Selecting variables for an MGPS run

When you select a configuration and perform an MGPS run, you select variables to use in the run. A variable is a data item in the source data referenced by the configuration that you selected for the data mining run. Typically, an MGPS data mining run includes a drug (or vaccine) variable and an event (or symptom) variable.

Note: Before creating a data mining run, set your user preference, Replace Missing Values with, with a value to insert if the subset variable is missing from the source data.

1.         On the Select Variables page, select at least one Item variable. To study drug-event combinations, you typically select two or more items that are listed as Drug or Event variables. To select a variable, click its name. You can also do the following:

  1. Select multiple non-contiguous variables by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking each variable.
  2. Select multiple contiguous variables by clicking a variable, holding down the Shift key, and clicking another variable. Variables between and including those variables are selected.
  3. Deselect a variable by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking the variable.

2.         If you want to use stratification, select one or more Stratification variables. You cannot select the same variable as both an item variable and a stratification variable.

A warning message appears if there are more than 500 values for all selected stratification variables. Too many stratification values can cause reduced sensitivity in the EBGM and EB05 statistics. To avoid this reduced sensitivity, the number of cases divided by the number of unique stratification values should be at least 100. For example, if there are 5,000 cases in the source data, there should not be more than 50 strata values.

3.         To define custom terms, check Define custom terms.

4.         To define subsets, check Define subsets.

5.         Click Next.

If you checked Define custom terms, the Define Custom Terms page appears. For more information, see Defining custom terms.

If you checked Define subsets, the Select Subset Variable page appears. For more information on subsets, see Using a subset variable.  

If you did not select Define custom terms or Define subsets, the Data Mining Parameters page appears. See Specifying data mining parameters.