Anne Kennedy wrote:
> Does anyone have any experience with TextSmart (a relatively new SPSS
> product for handling textual data)?
I tested TextSmart (got a free evaluation copy from SPSS Germany), the
report is published in SSCORE vol 17, Nr 3 (Social Science Computer
Review).TextSmart claims to code responses to open ended questions, and
it does it at least for English texts, it failed for German because the
stemming algorithm used only recognises English. Marketing of TextSmart
and its features are contradictory: SPSS promises features
enthusiastically that the manual treates much more carefully. Indeed, the
manual is very good, the implementation of the program however is not. It
is much too slow (written in Java), and even mouse clicks need more than
a second to react.
In the current state (version 1.0) this program is a beta version (the
about field also tells you that (sic!)), and the price SPSS charges is in
my opinion inadaequate. But see for yourself, but I cannot recommend it.
Harald Klein
--
Dr. Harald Klein
TU Ilmenau
Media and communication research
PF 100 565
98684 Ilmenau
Germany
Tel.: +49 3677 694672
Tel/Fax: +49 36783 80284
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