#caqdas

[realbrovic]

An R package to help with RQDA

A minor update to RQDAassist, for those who need some help with RQDA has been pushed to GitHub. Do try it out! #rstats

A few weeks aga, I published a package on GitHub, which I called RQDAassist. The package was inspired by a script I wrote to help RQDA users, myself included, to install the package after it was archived on CRAN when R 4.0 arrived on the scene. So, when RQDAassist was first published, that was its only real functionality. https://twitter.com/BroVic/status/1361356153012318208 Today, I am…

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[vscarpato]

¿Softwares para el análisis cualitativo asistido por computador (CAQDAS) o análisis "de cabeza"?

¿Softwares para el análisis cualitativo asistido por computador (CAQDAS) o análisis “de cabeza”?

Ya es la segunda vez que un profesor universitario me solicita un estudio / charla que incluya un programa / software para el análisis cualitativo asistido por computador (Computer Assisted/Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software – CAQDAS), como, por ejemplo, el Atlas.ti o Nvivo.

Y en ambos casos, he comentado que, si bien los conozco, yo no los utilizo, sino que, como creo le ocurre al resto…

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[constellations-soc]

A quick video showing the Faster Attribute Values Input script at work.

[constellations-soc]

AuotHotKey script that enables the ability to input attribute values using the numpad on the keyboard. Helps to dramatically speed up data input when working with a lot of attributes.

As mentioned previously I am working on making the code for various NVivo tools I wrote in AutoHotKey to be applicable to other projects. Each seeks to automate a specific repetitive task within NVivo. First up is the ‘Faster Attribute Values Input’ script. The script works by, firstly, through pressing the windows key and ‘p’ executing the keyboard hotkeys to open the source / node dialogue, switching to the attributes tab, and then moving focus to the first attribute value field. Secondly, it enables the use of the numpad to type in attribute values by translating each key into a series of down arrow and tab presses. For example, pressing one will select the first attribute value, two the second, and so on. After it selects the chosen value it automatically then moves to the next attribute. Meaning attribute values can be entered solely with the numpad keys. Inclued as well as are hotkeys that change the non-numerical keys on the numpad into ones that move up and down attribute fields, or sets the value to ‘Unassigned’ and ‘Not Applicable’.

This offers an alternative to the built-in system that requires the importing of an excel sheet that already contains all of the values. Using the script saves you from having to type everything into excel in full or using the tediously slow process of working through the dropdown options in NVivo.

Additionaly, through the options menu it is possible to specify how long the wait time is between opening the node properties dialogue and shifting the focus to the first attribute value and also how many atttirbutes the script skips when shifting focus. The first is useful if NVivo runs slow on your machine and the second if you are doing longitudinal research so that you can skip straight to any second or third wave attributes for input after the respective interviwes.

I am aiming to get a script up on github each week or fortnight, afterwards, will turn to finishing the posts for the main Constellations blog that I also mentioned before, that will explain each of the main sections of the code for those interested in modifying the scripts or learning how to use AutoHotKey.

[rocketboytom]

Drowning in forum posts

My training as a social scientist has focused on ethnographic methods and the use of detailed video ethnography has been the cornerstone of my research practice. But, like many social scientists in the last few years, my attention has turned more and more to online interactions between people and this has posed significant challenges. As many have lamented, the sheer volume of data that must be managed is in many ways incompatible with the detailed, situated approaches I am trained in. Finding ways to sort through enormous flows of interactions and make rigorous choices about which interactions to focus my detailed analysis on has proven to be both fascinating and frustrating. A case in point is my current work to understand informal learning in communities of amateur 'citizen scientists' who contribute to large science projects through their efforts online. One of the communities I am studying has had an active discussion forum for the past eight years and finding a way to manage 65,000 posts, many of which form detailed scientific discussions that take place over several months, has forced me to find new ways of working.

[rocketboytom]

iOS video-screen-capture part 2

Apple seems to have a problem with people capturing screen-video directly from an iOS device so they are not approving apps that allow it. This is a pain for anyone doing research that could benefit from screen-videos (like me).

Looking for a work around, I came across Matt Galligan's really well put together instructions for using AirPlay to share an iOS device screen to a Mac. By setting a Mac up as an AirPlay receiver, it is possible to share an iOS screen and then do the capturing on the Mac side. It turns out to be a fairly robust way to do recording and has the added benefit of being wireless (within a given WIFI network).

[rocketboytom]

iOS video-screen-capture

UPDATE: Apple has decided they don't like this kind of thing and have removed Display Recorder and similar apps from the App Store. Looks like Jailbreaking is the only option again.

I recently came across this new app, Display Recorder, that can record video of the screen and sounds from any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch). This has some great research potential and though it has been possible to do this with jailbroken devices for a while, the new feature is that it allows researchers to record the screens of participants own devices not only those provided as part of a study.

There are some issues noted by reviewers that might cause researchers trouble such as the app not recording the viewing window when users take videos or photographs with the cameras on their devices, but many of these appear to have workarounds described on the developer's how-to page.

Here's hoping that the developer, Bugunsoft, adds the ability to simultaneously record the screen and back-facing camera on iPhones and iPads. Screen action and the user in a single split-screen video, that would be a dream mobile-tech research app!

[rocketboytom]

Password protecting videos for distribution to participants

Until relatively recently Digital Rights Management (DRM) was a bit of a dirty term for me. If I had any interaction with a media file that had been locked with DRM so that it could only be used for a set period or on a specific computer, it was a frustrating experiences. I never imagined that I would end up trying to add DRM to videos myself.

A few weeks ago, a research project I am working on was faced with an ethical dilema. We had filmed in several classrooms and needed to send the videos to the teachers so that they could review them before attending focus groups where they would discuss their practices. The problem was that we could not get ethical approval to distribute the videos online or via DVDs because of the risk that they would fall into the wrong hands. What we needed was video files that could only be seen with a password and could not be copied. The solution was a relatively simple form of DRM.

The solution I found was to use a program called GreenForce Player to create self-contained video players for each file. GreenForce is not a particularly nice video player but it has one very unusual feature. It allows you to lock a video with a password, prevent it from being copied, have it become un-readable after a specific date, and even make it so that it will only play on one specific computer. Unlike most very complicated commercial DRM systems, GreenForce is free and relatively simple to use. The only major downside I could find is that it is Windows only (all our teachers are Windows users but our research team are mostly Mac users) .

For our particular application, we distributed a DVD to each teacher with their video clips packaged as GreenForce self-contained players. We gave all the videos for a single teacher the same password and set the files to become unreadable a few days after the focus-group sessions. To be sure that the teachers could all play the videos regardless of what software they had on their PCs, we also distributed the K-Lite Codec Basic Pack on the DVDs and asked them all to install it. Following this procedure we had no problems with teachers not being able to play the files.