{"id":75,"date":"2010-06-11T13:00:03","date_gmt":"2010-06-11T20:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tabithahart.net\/?p=75"},"modified":"2011-04-07T11:15:28","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T18:15:28","slug":"tams-analyzer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/?p=75","title":{"rendered":"TAMS Analyzer"},"content":{"rendered":"

To analyze the data for my project on online intercultural communication<\/a> I have decided to use\u00a0TAMS Analyzer<\/a>. \u00a0TAMS is an open source data analysis tool written for Mac OSX, and it’s free. \u00a0Yes, free. \u00a0From what I have learned so far it supports complex qualitative coding. \u00a0You can also use it to generate different types of reports, such as counts and, of course, lists of sorted codes\/coded passages. \u00a0The documentation was helpful up to a point, and now I’m simply learning by doing. \u00a0I’ll attach a short summary of my notes here, which might be useful to those just picking TAMS up. \u00a0The page numbers refer to the “TAMS Analyzer User Guide,” a pdf document which comes bundled with the software itself. \u00a0The entire package can be downloaded here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using TAMS<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Material has to be rtf.\u00a0 Recreate the docs as rtf files and import into TAMS<\/li>\n
  2. You need to manually save these windows all the time.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. init file<\/strong>:\u00a0 create this to tell the program how to code contextual data (p. 35, 95)\n
      \n
    1. Have context codes here for \u201crole\u201d (student, trainer, staff)<\/li>\n
    2. Have file types (fieldnotes, interaction, interview, forum etc.)<\/li>\n
    3. Have \u201cperson\u201d or \u201cname\u201d as contextual data<\/li>\n
    4. Have \u201ctopic\u201d variable<\/li>\n
    5. You can also do \u201cif\u201d coding, like if person = Bob then role = trainer<\/li>\n
    6. Each \u201cdocument\u201d that you import will have a name \u2013 be consistent with your naming scheme (best to match it with original documents in your archive)<\/li>\n
    7. Use \u201cuniversal codes<\/strong>\u201d (metatags<\/strong>) to note, for example, what type of document it is (interview, fieldnotes, etc.) (p. 19)\n
        \n
      1. universal codes are generated for every results window record and hold their value through the whole document.<\/li>\n
      2. At the top of the document, put {!universal datatype=”Interview”}<\/li>\n
      3. This will produce one column in your output called \u201cdataType\u201d and for records from this document it with fill it with \u201cInterview\u201d.<\/li>\n
      4. i.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Note that the \u201chorizon\u201d (or scope) of universals is the end of file (eof)\n
          \n
        1. \u201ccontext codes<\/strong>\u201d mark distinctive attributes for a section of a document (marked by {!end} or {!endsection}).\u00a0 Typical repeat codes include speaker, time, question – all of which you would want to be attached to a passage of text you have coded. (See also variable tags, p.35)<\/li>\n
        2. To make these (for example, to denote speaker) create the \u201cheads up\u201d tag like {!context speaker}at the top of the file.\u00a0 You\u2019ll then insert the context tags in the file where applicable, like {speaker}John{\/speaker}: {food>parsley}I hate parsley.{\/food>parsley}{!end}<\/strong>\n
            \n
          1. \n
              \n
            1. \n
                \n
              1. Where you have more than one speaker it\u2019s a good idea to make the document structured, i.e. to put in \u201csections\u201d pertaining to the context codes<\/strong>.\u00a0 To do this:\n
                  \n
                1. put the metatag {!struct} in your init file or on top of each interview if you don\u2019t have an init file.\u00a0 Now you can show switches in speakers, roles, etc.<\/li>\n
                2. have a context code in the file like the one above.<\/li>\n
                3. At the end of the section (i.e. the end of the speaker\u2019s turn) put in {!endsection}.\u00a0 With this command, context values get carried forward, but the system knows that particular section has ended.\u00a0 (There\u2019s another command to wipe clear the context values, if you want.)<\/li>\n
                4. TIPS<\/strong>:\u00a0 (1) be careful to mark all the speakers<\/span>, or you will think the wrong people are saying the things you are finding. (2) put in an {!endsection} whenever the value of speaker changes<\/span>, or you will be misled as to who is speaking.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                5. Data codes<\/strong> are marked with {code}interesting passage{\/code}.\n
                    \n
                  1. Code names consist of numbers, spaces and underscore characters. No spaces permitted.<\/li>\n
                  2. Passages of text can have multiple codes; codes can be nested and can overlap.<\/li>\n
                  3. As you create codes you\u2019ll use the \u201cdefinition<\/strong>\u201d button to define them.<\/li>\n
                  4. Coding Level 2<\/strong> \u2013 there\u2019s a \u201creanalysis\u201d phase in which you re-configure codes that you\u2019re working with.\u00a0 You have to set the software to \u201creanalysis mode\u201d to preserve original information.\u00a0 You can then refine your codes.\n
                      \n
                    1. You can export reports from this level, too<\/li>\n
                    2. The > symbol shows subtype<\/li>\n
                    3. {sound>pig}oink, oink{\/sound>pig}<\/strong> means that \u201coink, oink\u201d is an example of sound subtype pig.\n
                        \n
                      1. i.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You can have multiple levels of subtype<\/li>\n
                      2. Coding Level 3<\/strong>\u2013 you can identify code families (minus the \u201cno spaces\u201d restriction \u2013 you can use full sentences here)\n
                          \n
                        1. TAMS calls these \u201ccode sets\u201d<\/li>\n
                        2. There is \u201cno spaces\u201d restriction \u2013 you can use full sentences for code set names<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                          Memos\/comments<\/strong> can be included with a coded passage \u2013 you just do it by hand after the end code, separated by a space but still inside the brackets.\u00a0 It looks like this: {food>parsley}I hate parsley.{\/food>parsley This guy\u2019s crazy!!!}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                          To analyze the data for my project on online intercultural communication I have decided to use\u00a0TAMS Analyzer. \u00a0TAMS is an open source data analysis tool written for Mac OSX, and it’s free. \u00a0Yes, free. \u00a0From what I have learned so far it supports complex qualitative coding. \u00a0You can also use it to generate different types […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}