Participants overview file (participants_overview*)

Template:

participants_overview.tsv
participants_overview.json

The purpose of this RECOMMENDED file is to describe properties of participants which are session independent such as age, sex, handedness and so forth. If this file exists, it MUST contain the column participant_id, which MUST consist of sub- values identifying one row for each participant, followed by a list of optional columns describing participants. Each participant MUST be described by one and only one row.

participants_overview.tsv example:

participant_id  sex   handedness  group
sub-01          M     right       patient
sub-02          F     right       control
sub-03          F     n/a         patient

It is RECOMMENDED to accompany each participants_overview.tsv file with a sidecar participants_overview.json file to describe the TSV column names and properties of their values (see also the section on tabular files). Such sidecar files are needed to interpret the data, especially so when optional columns are defined beyond age, sex, handedness, such as group in this example, or when a different age unit is needed (for example, gestational weeks).

participants_overview.json example:

{
    "sex": {
        "Description": "sex of the participant as reported by the participant",
        "Levels": {
            "M": "male",
            "F": "female"
        }
    },
    "handedness": {
        "Description": "handedness of the participant as reported by the participant",
        "Levels": {
            "left": "left",
            "right": "right"
        }
    },
    "group": {
        "Description": "group the participant belonged to",
        "Levels": {
            "control": "participants who have been assigned to a control condition",
            "patient": "participants who have been assigned to a experimental condition"
        }
    }
}

Participants session file (participants_session*)

Template:

participants_session.tsv
participants_session.json

The purpose of this RECOMMENDED file is to describe properties of participants which are session dependent such as age, weight, clinical score (e.g. MDS-UPDRS-III) and so forth. If this file exists, it MUST contain the column participant_id, which MUST consist of sub- values session_id and identifying one row for each participant per visit, followed by a list of optional columns describing participants.

participants_overview.tsv example:

participant_id  session_id  age weight  MDS-UPDRS-III
sub-01          BL          35  72      65
sub-01          FU1         41  75      42
sub-02          BL          55  64      78

For the same reasons as mentioned above, it is RECOMMENDED to have a accompanied participants_overview.json file.

participants_overview.json example:

{
    "session_id": {
        "Description": "Label of sessions conducted",
        "Levels": {
            "BL": "Session within 3 weeks prior to intervention",
            "FU1": "Follow-up after 6-9 month after intervention"
        },
    "age": {
            "Description": "age of the participant",
            "Units": "years"
        },
    "MDS-UPDRS-III": {
        "Description": "MDS-UPDRS-III total score of the participant",
        "Units": "Total points, range 0-144"
    }
}