Recording elements

The FACTORFINDER-Software is based on comparisons. The underlying procedure compares variants consisting of different elements. The superordinate concept "elements" includes examples, factors and values. Clicking on the menue item "elements" opens a submenue which offers three groups of options: Editing of examples, factors and values.

Selecting "New example" opens a window that expects the name of a new example as input. After entering the new name the input has to be confirmed with "OK". The newly added name is shown in the "Current example"-button and in the box at the bottom of the program window.

Instead of entering a new example name an existing name can be modified by "Rename example". "Delete example" is the third submenue item.

Describing factors starts with entering the names of the factors. This is done by the submenue "New factor", "Rename factor" or "Delete factor". When "New factor" is selected a window opens for entering the name of the factor.

Factor buttons guide the analyst through completion of the example base. From the assumption that the screen of the display is limited at most 15 factors can be displayed at the same time. This does not restrict the possible description of examples but only the display. If more than 15 factors shall be analysed  the factors displayed have to be changed successively.

The third group of menue items of the submenue "elements" supports the entering, editing and deletion of values. The factor where a new value is added has to be marked in advance with a mouse click. Then "New value" is clicked and thereby an input window opened. The name of the value has to be entered. Renaming and deleting a factor work the same way.

The factors are permanently shown during analysis. The names of the examples and the values of the factors are shown as needed. Whenever needed the program shows the names of the examples or the values in the box at the bottom of the program window. From this box an entry can be selected by a mouse click. After the analyst has clicked the button "Current example" the box shows the names of the examples. If the analyst clicks one of the factor buttons, the box presents all values assigned to this factor. Below each factor button is a label that shows the value of this factor observed with the current example.

Above the box a row of buttons is located. The leftmost button shows a smiling face. Clicking the button changes the smiling face to a sad face. This shall symbolize acceptable vs. inacceptable examples according to the target criterion listed in the title of the program window. As it is very easy to change the success hypothesis assigned to an example. By this, it is possible to adjust the example base to new information.

To the right of the success-button another button is located. Clicking the button changes its caption from "active" to "hidden". Another click rechanges the caption again. With this button examples or factors can be included in the analysis or excluded from calculations of relevance. Hidden examples or factors are recorded but not evaluated. By this, the analyst can record examples or factors although their validity is not certain. Moreover, by hiding single examples or factors, various scenarios can be evaluated and causal attributions of differences assigned to single examples or factors become possible.