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Import Data

This class is responsible for importing data that will be analyzed. Depending on what you want to analyze, it can load different types of data:

  • Raw accelerometer data: Movement data from a smartwatch.
  • Self-report data: Information provided by participants, like emotions or experiences.
  • Combined data: A dataset where accelerometer and self-report data are already matched.
  • Pre-extracted features: If features (summaries of movement data) have already been calculated, it can load those instead.

This flexibility allows you to start your analysis from different stages, depending on your needs.

Step-by-Step Explanation:

  1. Customizable Data Loading:
    • You decide which type of data you want to work with by setting the appropriate options (e.g., use_accel, use_reports, use_combined, use_features).
    • The class automatically chooses the correct file paths for the selected data, based on settings in the configuration file.
  2. Importing Features:
    • If you’ve already extracted features (summaries of movement data), the class loads that data from a file.
    • This is useful if you want to skip the feature extraction step and jump straight into analysis.
  3. Importing Combined Data:
    • If you’ve already matched accelerometer and self-report data, the class loads this pre-combined dataset.
    • This saves time by skipping the data-matching step.
  4. Importing Raw Data:
    • If no combined data or features are available, the class loads:
      • Raw accelerometer data: Measurements of movement (x, y, z axes).
      • Self-report data (if available): Participant-provided information, such as emotions or labels.
  5. Error Handling:
    • If you try to load raw accelerometer data without specifying its file path, the class raises an error to let you know that a path is required.
  6. Output:
    • Depending on what you’re working with, the class outputs:
      • A single dataset (features, combined data, or accelerometer data alone).
      • Two datasets (accelerometer data and self-report data), if both are available.
  7. Friendly Messages:
    • The class prints messages to let you know which data has been successfully loaded, such as:
      • “Features dataframe imported successfully.”
      • “Raw accelerometer data imported successfully.”