The publicly available Study Explorer lets you search RADx study metadata to find studies for your research. In the Study Explorer, you can:
To view available RADx Data Hub studies and variables, click “Study Explorer” in the upper navigation bar. You will be taken to the Study Explorer. It has two tabs: Studies and Variables. By default, the Studies tab is displayed first, where you can see all findable RADx Data Hub studies, presented, by default, in Table View.
In the top right of each tab you will find several controls (Figure 2) including:
- Studies and Variables tab that allows you to switch between study and variable search
- List/Table View toggle that allows you to switch between List View (which presents results in a vertically arranged list) and Table View (which presents results in a tabular format)
- Download Results button downloads the search results as a csv file
- Manage Columns button allows you to choose columns to hide or show.
You can perform free-text searches by entering custom queries in the search bar. To perform a free-text search in the Study Explorer:
- Click "Study Explorer" in the navigation bar.
- Locate the Search bar (Figure 3).
- Enter your free-text query.
- Press "Enter" or click the magnifying glass icon to view results, sorted by relevance based on your query.
After performing a search, use the page navigator in the top right of the Study Explorer to move through search result pages (Figure 4). To navigate through pages of the results, you can:
- Option 1: Click the Forward or Backward Arrows in the Page Navigator to move one page forward or one page backward in the results.
- Option 2: Click Individual Page Numbers (typically in the format: 1, 2, … X) to go to an individual page.
In addition to changing the search results view, you can also change the number of results per page. To do this, click the “Show” dropdown at the top or bottom right (Figure 5). Then, select the number of results to show per page, and the page will automatically update.
The same controls are available on the Variables tab, but the sorting options are going to be different (Figure 6).
To export search results to a csv file, click the “Download” button above the sorting dropdowns.
Sorting and filtering search results can further refine a search.
To sort in the Study Explorer:
- Locate the sorting options in the top right. (Figure 5)
- Pick either "Ascending" or "Descending" in the sort order dropdown
- Use the sort by dropdown to select a field for sorting, and results will dynamically update.
Filtering is more complex than sorting but can help further refine a search. The filter pane is made up of two primary components: filter categories and filter values. Filter categories (e.g. “Has Data Files” or “RADx Data Program”) are high-level buckets that include multiple filter values. Filter values are the specific criteria by which you can filter search results. For example, the filter values in the “Has Data Files” category are “Yes” or “No.”
The three techniques to narrow or refine a search using filters include:
| Technique | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Select One Filter Value | Selecting a single value in a Filter Category will filter the results by that value. | If you click "Yes" under "Has Data Files", you will only see studies with data files. |
| Select Multiple Filter Values in One Filter Category | Selecting two or more values within one filter category will function as a Boolean ‘OR.’ | If you click "RADx-UP" and "RADx-rad" within "RADx Data Program", you will see studies that align to either program |
| Select Multiple Filter Values Across Filter Categories | Selecting two or more values across two or more filter categories will narrow your search and function as a Boolean ‘AND.’ | If you click "RADx-UP" from "RADx Data Program" and "Yes" under "Has Data Files", you will see studies that are aligned with RADx-UP AND have data files. |
After deciding a filtering technique, select values by expanding the accordion for the desired filter category (Figure 7). Next, click the checkbox next to the filter value, and results will dynamically update.
To remove a single filter value, click the checkbox a second time or click the “X” button on the filter badge above the filter pane. To remove all filters, press “Reset Search” above the filter pane.
Note: The numbers to the right of the filter values represent the number of results a selected value will return.
Two tabs of the Study Explorer allow users to perform cross-entity searches. That is, you can search for studies or variables, and the results will display linked studies/variables.
For example, if you want to search for studies focused on Essential workers, you select “Essential Workers” value in the “Study Population Focus” filter, and your search returns the 12 studies focused on this particular population.
In the Studies tab, you can see the variables for a particular study by clicking the “View list of variables” icon next to that study (Figure 8).
System will display list of variables contained in this study’s files (Figure 9).
Using the Variables Tab to search will give variables related to your search term. For example, if you wanted to see what variables are related to age, you would enter age, and it would generate a list of all variables related to age across all studies.
Similarly to the Studies Tab, in the Variables Tab, you will see the same icon (Figure 8). But clicking on it will expand the list of studies, where files contain that particular variable (Figure 10).
Both modals have a button “Explore studies/variables in search”. Clicking this button will bring you to a respective tab of the Study Explorer populated with search results for this study/variable.