Which is the best way to present replicate data in a table (where Result A and Result B are two separate data sets - imagine this is gene expression data, and the results are expression levels of Gene A and Gene B)?
This way:
| Result A | Result B |
|---|
| Sample 1 | 1 | 210 |
|---|
| Sample 1 | 2 | 211 |
|---|
| Sample 1 | 3 | 212 |
|---|
| Sample 2 | 21 | 3 |
|---|
| Sample 2 | 22 | 4 |
|---|
| Sample 2 | 23 | 5 |
|---|
| Sample 3 | 333 | 45 |
|---|
| Sample 3 | 344 | 46 |
|---|
| Sample 3 | 355 | 47 |
|---|
or this way:
| Result A | Result A | Result A | Result B | Result B | Result B |
|---|
| Sample 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 210 | 211 | 212 |
|---|
| Sample 2 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|
| Sample 3 | 333 | 344 | 355 | 45 | 46 | 47 |
|---|
or this way, with a separate table for each set of results (I think this direction is what Google Docs would prefer, but it could easily go horizontally instead):
Result A
| Sample 1 | Sample 2 | Sample 3 |
|---|
| 1 | 21 | 333 |
| 2 | 22 | 334 |
| 3 | 23 | 335 |
Result B
| Sample 1 | Sample 2 | Sample 3 |
|---|
| 210 | 3 | 45 |
| 211 | 4 | 46 |
| 212 | 5 | 47 |
or maybe even multiple results, joined by a separator, within the same cell:
| Result A | Result B |
|---|
| Sample 1 | 1;2;3 | 210;211;212 |
|---|
| Sample 2 | 21;22;23 | 3;4;5 |
|---|
| Sample 3 | 333;344;355 | 45;46;47 |
|---|