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05 View Metadata
Charlie Bayne edited this page Mar 28, 2026
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This tab allows users to explore their study's sample metadata. It is particularly useful for data exploration in studies with complex experimental designs.
Three value boxes provide a summary of the sample metadata (also known as colData in Bioconductor packages):
- Total number of metadata variables
- Number of discrete variables (categorical, logical, or any non-numeric data)
- Number of numeric variables
An interactive table displaying all sample metadata (colData) for easy exploration. The table can be downloaded for external use.
Select any metadata variable from the dropdown to visualize its distribution. The resulting plot adapts to the variable type:
- Numeric variables: Histogram with count on the Y-axis and the selected variable on the X-axis.
- Discrete/categorical variables: Bar chart showing the frequency of each category.
This is helpful for quickly understanding the structure of your experimental design — for example, how many samples belong to each treatment group, or the range of a continuous covariate.