I think the points Susanne makes below are very relevant and to the point.
C-I-SAID  tries to provide a high level of qualitative sophistication
within a package which also provides quantitative analysis.  This will be
more useful to some types of research than others and some people will feel
more comfortable with the language than others.

I think most of the problems raised below can be dealt with in C-I-SAID but
clearly other dedicated qualitative programmes put these issues to the fore
front.

 > With regard to searches C-I-SAID can not only conduct searches on
 > multiplecombinations of codes but you can send the output to
 > tables, reports and grids. Depending on your data and output source
  > you can then play
 > the media  file,

I>s is a feature in the version of your software from last autumn? And
 >if so, can you give a small hint on where to find this feature? (thanks)

Yes this was in the software last autumn. In the report manager the lexical
and rating menus open search windows where you can define complex search
criteria.  The output can be directed to a report window.  Clicking on the
header of any segment selected by the search will play the media file -
provided the document is linked.

Regards
Alan

At 16:10 28/06/2001 +0200, you wrote:
> > There is also a new linking editor which makes linking much
> > easier.
>
>In which version? Was there an update since last autumn?
>
> >It is also
> > possible make auto links as you suggest but (if C-I-SAID can
> > extract the
> > embedded WAV fle) you can also segment on periods of silence.
>
>Here and it many points you make below in your message, it becomes
>obvious that it really depends on what kind of data you want to
>analyse. As I understood it, orgianially Code-a-text and also CISAID
>was developed to analysed therapy sessions. Periods of silence may not
>be relevant for lots of other types of data, unless you are interested
>in use of language, linguistics, conversational analysis and that sort.
>
>
> >I suspect the problems of overlapping codes comes from the
> > different roots
> > from which C-I-SAID evolves. My understanding is that many qualsoft
> > programmes allow you to apply a code or a label to a segment and
> > then bring these together into families etc.
>
>that is not quite correct - what is meant by overlapping codes is that
>you can code let's say a segment from time 1 min 30 sec. to 1 min 50
>sec. and an overlapping segment starting at time 1 min 45 sec. - 2 min
>30 sec. This is what I meant with the exlusive or either/or coding in
>CISAID. Of course this is a prerequisite for lots of other functions
>you have build in, namely the statistsically function. The programme
>would not be able to perform these kind of analysis, the the coding
>would be more ambiguous. However - here we see the different tradtions
>of development again, this is not necessarily the purpose of all
>research.
>
>Just to give a short example - I am currently involved in an EU project
>were we analyse media data (newspaper and tv commercials) and we have
>some people on the project that have more a quantiative/positivistic
>background and they would have felt much more comfortable if we had
>used CISAID instead of ATLAS.ti (the software we are using instead). It
>sets much clearer boundaries and allows for much less experimenting
>wiht your coding schema (as you more or less need to determine it from
>the start and there is less room for an emerging coding schema - I am
>speaking here in terms of relativity). It also reflects your comments
>on using the build-in lexical analysis features. This, I can see is
>potential very useful for certain types of analysis, but one should be
>aware of what one can do and cannot do and whether that suits once
>analysis plan before deciding on a software package. There is not
>really a universal answer.
>
>
> >You can do this with C-I-SAID
> > by using the various lexical coding methods which are completely
> >free form.
>
>not in the sense I would understand 'open coding' - again it is just
>two very different approaches. The point here is not to say one is
>better than the other, but to raise the question: What do I want to do
>with my data? How do I want to analyse them? A statistical analysis is
>not always the goal.
>
>
> > The rating scale methods do not allow this because they require that
> > the scale (the family if you like) is explicit at the beginning.
>
>to clarify the family principle that you have in other programmes -
>what you have with the rating scale is more or less a hieracial
>organisation. Your rating scale may be about emotions and then the
>codes on your scale are e.g. anger, love, hate, irritation, warmth,
>fun, exciting, etc. You would use higher and lower order codes in other
>software programmes that you may be able to link via relations that you
>determine yourself. Families are something different. There you combine
>various codes that have some commonalities. It could be of course that
>you combine all the various aspects of emotions, but you could also
>combine codes around emotions, codes pertaining to certain activities,
>and others that may fit together for some reason or another. You also
>often get to the point of combining certain codes at a later stage in
>your analysis as you may not know from the beginning which codes may
>belong to one family.
>
>
> >Using these methods overlapping coding is not a problem.
>
>You are talking about co-occuring codes, i.e. codes that overlap 100%
>from their starting to their end point. In other words, overlaps that
>could be found via an AND operator in other programmes.
>
>
> > With regard to searches C-I-SAID can not only conduct searches on
> > multiplecombinations of codes but you can send the output to
> > tables, reports and grids. Depending on your data and output source
>  > you can then play
> > the media  file,
>
>Is is a feature in the version of your software from last autumn? And
>if so, can you give a small hint on where to find this feature? (thanks)
>
>
> > analyse the tone of voice,
>
>again - this might be relevant for some research projects or data
>typesm, but not in general.
>
>
> > C-I-SAID is in many ways radically different from other programmes
> > and aims to place the depth of qualitative analysis within the
> > framework of a quantitative programme.
>
>That is why it is important to point it out that the programme exists
>and that is is worthwhile to take a look at it. But the features also
>need to be pointed out and that it is different in many ways and not
>simply a subsitute for other programmes. I would for example argue,
>once HyperResearch gets their video coding working, it can be
>considered to be a close subsitute to ATLAS.ti. However, CISAID is not
>a close subsitute. The assumption with regard to data analysis that are
>behind the programme are quite different and they need to be matched
>with what the researchers intend is. Also, I would say that researchers
>coming from a positivistic framework (or some of its variations), they
>are likely to feel more comfortable or 'at home' using CISAID than
>other packages. But this is of course just my personal opinion.
>
>Susanne

Alan Cartwright PhD
Developer Code-A-Text MultiMedia Products
Hon. Senior Lecturer Kent Institute of Medicine and Health Studies.
Email [log in to unmask]

CISAID: Powerful Multi-Media Software for Analysing Interviews and Dialogues.
CTANKS: Word processing, Recording, Transcription, Searching  and Report
Generation in a single user friendly package.

Information at
Code-A-Text Web Page <http://www.code-a-text.co.uk>