier to make/mask errors because of compressed information Cannot link multiple values across columns Cannot filter by multiple cell values |
Wide | Avoids repeated information Easier to understand from a review perspective (one line per study) May feel easier to fill in (left-to-right) Easy to filter Easy to convert to long format | Requires careful naming conventions to demonstrate column nesting May be difficult to understand columns Lots of blank spaces Difficult to read on a landscape screen Requires wrangling for most visualisations and data analysis |
Long | Easier to read than wide Designed for immediate visualisation and data analysis Easy to filter Easier to understand columns than wide format Easy to convert to wide format | Contains considerable repetition Difficult to read and navigate May be harder to fill in (requires a lot of scrolling) Does not require complex naming conventions (no nesting) No unnecessary blank spaces |
Wide-and-long | Combines the advantages of both wide and long Enables between and within variable comparison Computationally efficient Closer to a conventional human readable table, as shown in Fig. 1 | Embedded variables can be difficult to extract Embedded variables are frequently time consuming to extract |