Digital Tools for Qualitative Research

Welcome Winter 2011 Students

2010-12-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Digital Tools for Qualitative Research! I look forward to having you in this class and having a chance to share some helpful tools as well as learning from you in the process. Please feel free to browse this site before class begins as it has evolved over the two and a half years that I have been teaching it. If you click the label "EPL692" on the right hand side of the screen, you will find the course information, hardware/software you will need, and all five sessions for this course. We will also be going over this information on the first day of class. Please let me know if you already have experience in any of these areas and we can work out an alternative assignment in something more pertinent to your work. We are all tight on time and my ultimate goal is for this class to be useful to you. Here's to a great quarter!

We will take this survey on the first day of class:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BY3PMYJ

Video Resources

2010-11-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

The Digital Media Project here at OSU supports teaching and research in Digital Media Studies by centrally locating state of the art technology and expertise for teachers, students, and scholars in the Department of English. The hours on listed on the website and the project is housed in Denny Hall. There, you can get help on using iMovie.

Another resource available for video conversion is a tool called anysoft. It requires a download, but it is free. Thanks, Deb!

Recording Online Interviews

2010-10-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a way record interviews on skype, here is a helpful blog post listing resources to do so:
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-record-skype-conversations.html

Ecamm is mentioned in this post and was also recommended by one of my current students.

Camstudio was also recommended by another student and is free and open source.

Not mentioned in this post is also Jing, a screencasting tool, which allows you to record for free up to five minutes (you can pay for beyond that).

Welcome Autumn 2010 Students!

2010-09-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Digital Tools for Qualitative Research! I look forward to having you in this class and having a chance to share some helpful tools as well as learning from you in the process. Please feel free to browse this site before class begins as it has evolved over the two years that I have been teaching it. If you click the label "EPL692" on the right hand side of the screen, you will find the course information, hardware/software you will need, and all five sessions for this course. We will also be going over this information on the first day of class. Please let me know if you already have experience in any of these areas and we can work out an alternative assignment in something more pertinent to your work. We are all tight on time and my ultimate goal is for this class to be useful to you. Here's to a great quarter!

We will take this survey on the first day of class:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N7ZXNHS

Google Search Tips

2010-09-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

A former student recently sent me this nice, concise list of tips for more precise Googling. Could it help you in your qualitative research? I'd like to think so.
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/32300

Resources from ICQI

2010-05-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

I recently attended ICQI and attended a session conducted by Judith Davidson and Silvana diGregorio (who will have a chapter in the newest edition of The Handbook of Qualitative Research). They suggested many of the tools we already use in class as well as some new ones! Here are the ones that I would like to look into:

a.nnotate- A tool to annotate and share documents or images online
Everyday Lives- A tool to document the everyday lives of your participants (audio, video, images)... the best part? There's an iPhone App!
Word Tree- Sort of like a word cloud, but this tool allows you to select a word or phrase and then creates a tree of how that word or phrase is used.
Phrase Net- Diagrams the relationships between different words used in a text

Also, for the record, I learned that you can now annotate youtube videos! Flickr also has great annotation.

Studiocode

2010-05-08T19:33:00.001-07:00

I recently learned about another video coding software called Studiocode. The one I linked to is specifically for the field of Education. I hear its pricey, but I can't find the price anywhere on the website (go figure). Anyway, it might be worth at least a glance!

F4

2010-03-11T18:29:00.001-08:00

Another transcription program shared by one of my students:

The transcription program I found can be found here http://www.audiotranskription.de/english/f4.htm. I like it because it is very simple, pressing F4 pauses and plays the audio file, pressing F5 rewinds in play by 3 seconds and F3 forwards by 3 seconds. Very quick and cut and dry. The program is called F4 and its free also an edition for video don't know anything about that version.

Thanks, Ramsey!

Resources

2010-01-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a few resources that came up in class today.

Sophie- "Sophie Author allows users to create complex networked multimedia documents without specialized training." This is a tool created for researchers at USC and seems to have some potential for qualitative research. Thanks, Aaron for sharing!

Worldcat- This is the citation database that Zotero uses to locate articles. It has been helpful to me when OSU doesn't have the citation I need.

International Journal of Learning and Media- This is the new journal from MIT Press I mentioned today that has a section just for new media article formats (those that include multimedia, social media, etc.).

TAMS Analyzer- This is a software I came across that seems to work like Weft QDA, but it is made for macs! It's a very basic CAQDAS program and it's free. I haven't investigated this too much, but I thought I'd share.

Welcome Winter 2010 Students!

2010-01-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Digital Tools for Qualitative Research! I look forward to having you in this class and having a chance to share some helpful tools as well as learning from you in the process. Please feel free to browse this site before class begins as it has evolved over the four quarters that I have been teaching it. If you click the label "EPL692" on the right hand side of the screen, you will find the course information, hardware/software you will need, and all five sessions for this course. We will also be going over this information on the first day of class. Please let me know if you already have experience in any of these areas and we can work out an alternative assignment in something more pertinent to your work. We are all tight on time and my ultimate goal is for this class to be useful to you. Here's to a great quarter!

We will take this survey on the first day of class:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PVKJQLN

Erkan's Field Diary

2009-11-25T07:29:00.000-08:00

This link was sent to me by Dr. Nespor. It is a comprehensive list of digital tools used by a (now) professor as he was writing his dissertation.

Erkan's Field Diary

Welcome Fall 2009 Students!

2009-09-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Digital Tools for Qualitative Research! I look forward to having you in this class and having a chance to share some helpful tools as well as learning from you in the process. Please feel free to browse this site before class begins as it has evolved over the three quarters that I have been teaching it. If you click the label "session" on the right hand side of the screen, you will see all five sessions for this course. Please let me know if you already have experience in any of these areas and we can work out an alternative assignment in something more pertinent to your work. We are all tight on time and my ultimate goal is for this class to be useful to you. Here's to a great quarter!

We will take this survey on the first day of class:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=uCYW_2bOZ84ruDN7yNhe9UEw_3d_3d

polleverywhere

2009-08-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

A coworker at ODE sent me a link to this tool www.polleverywhere.com. It works like free clickers for the classroom. Students can text or use twitter to respond to questions as their answers appear on a projector screen before them. As far as qualitative research, or qualitative researchers, are concerned, I could see some potential for interesting conference presentations or data collection in a classroom or a small group interview, but as I know qualitative researchers are endlessly creative, I am sure they will be able to think of other uses for this tool.

One caveat is that the tool is only free for 30 users, and you must pay for anything beyond that.

Web 2.0 for scholars

2009-07-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was reading the May 2009 edition of Educational Researcher and I came across a mention of citeulike. This is an online community where researchers can post article references that they like, rank them, and tag them, so that others can search by tag and rating and find some good articles. It's not too populated at the moment, or at least as populated as I thought it would be, but I like the idea. Especially since I'm pretty new at this and I like to know that an article is valued by the community before I spend a lot of time trying to understand and incorporate it into my work.

Prezi

2009-06-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

I came across an alternative to PowerPoint that I wanted to share here. It's called prezi and it has an interesting non-linear format so that you may create presentations that begin with a large idea and move through components of that idea in various ways. I've tried it out just a bit, but I really like it. Click on this link to see tutorials on how to use prezi and some examples (at the bottom) of what the presentations look like.

Blogs for teaching and learning

2009-05-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

I have the quarter off from teaching this course, so things have been a little slow. However, I am in a class right now (EPL 823) on issues in technology and education. This week, we are to present a Web 2.0 technology and discuss it's issues to teaching and learning. I chose blogging, in particular blogger, since that's what I'm using for this blog. And I chose to post it here because I think it has some relevance to this course.

1) First, a definition: Blog is short for weblog and is essentially an online journal. There are many free, formulaic blog applications (blogger, wordpress, livejournal, etc.) that make blogging today simple for anyone who wants to put content on the web in this form (no HTML experience needed). The tools are simple... sign up, fill in your profile information, click "new post" and start entering text, links, photos, videos, etc. If you want to get fancy, all of the blog applications have various widgets that can be added to your site (like a blogroll, tag cloud, news feed, etc.).

2) Issues related to using blogs in teaching and learning?
Good "issues"-
For the most part, blogs can allow students to display work for a large interactive audience. Blogs can have multiple authors, so it could be used as a collaborative space among students on a project or to discuss their understanding of some concept over time. The public nature drives motivation because the content is no longer limited to a teacher and because they also have the opportunity to get feedback from others interested in their content. Blogging also has the potential to allow students and teachers to reflect on learning, identity, society, etc. and participate in a community of practice. This could lend itself to transferring formal learning to more authentic informal learning or vice versa (if a student had a blog at home to begin with). Teachers could also use blogs as a class website, pointing students to resources, summarizing lectures, sending out timely reminders about homework, creating dialogue with students about the content or the management of the class, etc.
Bad issues-
The main negative within teaching and learning for blogs is the very issue that is a positive, the public nature. Blogs can elicit feedback, but it can also elicit unwanted contact or attention. For young students this is dangerous (though I am skeptical about the odds of this happening) and for teachers it could be career damaging depending on how reflective/honest a teacher is about their practice or feedback to other students. This moves "teacher talk" from the lounge and private comments written in red ink on paper to a persistent, searchable and copyable (to use danah boyd's terms) world. The same could be said for students, who are still forming their identity, and may regret their words years later.

3) As it relates to qualitative research-
Since this blog is on a qualitative research, a method where much learning takes place, I thing blogs are also a useful tool in this arena. A blog could be a space to document field notes, maintain a reflective journal, or dialogue with participants about issues related to research. Depending on the nature of the project, a blog could be kept private or it could be used as a means of member checking or as a way to have others in your field offer up opinions as the work occurs. Since blogs are intended to be used regularly, this could be a motivation to stay on top of data analysis and reflection as it happens rather than putting it off only to try weeks or months later to recall what exactly your thoughts were that day.

Another Word Cloud Creator

2009-04-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

I found another tag/word cloud creator. This one is called wordle.net and I like it because each time the cloud has a different look. Here are two that I got after hitting "randomize" (using the same interview).

Plus a benefit of this one is that you can just copy and paste text, so you don't need to save your word doc as .txt.

Another Tag Cloud

2009-04-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to try another tag cloud with my own real data to see what happened, so here it is. Very interesting indeed.

able (7) ah (23) anything (6) anyways (7) attention (5) based (5) basically (6) beginning (5) book (5) city (9) class (15) classroom (13) computer (13) control (5) couple (9) course (5) critical (4) critique (7) days (5) demo (13) design (16) develop (5) different (8) download (5) enough (4) everything (5) forget (7) free (7) games (45) getting (7) give (7) going (22) gotta (5) grad (4) hear (5) helps (4) historical (7) history (23) interested (11) issue (6) kids (26) laughs (9) learning (18) lesson (4) link (6) lot (10) major (6) making (4) mind (4) model (5) name (5) oh (7) okay (8) paper (5) parents (5) particular (6) past (6) paying (5) people (16) period (4) playing (14) point (5) political (4) project (4) read (9) real (6) really (21) research (5) resources (6) roman (6) rome (8) saying (5) school (21) simulation (25) someone (5) something (11) sort (25) sources (9) start (6) students (10) study (4) sure (7) systems (5) table (5) talking (7) taught (5) teach (9) teacher (5) things (33) think (37) total (8) uh (42) um (69) usually (4) video (10) war (8) ways (4) working (10) yeah (28) years (5)

created at TagCrowd.com

Thinkful and Uses for Digital Data in Research

2009-03-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

I have come across a new resource called Thinkful. I found out about it through the AERA listserv. Here's the email I received explaining what it is:

Hello fellow grad students,
My name is June Ahn and I am a PhD student at the University of Southern California. I've been working on a personal project called thinkful.info (www.thinkful.info) to help me find new articles and books on my research interests. The website takes your keywords, and once a week searches hundreds of top academic journals and Amazon. You get a weekly email of the latest research and books that might be relevant to your areas of interest.... hopefully it will be a simple way to keep abreast of the latest work that is being published, which I find to be one challenge of academia.

I thought that this seemed relevant to our digital tools class, so I wanted to post it here. In addition, as I was reading an article for my social foundations course this week, I was directed to this website: http://www.talkinglongterm.co.uk/database/index.php
It, too, seemed relevant to this course as it shows how digital data can be used as part of a research project (in this case narrative accounts of people's experiences with health care). This is an excerpt from the site:

"The need to place first hand accounts of peoples’ experiences of health and social care at the centre of practice development, research, education and training agendas is widely acknowledged. Narrative interviews attempt to create a space where people can tell their stories as they wish with a minimum of direction. New digital multi-media technologies now provide a powerful way to capture both audio and visual histories, and permits users to search through material relevant to their own interests easily and quickly."

Maybe this is an area where digital data will be relevant (rather than in hypertext dissertations). Thoughts?

Online Surveys

2009-02-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

If you are conducting interviews or survey in your qualitative research, you may want to consider using the many (and free) survey tools available. I am familiar with surveymonkey, which is simple to use and includes analytic tools, but if you have the free version, you are limited to ten questions. If you search google for "free online surveys" there are many more to explore! Please let me know if you have found any that are useful in qualitative research.

Hypertext Dissertations

2009-02-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

In response to Mitsu's post about needing to see some dissertations that use hypertext. I searched the web and found some examples you all might be interested in exploring. Angel also did her Master's project in this manner, so you may be able to ask her to share her insights.

http://www.sympoiesis.net/?q=onlinediss#
(these are from the 90s, some links are broken, but provide are basic examples)

http://www.nutball.com/dissertation/mains/Narra1.html
(individual research)

Welcome Winter 09 Students... Take two!

2009-02-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

I am so glad to have you all in class for the second half of the quarter. Please look over the website at your leisure and let me know if there is anything that looks particularly appealing to you or that perhaps you know well enough to skip. My goal for this class is that it be helpful and pertinent to you and your research. In addition, please take this short survey...

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Sw6Z5CiQdars1l14y_2fY2ww_3d_3d

Concept Map Tools

2009-02-10T06:42:00.001-08:00

In class today, I mentioned some concept map tools that I think may be helpful to qualitative research. I have tried Vue, which is from Tufts University and pretty simple to use (and free). Amy had a link to mindmeister on her blog, which I have not used, but which looks interesting because it is web-based (so, no downloading) and can be shared with other users. Also, Lucy asked about using NetDraw, which I have not looked into yet, but it is also a concept mapping tool for mapping and counting nodes and such in a social networking environment. I think I may be adding these as part of the class in the future.

Switch

2009-01-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

In case you were having trouble converting audio files, I have been informed (Thanks, Mike!) that there is a free and fast converter available for download for both Windows and Mac. It's called Switch and is made by the same company that makes Express Scribe, which we will be using to transcribe our audio next week. Enjoy the rare day of canceled classes!

Posting Documents to Blogger

2009-01-20T14:52:00.001-08:00

In response to Amy's questions of how to post a document as a .jpg and how to link to a google doc, I did a little research and I think I found a way to do both.

First, if you want to post a word document as an image in blogger, you can use Zamzar, but rather than converting the word doc to .jpg (because Zamzar does not give this option), just convert it to .png. Then, the .png file can be uploaded as an image just the same as a .jpg (see below). If you really want a .jpeg, this website says that you can open the .png in paint and then save it as a .jpeg. Also note that the document was three pages and so saved as three separate .png files (I only posted the first page). If you click on this image, it becomes larger and readable. In google docs, there is an option under "Share" that allows you to publish you doc as a webpage. This makes it available for anyone to view (without logging in!). Then, in order to link your image to a google doc, you can click on the actual image and make it a hyperlink (I did not do this above, but tried it below) or you can just make a link to the document in the usual way. Here is my link. Good question! I hope this helps. Let me know if anyone has found a better way or has any suggestions.

Some Quantitative Data...

2009-01-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

I took a look at the survey and it looks like we have 1 mac user, 11 PC users and 5 that are ambidextrous. I have a mac, so I always try to give mac options, but this does give me some insight into how to slant the class. Poor mac.

I also wanted to address some questions that came up on the surveys.

1) Will we be using NVivo or NUDIST (yes, that's what it's really called) software?
This course used to be solely about using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). Programs in this category are things like NUDIST, NVivo, Qualrus, HyperRESEARCH, ATLAS.ti, etc. When I began to work on revamping the course, Dr. Voithofer and Dr. Nespor both wanted a more comprehensive approach to the digital tools now available (and that mostly free) to assist in qualitative research. As a result, we will not be focused on CAQDAS, though session 5 is dedicated to its use. We use a free program called WeftQDA (see session 5 for more info) that is very basic, but a good starting point for using the other commercial software listed above.

2) Will we cover software such as UCINET, NetDraw, VisuaLyzer or EgoNet?
Unfortunately, this is the first that I have heard of these tools. They are programs developed to visualize social networking. They seem a little more quantitative to me, but I would need to investigate them further before deciding to put them into the class. For those interested in social networks, many of these have a free download. If you you would like to investigate them and show the class the basics of their use (say for ten minutes one day), I would not be opposed to you skipping one of the other assignments that you may feel is not relevant for you. Please email me if you would like to do this.

3) Is there are write and cite function for mac?
There are many tools or bibliographic managers that work for both macs and PCs and we will be looking at these next week. I am most familiar with Zotero (see session 2 for more information) and know that it does have this function, which is very useful.

*And last but not least, if you are planning to bring your laptop to class, it might be helpful for you too look at the coming week and download the software that we will use before coming to class. The wireless in that room can be testy and slow, so just a heads up. Have a nice week!

Welcome Winter 2009 Students!

2008-12-31T08:56:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the Digital Tools for Qualitative Research Class Blog. I look forward to working with you all this coming quarter. Please feel free to peruse the blog at your leisure to familiarize yourself with course content (be sure to click through the archives on the right side of your screen). This course is developing as time goes on just as technology continues to be nebulous, so I have decided to keep the old posts from last class in order to keep the blog and the class more organic in nature. I hope to show you some things that will help you with your research and I hope to learn from you as well. Please let me know if any part of the course looks like it may be old hat to you and I will help you to design an alternative assignment for that portion. Here's to a productive quarter!

Sample Audio and Video Files

2008-11-16T08:31:00.000-08:00

I am posting two sample audio files. The first, I recorded using software called Voxie ($1.99 on the iPhone AppStore), which has the capability to email the file as an .aif file, which I did.

The second is a recording I created using Audacity, which I then exported as a .wav file.

Posting audio on blogger is a little ridiculous, I suppose because they are afraid of people "sharing" music. Posting video is as simple as posting an image, but for audio, it turned out to be extremely difficult. I finally figured out a work-around though, so here it is. First, go to the "Edit Html" tab available when you are creating a new post. Decide where you want your audio to show up in your post and then copy and paste this code there.

<embed src="Paste audio link here" height="14" width="367" autoplay="false" loop="false"></embed>

Then (in a new window or tab), go to hotlinkfiles.com. You will need to create an account and upload your audio files. Once your audio files are uploaded and you can see them listed, select them by checking the box on the far right, then selecting "Get linking codes" from the drop down menu that initially reads "Selected file actions." On the next screen, the option "Just the direct URLs." Copy the link for the audio file that you want by right clicking (ctrl+click on macs) and selectiong "copy." Then you need to go back to your blogger site and replace the "Paste audio link here" from the code with the link you just copied from hotlinkfiles.com. You can then return to the "Compose" tab, finish your post and publish. This should work, but if not, posting audio is not a requirement. Also, here is the "how to" page created by blogger on embedding audio. It didn't work exactly like it said it would, but if you would like to invest some time into trying to figure out a different work-around that works for you, it's a good place to start. In the mean time, don't worry about posting your audio to blogger (especially if it is taking too long). Just post your sample video.

This video file is a portion of the interview assignment that I completed for 800. I imported the video using iMovie and then exported it as a mov file (CD-ROM quality). In blogger, click the "add video" while writing your post and point to the file on your computer or flashdrive. It's that easy (thankfully). It does take awhile to load though, so be patient.

Required?

2008-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

Another question that I wanted to address. This course is not required, but strongly recommended. You may skip to certain parts of the course if you feel the earlier portions are not helpful to you or your research goals. Please let me know if this is the case and we can come up with alternative assignments.

Deleting a Blog

2008-10-28T07:14:00.001-07:00

In response to Tom's question this week... If you would like to create multiple blogs to try out each platform and then delete the ones you do not want.

I found this link on deleting blogs in Blogger:
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41387

This link is on deleting blogs in Wordpress:
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-do-i-delete-my-wordpress-blog

And this link is on deleting livejournal blogs:
http://www.livejournal.com/legal/privacy.bml
(look under "Changing your Preferences and Personal Information")

Most of these also have information on deleting your account as a whole as well.

Course Information

2008-09-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

Digital Tools for Qualitative Research
Graduate Level, 1 hour, Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Tuesdays, 9-10:48am (1/4-2/1)
Thursdays, 5-6:48pm (2/10-3/10)
RA 009

Course Description
This is a five-week introductory course on computer technology tools available to assist in collecting, organizing and analyzing data for qualitative research.

This course is designed to provide students with an overview of organizing data locally and externally, using digital notetaking tools, using tools to collaborate online, transcribing audio and video, as well as data analysis tools by exploring all the basic functions in a “hands on” approach. Through guidance, this course will help the researcher understand how these technologies can support their own research or project.

Relationship to other courses/curricula
Students currently enrolled in Ed P&L 800 are encouraged to attend.

Course Objectives
• Introduce students to the basic functions of technologies to assist in collecting, organizing and analyzing data during qualitative research.
• Provide students with the basic skills needed to complete the data analysis component of Ed P&L 967.
• Provide students with the basic skills to utilize computer technologies as they commence their own qualitative data research projects.

Course Requirements and Evaluation
75% required for “Satisfactory” evaluation
1. Attendance 25%
2. Class Participation 25%
3. Assignments 25%
4. Final Exam 25%

Special Needs
Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact the Office for Disability Services at 614-292-3307 in room 150 Pomerene Hall to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

Software/Hardware

2008-09-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

For this course the following software will be loaded on to lab computers, but you may want to download/buy them yourself, so I am providing a list here.

1) Evernote (free download)
2) Zotero (free download)- keeps disappearing on lap computers
3) Audacity (free download)
4) MovieMaker (free download)
5) ExpressScribe (free download)
6) Transana (open source $50, but free trial available)
7) WEFT QDA (free download)

We will also be using the following hardware. Should you have these items and prefer your own personal equipment, feel free to bring yours to class. If you do not have your own, please visit classroom services to reserve yours for subsequent classes (*items with an asterisk are available for use by the university). I will bring a demo of each item. If you have a laptop, I highly recommend you bring it to class and use it there. It will save you time transferring work.

1) Flashdrive
2) Cell phone (optional- I will demonstrate with an iPhone)
3) Microphone* (only to enhance the microphone on your digital video camera or computer)
4) Digital Video Camera*
5) Tripod*
6) Digital Audio Recorder*

Session 5: CAQDAS

2008-09-12T17:58:00.001-07:00

CAQDAS stands for Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software and is a great tool for qualitative research. CAQDAS has been criticized, however, for leaning toward the grounded theory approach and those who use it are encouraged to use it as a tool to help analyze more thoroughly rather than as analysis itself. You have read a document describing many commercially available CAQDAS and it is important to choose a software that helps you with your research rather than choosing one that is available and trying to make your research fit the tool. In this session, we will review the free program WEFT QDA. This program has all of the basic tools of the commercially available programs, but may not have certain features that you need for your research. This will, however, give you an idea of how CAQDAS works so that you can translate those skills to other programs, if you decide to use a different program.

We will use this manual as a guide to try to analyze the data we transcribed using ExpressScribe and Transana.

Final Exam- Add a final post to your blog in which you give feedback on the course including any tools you did not think were useful, tools you will definitely use and suggestions for additions. Also, feel free to add personal touches, such as a list of links that you have found during your work in this class or a profile which includes what you plan on researching. Please email me (angelone.1@osu.edu) when you have completed your final blog entry.

Session 4- Audio and Video Transcription

2008-09-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

Now that you have recorded your audio or video, you will want a simple way to review your recordings, transcribe them, and code them to begin your analysis. Transana is a good, cheap tool (plus, there's a free trial download available) and I really wish I had known it existed when I was working on my Masters project. This program allows you to pause the video and transcribe as you review it. You can also attach notes or codes to portions of the video segment to make analysis easier later. If you only used audio, this software still works in the same way. There is also a free audio-only transcription software called ExpressScribe, which is free and simple to learn and use.

During this class, we will attempt to use the audio and video that we recorded in the previous class to practice transcription and analysis using ExpressScribe and Transana.

Assignment 4- In the next class, we will be looking at programs that analyze textual data, which can include transcripts created in Transana. There are many commercial programs available and it would be helpful for you to review the following website that summarizes them. When you are finished looking over the document, create a post to your blog in which you have looked further into one CAQDAS and provided more information on it.

Session 3- Audio and Video Recording

2008-09-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

In your research, you may need to record an interview or an observation using either audio or video. There are two freely available and well known programs for this; however, please remember that there are many more that may suit your needs better.

Audacity- This is an audio recorder that can be used to record live audio if you connect a microphone to your computer, but it can also convert audio to a digital format if you choose to record your audio onto tapes. We will also be using a digital audio recorder that we can download directly to the computer. Be sure you export these recordings as a format that works with the transcription software (ExpressScribe) we will be using. wav and mp3 are safe for both windows and macs, but there are others.

MovieMaker- When recording video, will need to download it to your computer in order to save and analyze it. You may also want to edit it first, and this is what MovieMaker is good for. You can cut needless portions or add intros to portions to make them easier to find. This program is also helpful if you are planning to present your research. You can make a creative video using clips from your video and incorporating your voice, titles and transitions. This is basically a free version of Apple's iMovie, so if you are more familiar with Macintosh, the skills learned in iMovie are easily translated to MovieMaker. Be sure to save your movie in a format that is compatible with the transcription software we will be using (Transana). avi, mov (Mac) and wmv (Windows) are safe formats, but there are others. In addition, take a look at this website for tips on shooting quality video.

During this class, we will take sample videos (using a digital video camera- please bring your own (with a firewire cord or reserve from classroom services) and record sample audio (with Audacity and a digitial audio recorder- please bring your own (with a firewire cord or reserve from classroom services) so that we can practice using Audacity and MovieMaker and so that in the next class we can use this sample to practice transcribing. Please be sure to bring a flashdrive or external hard drive to class for this session so that you may save your files, since lab computers are wiped every night. Or, you can work directly on your laptop, in which case, please be sure to download Audacity and MovieMaker (both free) before class.

Assignment 3- In order to prepare for the next session, which is on taking the audio and video that you recorded and transcribing the information so that you can analyze it, please visit this website and watch all "Screencasts." These give an overview of the software Transana.

Session 2- Notetaking, Bibliographic Managers, Wikis, Blogs, Collaborative Writing, Concept Maps, Surveys

2008-09-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Some of the best tools on the Internet are free and very useful. These are a few of the ones that I sifted through and found to be most useful, but there are many more that can be found at the Digital Research Tools wiki and by searching on google.

Blogs:
1) Blogger- This free blog by google is the one used by me for this class. It allows you to post blog entries, favorite links, receive comments, etc. There are also a variety of settings.
2) Live Journal- Similar to blogger, but with some different features.
3) Wordpress- Similar to blogger, but with some different features.

Wikis:
1) PB Works- A wiki is a website that can be edited by anyone who views the site. PB Works (formerly PBWiki) has a free version that you can use to create your own wiki about your research. This is just one example of a free wiki. There are many available and they can be found by doing a google search.
2) Wikipedia- Probably the most famous wiki; it is an example of how the collective can refine information to make it more and more accurate over time.
3) DiRT- This is the Digital Research Tools wiki that I referenced at the beginning of this post. There are many tools available and the purpose of this wiki is to find new tools for digital research and collaborate to create a solid resource for qualitative researchers.

Collaborative Writing:
1) Google Docs- This is another free tool from Google. It is helpful when writing collaboratively for research. It allows you to begin either a Word document, PowerPoint presentation, Excel spreadsheet, etc. and then add other uses so that it can be edited by multiple users. It is also a useful place to store documents so that they can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection.
2) Zoho- Another collaborative writing tool.
3) Writeboard- Another collaborative writing tool. Same basic features as Zoho.

Concept Maps
1) Mindmeister- A collaborative online mindmapping software. This could be used as you organize research or perhaps as a less textual way to interview participants.
2) VUE- Created by Tufts University, VUE is a concept map tool that must be downloaded to your computer, but is simple to use and could be helpful to organize your codes, research or participants in a concept map. Another similar tool that includes the ability to work collaboratively and was recommended by a few students is Cmap.
3) Wordle- This isn't a concept map, but I couldn't quite figure out where to put it. It's a handy little tool that allows you to copy and paste text and get a word cloud of the most frequently used words in that text and displays them by size.

Surveys
1) Survey Monkey- A free online survey tool. Functions are limited without a paying membership, but good for short surveys of participants and very easy to learn.
2) Zoomerang- This tool is very similar to survey monkey and has the same stipulations with membership.
3) Qualtrics- Another survey tool with more features and the capability to download date as csv files.

Notetaking/Biblographic Managers:
1) Evernote- This free tool allows you to store notes in one location. Notes can take the form of audio, video, photos, or text. This has a great mobile phone utility so that you can take pictures or record notes when you think of them and your phone then syncs with your account online. This website also has a helpful video that gives an overview of the program.
2) Zotero- This is another free tool that is an extension of the Firefox browser. It's a handy way to store documents, websites, and anything else you need for your research from the web. It also allows you to attach notes to anything that you store. This site also has a video overview of the program.
3) Endnote- I would be remiss to leave this tool out of the course, though it is pricey at $249.99 (update, thanks to Mike Chapman, it is offered at SBX at a student-rate of $80!). It is a widely-used bibliographic manager that can save your references and format them in any style you need. You can also take notes on each reference. Ohio State Libraries makes it easy to export a reference to Endnote.
4) RefWorks- This is another bibliographic manager available through Ohio State Libraries (this page has a link to the log-in). This description is from their quickstart guide: RefWorks is a web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases and other various sources. You can use these references in writing papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds.
5) Mendeley- Similar to Zotero, but a download is required. However, this too allows you to highlight/annotate PDFs and then search annotations!
*Though learning to use these tools is somewhat time intensive, it can save you much tedious work in the future.

Assignment 2- Choose one of the blog tools above and begin your own blog based on your research. Then, select either one notetaking tool, bibliographic manager, wiki, collaborative writing tool, concept mapping tool or survey, try it out, and discuss on it in your first blog post. Please email the URL of your blog when you are finished.

Session 1- Nuts and Bolts

2008-09-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

When using digital tools and information as part of your research, it is important to have some basic information in regards to organizing, storing, converting and encrypting files. It might also be helpful for you to know how to find research resources online.

Organizing files and folders:
1) Windows
2) Mac OSX (forum suggestions)

Storing/backing up files and folders on a:
1) Flashdrive (aka jumpdrive, thumbdrive, etc.)
2) External hard drive
3) DVD-R - This link is for burning CDs, but it is essentially the same process except that the computer you are using must have a DVD burner and you may also need to download burning software like Nero. DVDs are better for storing large amounts of information genereated from your research project because they can hold more information. There are also DVD-DLs, which are DVDs with a dual layer that can hold more information. You need to have a burner that supports this to be able to use them.
4) CD-R - Simple back up to CDs.
5) Dropbox - Online storage (2GB free), creates a file on your computer that is saved online and on any other device where you download Dropbox.

Common Media File Types and Conversion:
1) Documents- .doc, .rtf, .txt, .pdf
2) Photo- .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .tif
3) Video- .avi, .mov, .wmv, .mpg
4) Audio- .mp3, .wav, .wma
5) More Common File Extensions - and their meanings
6) The choice of file extensions is a part of some applications. Saving the file as the extension you need is the best option.
7) Sample Conversion Program- Be mindful that there are many of these programs and you may have to search google for one to fit your needs.

Encrypting Data to keep it safe:
What is encryption, and why use it? Encryption can also "minimize risk" in the IRB process when storing sensitive information about human subjects.
1) Windows
2) TrueCrypt- Free Open-Source Encryption for Mac, Windows or Linux (must download)
3) Mac OSX FileVault
4) Mac OSX using Disk Utility

Online Databases/Information Access:
1) OSU Libraries- This is your main point to access articles since you are currently a student. From this link, don't forget to select "Off-campus Sign-in" in order to have access to the database.
2) ERIC- ERIC provides unlimited access to more than 1.2 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials, with hundreds of new records added twice weekly. If available, links to full text are included (from website).
3) Digital Libraries- A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media) and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. A digital library is a type of information retrieval system (from wikipedia). Examples include the National Science Digital Library and the National Digital Library Program through the Library of Congress.
4) Google Reader- Less academic in nature, though still extremely efficient and helpful is Google Reader. Via RSS feeds, Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. There are an amazing number of sites with an RSS feed and Google Reader allows you to search these for content you may be interested in.
5) citeulike- This is a community where academics post and rate articles. You can create a library and search by keyword. There are also groups surrounding various research interests. I have found many articles here that I didn't find searching by the same tags on the OSU library site.

Assignment 1- Read "Going Digital and Staying Qualitative" (this link leads you to a place where you can download the pdf) and leave a comment to this post with your thoughts. Questions to consider... How will digital tools enhance your research? What digital tools are you most interested in learning? What are the potential dangers of digital tools in qualitative research? Click on "comments" below to post your thoughts (Please note, we used to read a different article, so comments from past classes might not answer these same questions).

"Rules" of Computer Use (to avoid utter frustration)

2008-08-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

As I began to develop a course in digital tools useful for qualitative research, I realized how frustrating it can be to learn new programs. I also began to think how much more frustrating it may be if I didn't have much experience with computers. Keeping that in mind, I decided to put together a list of "rules" or things I have learned along the way that has helped me be less frustrated with the machine we love to hate. I am not a patient person by nature, so these skills were most definitely acquired, sort of like a taste for coffee.

1) Technology can take time, especially when learning or setting up something new. This seems counterintuitive because, well, technology is supposed to be the ultimate time saver. But, if we can come to terms with the fact that it takes time to save time, we will save ourselves a lot of stress. Rest assured that given enough time, things will eventually work, but it may not be as simple or quick as you might have anticipated.

2) You don't have to understand everything to figure something out. Learning how to use new tools on a computer can be daunting, but you do not have to be a computer scientist to be able to try new things and even get good at them. Oftentimes things seem more complicated than they really are. When all else fails try a google search. You can find forums with people having the same problem, manuals, tutorials, etc. It can be your greatest resource.

3) Don't be afraid to make mistakes. It's not that children are so much better at using the computer, it's that they are unafraid to make mistakes. Be like a kid and dive right in. If you make a mistake, it won't ruin everything and even if it does, you always learn something from mistakes. This is particularly true when using the computer.

4) There are multiple ways to do the same thing. When using a computer, you will soon find out (if you don't already know) that there is not one right way to do anything. You do not have to memorize how to complete different tasks. Once you acquire some of the skills (mostly through trial and error) of computer use, you can apply these skills to many new programs/environments on the computer. People often do the same thing in different ways depending on their comfort level. Don't be afraid to learn a new (possibly easier) way to do things you already know on the computer.

5) Technology is constantly evolving and changing. This is important to learn because few can keep up with the pace of change and even fewer can be aware of the breadth of information and tools available on the Internet. Books are published, even magazines, and are immediately out of date. This is the nature of technology today. That being said, it is imperative that we all collaborate and share emerging or little known technologies as we serendipitously find them.

6) Free is good, but sometimes it's worth it to shell out some money. There are many excellent resources free on the Internet. With the growing popularity of open source programs, free quality programs are more easily accessible than ever. However, depending on what you plan to use technology for, you may need to purchase a program or, more often, equipment that is necessary for the job. Most of these things can be borrowed or found in a lab, but sooner or later, it is better to have your own and if you get quality items, you can sell them for a decent price later to minimize the cost of upgrading (which will eventually be necessary).

That's all I have for now. I hope these rules help you as you wrestle through the many programs available to help you with your qualitative research. And, please feel free to comment or make additions to this post.

Hello World!

2008-08-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

This blog will be an effort to organize websites, blogs, and digital tools useful to my research and classes. It will also be a place where I can share my thoughts on topics and interests that occur from class discussions and outside readings.