[Social-sciences-list] reply to Maha's questions.

Thu Jul 26 19:27:02 UTC 2012

Hi Faiz,

Thanks very much for writing. It is very useful to know that the SPSS is not that accessible for Jaws users. I am trying to collect information about the qualitative and quantitative analysis packages that work with JAWS so that I get the necessary training on the software that I can use. Having said that, I totally understand that these analysis softwares have not been designed with us in mind so I might still face some difficulties even with the most accessible ones.

I would appreciate it if you can send me the link to the website that Dr Jonathon has developed so that I can get further information about the R software. 

Any advise regarding a qualitative analysis package is very much appreciated. 

Alternatively, the colleagues on the list may wish to share with us their experiences of possible ways of analyzing the qualitative data that may work for non sighted researchers.

Thanks again,

Maha

From: Faiz Rasool 
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 10:52 AM
To: 'Blind Social Scientists List' 
Subject: Re: [Social-sciences-list] reply to Maha's questions.

Hi Maha,

Unfortunately, SPSS is not completely accessible with jaws. It is  claimed by IBM that from version 18 you can use the software by making few changes in the path variable and replacing the accessibility. Properties file. After making  the suggestive changes to improve the accessibility of SPSS with jaws, I found that I could use the menus  e.g. open the  analyze menu to request for a cross tabulation or run a simple linear regression. But  few aspects of the programs e.g.   entering data directly in the data editor window of SPSS was not possible  at least for me. When you try to use the arrow keys to navigate in the data editor windows of SPSS jaws does not always correctly report the location of the row  and column you are in. The workaround I found was to first enter my data in excel, and then import it to SPSS. Please note that I did not experienced any major difficulty in assigning variable and value labels  in SPSS. The second major issue was that   visually impaired users cannot directly read the content of the output window of SPSs. Your option to read the output window is  to  export the  output window as a  word or pdf file. Personally I found the option of exporting as a word file very helpful as I could copy and move the tables in other files e.g. course assignments.  Please note that other users have reported few problems in setting up the location of the path variable and replacing the accessibility.properties file. Dr. Jonathan who's on the list has always   maintained that R is the best software option for blinds. I personally have very limited experience of using R so I cannot offer much advice myself.   But I think Dr. Jonathan has maintained a  website where information on using R can be found. I'd  suggest that you should explore R if possible. I used stata    for a limited time and found it to  work well with jaws. My problem was that  course  instructor wanted  all the assignments in MS word and I could not work out how to get the output of R or Stata directly to mS word. With workarounds I was able to get the output of SPSS to MS word though. Please note that it is not that the output of R and stata cannot be sent to MS word it was just that I could not learn how to in the limited time I had and there was no accessibility support office to come to my help. 

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Faiz.

From: social-sciences-list-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:social-sciences-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Maha Khochen
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 11:48 AM
To: Blind Social Scientists List
Subject: Re: [Social-sciences-list] introduction

Hi everyone,

My name is Maha. I am currently reading for my MPhil/PhD at the Institute of Education, University of London- UK. My research is looking at the inclusion of visually impaired learners in mainstream education in Lebanon, my home country. It is so interesting to see this mailing list up and running. 

I have been looking for some advise on accessible qualitative software package for a while. And was wondering if there is anyone on the list who can advise? I have tried the NVivo but unfortunately it appeared that it is not accessible with Jaws, the screen reader that I use to access information. Any advise with this regard is very much appreciated. Note that I have no residual vision.

Another thing, I am taking training on the SPSS software very soon, it would be very much appreciated if I can have some advise based on your experience whether it is accessible and that blind researchers can use it with no problem. Alternatively, any advise for an accessible quantitative software package would be very much appreciated too.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Maha

From: Morman, Ed 

Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 4:01 PM

To: social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org 

Subject: [Social-sciences-list] introduction

Dear Listmembers-

I'm pleased to see that my colleague Anna Kresmer has already joined the list.  Like Anna, I am a sighted staff member at the NFB Jernigan Institute in Baltimore.  I have a PhD in History of Science and worked for many years in the field of history of medicine as a librarian, occasional teacher, and not terribly productive researcher.  I know a wee bit about social science research methods and have an avocational (extremely avocational) interest in cognitive science.  Curiosity about how people construct their internal model of the world without sight was part of the reason I was interested in working for an organization related to blindness-especially a blind-led organization of blind people.  I've been here for four years now and I'm enthusiastic about NFB philosophy and its notion of what constitutes proper training.  With Anna Kresmer and our colleague Lou Ann Blake, I've developed something of an understanding of the history of the blind in the U.S. and more specifically the history of the NFB.

I'll mainly be lurking, but might occasionally have something to say.  With any luck it will be intelligent and even possibly helpful to other listmembers.

Cordially,

Ed Morman

Edward T. Morman, MSLS, PhD

Director, Jacobus tenBroek Library

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND JERNIGAN INSTITUTE

200 East Wells Street

   at Jernigan Place

Baltimore MD 21230

410.659.9314 x2225

410.685.2340 (fax)

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