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

Jonathan Godfrey a.j.godfrey at massey.ac.nz
Thu Jul 26 21:38:38 UTC 2012 

Hi,

Look around:
http://r-resources.massey.ac.nz

especially the document known as LURN = Let's Use R Now.

Jonathan
At 07:27 a.m. 27/07/2012, you wrote:
>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: <mailto:faiz7r at gmail.com>Faiz Rasool
>Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 10:52 AM
>To: <mailto:social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org>'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: <mailto:EMorman at nfb.org>Morman, Ed
>Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 4:01 PM
>To: <mailto:social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org>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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_____
Dr A. Jonathan R. Godfrey
Lecturer in Statistics
Institute of Fundamental Sciences
Massey University
Palmerston North

Office: Science Tower B Room 3.15
Phone: +64-6-356 9099 ext 7705
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Home Address: 52 Linton St, Palm. Nth.
Home Phone: +64-6-353 2224 (Just think FLEABAG) 
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