{
  "title": "Read the gaps as carefully as the data — Pipe Organ Dataset",
  "text": "MODAVIS (2026). Read the gaps as carefully as the data — Pipe Organ Dataset. Research notebooks, September 2026 · expanded edition. https://modavis.org/editions/2026-09-r3/dataset/limits/",
  "bibtex": "@misc{modavis_dataset_limits_2026_09_r3,\n  author = {{MODAVIS}},\n  title = {Read the gaps as carefully as the data — Pipe Organ Dataset},\n  year = {2026},\n  month = {09},\n  version = {2026-09-r3},\n  url = {https://modavis.org/editions/2026-09-r3/dataset/limits/},\n  note = {Content SHA-256: 125f0ab96cf0e33d8c359908ee0c87d2717d74b61f1c0128f244d475a9cb709c}\n}",
  "url": "https://modavis.org/editions/2026-09-r3/dataset/limits/",
  "sha256": "125f0ab96cf0e33d8c359908ee0c87d2717d74b61f1c0128f244d475a9cb709c",
  "edition": "2026-09-r3",
  "date": "2026-09-26",
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    "date": "2026-09-26",
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    "chapter": {
      "slug": "limits",
      "title": "Read the gaps as carefully as the data",
      "intro": "Incomplete knowledge is part of the dataset’s meaning.",
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          "type": "heading",
          "text": "Historical state",
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          "type": "p",
          "text": "An account may have a publication date without establishing the date of the configuration it describes. Avoid turning an undated observation into a precise chronology."
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          "text": "Counts and occurrences",
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          "text": "A source-account row is not necessarily a unique physical component. For example, multiple accounts may describe the same stop at different times. Count the unit that your question actually concerns."
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          "title": "Missing is not absent",
          "text": "No recorded stoplist, builder or media item can mean that the source did not provide it. It does not establish that the instrument lacked that feature."
        },
        {
          "type": "heading",
          "text": "Missing values have different causes",
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          "text": "Keep these distinctions through transformations. Converting all missing values to zero, attaching an arbitrary year or resolving every name by its nearest spelling can make a table easier to compute while changing its meaning. If a method requires complete cases, document the selection rule and assess which sources or regions it disproportionately removes."
        },
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          "type": "heading",
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          "id": "source-dependence"
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        {
          "type": "p",
          "text": "Agreement across records can be valuable, but sources may copy one another or derive from a shared earlier account. Count supporting records separately from independent evidence. When the transmission relationship is unknown, that uncertainty belongs in the interpretation rather than being replaced by a simple majority vote."
        },
        {
          "type": "heading",
          "text": "A bounded comparison is often more useful",
          "id": "bounded-comparison"
        },
        {
          "type": "p",
          "text": "For a comparison of specifications, choose a documented unit, date scope and inclusion rule before interpreting differences. Report both what the selected corpus supports and what it cannot answer. A bounded result about attributed accounts can be strong research without claiming to describe every surviving instrument or its present condition."
        },
        {
          "type": "note",
          "title": "Sensitivity as a research habit",
          "text": "Where an unresolved choice could affect the conclusion, compare reasonable alternative selections or interpretations and retain the results. The difference between them can be more informative than a single unqualified estimate."
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "label": "Pipe Organ Dataset 1.6.0",
          "href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22308263",
          "detail": "The fixed dataset release, methods and checksums."
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          "label": "About the doctoral research",
          "href": "/notebooks/about/research/",
          "detail": "Musikinstrumente im virtuellen Raum, submitted 11 September 2026."
        }
      ]
    },
    "figures": {}
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}