TRANSANA Basic
TUTORIAL OVERVIEW
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Tutorial Overview
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- Standard – The Standard page shows the Tutorial links that most users need to get started using Transana.
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Introduction
These pages cover introductory information that will help you learn to start and configure Transana and to understand some fundamental concepts concerning how to work with Transana.
Overview Videos - What is Transana?
Starting Transana Basic and New Database Configuration
Transana Basic's Organizational Structure - Connecting the Analytic Model to the Software
Adding Source Data
The first step in any qualitative analysis is to bring your source data into Transana. This process is different for different types of data, which have different properties and different analytic needs.
Source data is placed in Libraries in Transana. Libraries are organizational structures that allow you to group your source data in ways that make it easier to find what you are looking for later in the process. Some projects use a single library, while others use multiple libraries to organize large collections of data.
The first step in adding source data to Transana is to create a Library.
Once you have created a Library, you add your source data files.
| Data Type | Add Source Data |
|---|---|
Media (Video and Audio) data Before Transcript Creation | |
- One or more media files with | |
- A media file paired with a transcript | Import a Media File (Create an Episode) Create a Transcript or Import a Transcript |
- A media file with no transcript | Import a Media File (Create an Episode) |
Following Transcript Creation | See the Transcription section below. |
Transcription
Video recordings represent an abstraction from an activity or event in reality. A video cannot capture all aspects of the event recorded. A thousand analytic decisions influence how useful the video is, including when the recording is started and stopped, where the camera is placed, where the camera is pointed, how the image is framed by zooming, where microphones are placed, how many cameras are used, and how intrusive the recording operation is allowed to be. The video cannot capture everything. Still, video can be a very useful tool for research.
Transcripts represent a further degree of abstraction. A transcript cannot capture all aspects of data in a video. What is captured in the transcript? Speech is common, but to what level of detail? Are sounds that are not words included? “Um”s and “uh”s and partial words in imperfect spoken language, and to what level of detail? How is intonation represented, if at all? Movement? Posture? Body language? Facial expression? Does a participant’s sarcasm, grief, or excitement come through clearly? How does one reflect the surroundings, the environment where recording occurs? How do you transcribe music, or dance? Do you even have time to transcribe, given that the customer wants a final analysis by Tuesday? Another thousand analytic decisions must be made.
The following describes how to transcribe in Transana. What you transcribe and how you transcribe are up to you.
Automated Transcription - An Overview
- with Faster Whisper Embedded
- with Speechmatics Server
Import Media Files with Automated Transcripts
(Add one or more media files and generate an automated transcript for each using Faster Whisper with background processing)
Transana's Built-In Transcription Shortcut Keys
Define New Transcription Shortcuts
Loading Existing Media Files and Controlling Media Playback
Add a Still Image to a Transcript
Preparing for Analysis
The general model for analyzing data in Transana is to follow these steps:
- Bring source data into Transana
- Make a selection to indicate a portion of that source data that is analytically important
- Use either Coding or Categorization to indicate what is analytically important about that selection in the source data.
This page describes Categorization and Coding, and describes how to get started with both, creating Keywords for Coding and creating Collections for Categorization.
Analysis in Transana - an Overview
Making Selections
Now that we have source data in the system and we have set up a coding system and a categorization system, we can get into the topic of making analytic selections from source data and assigning analytic meaning to these selections.
Important functional differences exist between different kinds of data, so there are some unavoidable differences in how you work with different types of data. Pick the type of data you have in the table below. (Some of the steps are repeated for different data types in the table.)
| Data Type | Select and Code | Select and Categorize |
| Video and Audio | ||
- Media Files with Transcripts | Code a Media Selection with a Transcript (Create Quick Clips) | Categorize a Media Selection with a Transcript (Create Standard Clips) |
- Media Files without Transcripts | ||
| Code Media Data Without a Transcript (Create Quick Clips without a Transcript) | Categorize Media Data Without a Transcript (Create Standard Clips without a Transcript) | |
| Following Clip Creation | ||
Manipulating Selections
Once you have made initial selections, it is common to re-code and re-categorize those selections as your understanding of the data shifts and grows more complex.
Additional Tabs in the Data Window
* Page requires additional editing
Finding Meaning Across Selections (Reports and Searches)
Transana provides a variety of tools designed to help you explore your data as you strive to make sense of it.
Customizing Reports using Filters *
Notes Browser and Notes Reports
Full Searches, the Search Interface, and Search Results *
Mastering Complex Searches, Understanding Boolean Logic and Parentheses
Converting Search Results to Collections
* Page requires additional editing