peter jackson (asker) Mar 11, 2018:

@all Thansk for your input. My client, who, like me obviously has nothing better to do on a Sunday, has already answered my enquiry.
"Nos referimos a las variables necesarias para construir las que hemos utilizado en nuestros modelos".
So, there it is.

Jennifer Levey Mar 11, 2018:

No, that's not what I think The "las" in "obtenerlas" refers to "las variables" - which, it's true, are recorded in "las columnas" whose column headers (= data table field names) are in effect "variables" used in query statements (SQL) used to extract data from the database in the precise format required by the investigation.

It's perhaps worth remembering that a database admnistrator may well use column, variable and field interchangeably, but at the end of the day the investigation depends on access to "variables" (i.e. meaningful data), not mere places to record it (columns or fields).

neilmac Mar 11, 2018:

So... You think that the -las in "obtenerlas" refers to the columns? Fair enough, it's a possibil¡ty, but still not at all clear from the way the source is drafted. I can't decide either way, and would try to check with the author or client.

Jennifer Levey Mar 11, 2018:

I beg to differ ... ... with the interpretation of the ST, not the comments about sloppy writing.

I read “las necesarias” in both paragraphs as a reference to “variables” (not “investigación”).

In the first paragraph:
The “investigación principal” involves a “selección” of “variables”, and for each of these “variables”, the database has a column of data containing:
either the actual value of the variable;
or two (possibly more) columns containing raw data from which a particular “selected variable” can be derived when needed.

In the second paragraph:
“las necesarias” cannot refer to any kind of “investigación” because a database holds data (variables), not “investigations”
This paragraph refers to “independent” variables (as distinct from variables drawn from observations, as in the first paragraph). Here, in the same way as before, the database contains either single-component variables or the raw data needed to derive the independent variables needed for the investigation.

Imaginary example: Suppose the investigation needs a variable for “population density”. The database might have a single column headed “PopDens” – or it might have two columns: “PopTotal” and “km2”.

peter jackson (asker) Mar 11, 2018:

Indeed, I now work exclusively on academic research and am constantly shocked by how shoddy and unclear some of the manuscripts are. I do my best but silk purses and sow's ears spring to mind very often. I have forgotten how many times I've contacted clients to say something like "I'm sorry but there seems to be a verb missing in this sentence".

neilmac Mar 11, 2018:

Unnecessarily vague seems to be par for the course for many texts we get... In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that decently written texts are a rare thing nowadays.

peter jackson (asker) Mar 11, 2018:

@Neil and Charles Thanks for your help. That certainly seems to make more sense but it does seem an unnecessarily vague way of expressing it.

Charles Davis Mar 11, 2018:

With Neil I think "las necesarias" means "las investigaciones necesarias" and that "obtenerlas" means "obtener las variables [expresadas en las columnas]".

The second instance seems to me to confirm this. "Obtener algunas de ellas" must surely mean "obtener algunas de las variables independientes incluidas", and "las necesarias" can only mean "las investigaciones necesarias".

neilmac Mar 11, 2018:

IMHO it probably means "las INVESTIGACIONES" necesarias para obtener las variables". Elision of "investigaciones". In other words, the research needed to provide the variables for the main work.