Comparing Sources Through a Table/Matrix?

shl007
Hi - is there a way to compare reference sources in Zotero through a table or matrix if, for example, I wanted to compare their methodology, sample size, and other aspects of the study?

If I were doing such a compare in Excel, I would have my sources listed down on the left and then going across have my factors that I want to compare (e.g., quantitative vs. qualitative, sample size, etc).

The best way I know to construct such a comparison is to put keywords in my notes, but even then, that doesn't make it table-friendly when I have other text in those notes.

Any tips appreciated; thank you!
  • hsiangyu_wong Zotero Team
    Hi,

    I am the author of the plugin Better Notes(https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-better-notes) and am planning to add a new feature, which would be functionally very similar to Obsidian's Dataview: Gather information from items(papers-metadata, annotations, tags, notes) and display them in a column-customizable table.

    If you are interested in this, welcome to mail me at wyzlshx@foxmail.com.

    Best,
  • shl007
    I was told there is a similar feature Obsidian's Dataview ... Does that do the same thing?
  • hsiangyu_wong Zotero Team
    Ob Dataview searches the notes in Ob. Likely you will want the advanced serch in Zotero, but they are not very similar.
  • ahady
    Hi — I'm building a plugin for exactly this question: user-defined typed fields (text, number, select, 1–5 rating…) stored as lines in the Extra field so they sync safely, plus a "Matrix" window that shows a collection as an editable table — one row per paper, columns like methodology, sample size, findings — with sort/filter and Excel/Word export.

    Mockup: https://ahaariyan.github.io/litmatrix/mockup-1-matrix.png
    Interactive version: https://ahaariyan.github.io/litmatrix/mockup.html

    Two questions before I go further:
    1. Which columns would you want on day one?
    2. The core will be free. Would ~$25/year (or $49 one-time) be fair for unlimited fields, per-column filters, saved views and DOCX/XLSX export?

    Happy to add anyone here as a beta tester.
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