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

cheryl fogle cfogle at unm.edu
Thu Jul 26 21:58:28 UTC 2012 

Hello Maha, Faiz, and list,

Statistics questions come across the blind science and blind math lists 
all the time.  I'd suggest subscribing to those lists if only for access 
to the archives.  Some questions may have already been answered.

I used an older version of spss for qualitative and quantative analysis 
for my dissertation.  It was version 15 because that was the one I 
bought several years ago.  My student license expired so I'm giving 
advice from memory.  I generally imported excel files and then selected 
the row and column ranges for the different analysis dialog boxes.  Then 
I always exported the output back to excel.  The results are still 
readable and I'm still referring to them as I revise my manuscript.  
Sorry I don't have experience with 18.

Cheryl Fogle
Ph.D. candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico

On 7/26/2012 3:52 AM, Faiz Rasool wrote:
>
> 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 <mailto:EMorman at nfb.org>
>
> *Sent:*Wednesday, July 25, 2012 4:01 PM
>
> *To:*social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org 
> <mailto: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)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Social-sciences-list mailing list
> Social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org <mailto:Social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/social-sciences-list_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Social-sciences-list:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/social-sciences-list_nfbnet.org/mahakhechen%40hotmail.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Social-sciences-list mailing list
> Social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/social-sciences-list_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Social-sciences-list:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/social-sciences-list_nfbnet.org/cfogle%40unm.edu

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/social-sciences-list_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120726/26ad9d73/attachment.html>

More information about the Social-Sciences-List mailing list