KNOWLEDGEBASE - ARTICLE #1563

Fixed bug: Prism 5.0c can freeze when you choose selected pairs of columns for post tests

This is a rare bug. Prism 5.0c Mac will freeze when:

  1. From the Analyze dialog, you choose one-way ANOVA and (on the right side of that dialog) only choose selected columns to analyze.
  2. In the one-way ANOVA dialog, choose multiple comparisons to compare selected pairs of means. It doesn't matter if you choose ordinary or nonparametric (Kruskal-Wallis) ANOVA. What matters is that you choose only a selected set of comparisons .
  3. Click the Select... button to choose pairs to compare, and select a column whose index number (column E is 4; programmers count from zero...) exceeds the total number of columns being analyzed. 

An example makes this simpler to understand. Say you enter six data sets onto a table in columns A - F. In the analyze dialog, you choose to analyze columns D, E and F with one-way ANOVA. If you choose to compare selected data sets, Prism will freeze. Say you want to compare column D and E. Prism numbers the columns from 0, so you want to compare the 4th and 5th column in your data set. But only three columns are selected for ANOVA. Since 4 (and 5) is greater than 3, Prism gets very confused and freezes. 

Since the bug only occurs when you select a subset of columns to enter into one-way ANOVA, it is an easy bug to bypass. Copy the columns you want to analyze and paste onto a new empty data table. An alternative workaround would be to duplicate the entire data table, then select and delete the columns you don't want to analyze.

This bug affects only 5.0c Mac, and was fixed in 5.0d.



Keywords: post test, Dunn, Dunn's, Bonferroni

Explore the Knowledgebase

Analyze, graph and present your scientific work easily with GraphPad Prism. No coding required.