Method for Ranking Possible Causes for Anomalies in Large Data Sets

A method of operating a data processing system is disclosed. The method causes the data processing system to analyze a database that includes a measurement table characterized by one or more measurement condition columns and one or more measured parameter columns. Each row of the measurement table corresponding to an instance of the measured parameter values and the measurement condition values associated with the measured parameter values. The data processing system defines a target group that includes a plurality of rows in the measurement table and a remainder group that includes a plurality of rows in the measurement table that are different from the target group. The data processing system defines a measurement condition to be explored. A relevance measure is computed for each of the different measurement condition values and displayed.