List of Metadata Features for a Basic BLAST Search*
| Metadata Feature | Ancestor Class | Possible Values | Description | Significance |
| User_Experience | Operator | Extensive, moderate, very_little | The experience level of the person doing the search | If it is extensive, the probability of error should be lower. |
| User_Occupation | Operator | Undergraduate, graduate, research-assistant, post-doc, professor, professional | The occupation of person doing the analysis | Possible correlation with outcome. |
| User_Name | Operator | 〈any string〉 | The name of the person carrying out the search | Possible correlation with outcome. |
| Number_of_Input_Data_Sources | Filter Operator | One, more_than_one | The number of data sources being searched | Possible correlation with outcome. |
| Number_of_User_Set_Parameters | Search Operator | One, 1_to_3, 3_to_10, greater_than_10 | The number of search criteria that are set by the user | Possible correlation with outcome. |
| Search_Defaults_Changed | Search Operator | Yes, no | This feature records whether the search criteria have been changed from their default values | If the user experience is high but the search defaults have not been changed, then there is greater possibility of error. If the user is relatively inexperienced but has changed the default settings, then there is a greater probability of error. |
| BLAST_version | BLAST Search Operator | Version_1.0, version_2.0 | The version of BLAST used | Possible correlation with outcome |
| Program | Basic BLAST Search Operator | Blastn, Blastp, Blastx, Tblastn, Tblastx | Parameter that must be set for a basic BLAST search | Possible correlation with outcome |
| Database | Basic BLAST Search Operator | Nr, Month, Swissprot, Dbest, Dbsts, Mouse_ests, Human_ests, Other_ests, Pdb | Parameter that must be set for a basic BLAST search | Possible correlation with outcome |
| Ungapped_Alignment | Basic BLAST Search Operator | Yes, no | Parameter that must be set for a basic BLAST search | Possible correlation with outcome |
| Data_Format | Basic BLAST Search Operator | Fasta, Accension_Or_Gi | Parameter that must be set for a basic BLAST search | Possible correlation with outcome |
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↵* A basic BLAST search is a common operation performed by computational biologists when searching for a specific DNA sequence. The first column shows the complete list of metadata features for a basic BLAST search. This list is the union of all the metadata features of its ancestors. The second column identifies the ancestors of the basic BLAST search operator (in the process components ontology) from which the metadata features were inherited. Some of the metadata properties listed in the table are considered correlative features. The correlations found between those features and the occurrence of data-model conflicts can be used as diagnostic evidence.
