4. Analytical Methodologies

This document outlines the general principles of the EGG project methodologies, leaving the details of implementation to separate documents. There will be multiple levels of analysis, including hypothesis-based formal tests, hypothesis generating explorations, and unrestricted, informal explorations. The exact algorithmic procedures for each formal analysis is specifed as part of the prediction, before the data are examined. This is done most often by indicating that the "standard analysis" will be used. This and other defined analyses that we have used over the course of the experiment are detailed in recipes that, if followed, will duplicate the original GCP analysis. (In some cases, extra data will have been accumulated from dial and drop eggs.)

A major feature of the project is the inclusion of significant aesthetic components, especially graphical and sound displays based on the data. These and other apparently non-analytic presentations are expected to be contributors to the comprehensive search for structure. The project will seek to learn from the data through a very broad array of techniques, but all the efforts will be conditioned upon the requirements of clear and interpretable results. See the documents on "Analysis", "Displays", and "Music" for more detail.