TRANSANA Basic
TUTORIAL OVERVIEW

Pick one from each option:

Tutorial Overview

Select your Transana version on the left. If you are using the Demonstration version, Professional is your best option.

Then select the Tutorial option you want. There are two Tutorial options:

Standard – The Standard page shows the Tutorial links that most users need to get started using Transana.
Advanced – The Advanced page show all Tutorial links. It is for people who want to understand the analytic process more deeply and to learn about Transana’s most advanced features.

Each link from this page will open in a new tab, allowing you to easily return here by closing that tab.

If you have questions or comments, please let us know. We are always happy to hear from Transana users.

Ask a Question or Report an Issue

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?

Transana's Analytic Model

Starting Transana Basic and New Database Configuration

Transana's Main Screen

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.

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	Working with Media Files - An Overview Preparing Media Files for Analysis
- One or more media files with embedded automated transcripts	Import Media Files with Automated Transcripts
- A media file paired with a transcript	Import a Media File (Create an Episode) Create a Transcript or Import a Transcript - or - Generate an automated transcript - An Overview - with Faster Whisper Embedded - with Speechmatics Server - with Deepgram Server
- A media file with no transcript	Import a Media File (Create an Episode) Create a Blank Transcript
Following Transcript Creation	Waveforms See the Transcription section below. Loading Media Files and Controlling Playback

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.

Types of Transcripts

Automated Transcription - An Overview
- with Faster Whisper Embedded
- with Speechmatics Server
- with Deepgram 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)

Manual Transcription

Transana's Built-In Transcription Shortcut Keys

Time Codes

Advanced Time Codes

Transcript Autocomplete

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

Coding and Categorization

Keyword Groups and Keywords

Default Keywords

Keyword Summary Report

Create a Collection

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	Selecting Media Data Without a Transcript
- 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	Viewing Clips
	Code an existing Clip	Manipulating Items in Collections

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.

Managing Codes

Common Coding Tasks

Common Categorization Tasks *

Visualizations and Filters *

Additional Tabs in the Data Window

* Page requires additional editing