Keywords

You'll find the following information on this page:
About Searching for Keywords
Perform a Search with One Keyword
Perfrom a Search with Two Keywords
Dropping a Clip or Episode from a Search
Troubleshooting Search Results
Perform Complex Searches
Understanding Boolean Searching
Boolean Search Result Summary

Also see the following related topics:
Collection analysis
Converting search results to collections
Keyword analysis
Video analysis

 

 

About Searching for Keywords
Transana lets you search for clips and episodes that contain specified keywords.

  • This is useful:
    • When you want to look for evidence to support a certain hypothesis.
    • When you have large amounts of video data.
  • Give your searches a name.
  • Searches appear under the Search node in the database tree.
  • Search names keep track of what you have searched for, and what you found when you searched.
  • You can save the results of a search as a collection.

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Perform a Search with One Keyword
To search with one keyword follow the steps below.

  1. Right-click the Search node in the database tree in the Data window.
  2. Choose Search from the pop-up menu. Note: Transana opens the Boolean Keyword Search dialog box shown below.
  3. Type the keyword you wish to search for in the field Search Name to give your search a name (Symmetry in the example below).
  4. Choose the Keyword Group your keyword is in.
  5. Highlight the keyword you want to search for in the right hand pane.
  6. Scroll down to see this keyword if there are several keywords in the right hand pane.
  7. Click Add Keywords to Query. You can also double-click the keyword to add it to your search.
  8. Click Search to begin searching.

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Once the search is complete Transana will do the following procedures:

  • Transana finds one episode (Sample Video) and six clips that have the keyword Symmetry assigned to them in the example above.
  • Transana returns the result of the search under the Search Name Symmetry, under the Search node.
  • The search name appears under the Search node with an icon of a magnifying glass next to it.
  • The series/episode and collection/clip structure you have set up is preserved in the search results.

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Perform a Search with Two Keywords
To search with two keywords follow the steps below.

  1. Right-click the Search node in the database tree in the Data window and choose Search from the pop-up menu.
    • Transana opens the Boolean Keyword Search dialog box.
  2. Type the "Keyword1 and Keyword2" for keywords in the field labeled Search Name. In the example below, Symmetry and Confusion are the two keywords.
  3. Highlight Keyword1 in the list of keywords in the dialog box (Symmetry in the example below).
  4. Click Add Keywords to Query or double-click Keyword1.
  5. Click the AND button under the label Operators in the dialog box. (This means both keywords must be in the search results).
  6. Highlight Keyword2 in the list of keywords.
  7. Click Add Keywords to Query or double-click Keyword1.
  8. Click Search to begin searching.
    • Note: Transana displays the results of your search in the database tree:

Symmetry and Confusion in the example above is the Search Name. To review your search results, right-click the Symmetry collection and select Play All Clips.

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Dropping a Clip or Episode from a Search
If you find the clip (ex.Proof) to be a false positive result in the example above

  1. Right click the clip in the search result.
  2. Select Drop for Search Result from the pop-up menu.
    • Note: The clip disappears from the search (but remains in the collection).

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Troubleshooting Search Results
To trouble shoot search results, right-click on the Search Results node on the database tab of the data window to give the option to search your Episodes and Clips for the presence of assigned keywords.

  • This dialog box has been carefully designed to only allow valid entries and to produce only valid searches.
  • If something you want to choose is not available, it is because you have missed something required to make your specification complete.
  • For example, if the "Search" button is not enabled, it is most likely because you have not closed a set of parentheses or because you just selected a logical operator and have not yet specified the next Keyword Group : Keyword pair.

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Performing Complex Searches
This screen allows you to specify complex searches, including using boolean logical operator (AND, OR, and NOT,) but you must do so carefully to be sure to get the results you want.

For example, the search"(A or B) and C" and the search "A or (B and C)" produce different results.

    • The first search will find all Episodes and Clips that have Keyword C and also have either Keyword A or Keyword B, producing hits on combinations AC, BC, and ABC.
    • The second search will find all Episodes and Clips that have Keyword A, as well as those that have both B and C, producing hits on A, AB, AC, BC, and ABC.
    • These are obviously very different results, with the second search including more results.

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Understanding Boolean Searching
The following provides information on Boolean Searching.

Examine the more ambiguous search "A or B and C."
Understand the following about searches.

  • Many people initially expect this to be equivalent to the first query above.
  • Because AND is higher than OR in the "order of operations,") this search is actually equivalent to the second search described above, and will find all Episodes and Clips that have keyword A, as well as those that have both B and C keywords.
  • The order of operations for Boolean searching in Transana is as follows:
    • Combine keyword results for keywords separated with AND so that "B and C' returns only clips or episodes with both B and C keywords in the result.
    • Reading left to right, combine results so that only clips or episodes can contain "A" keyword. Search results can also contain both "B" and "C" keywords.

Perform the following search: (A AND B) OR (C AND D)

  1. Reading left to right, perform any operations in parentheses first:
    • Combine A and B together so that search results must contain both A and B keywords.
    • Combine C and D together so that search results must contain both C and D keywords.
  2. Reading left to right, search results can contain either the combination of A and B keywords or the combination of C and D keywords in the clip or episode found in the search results.

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Boolean Search Rules Summary
Some tips to remember about Boolean searches.

  • Perform any operations in parentheses first.
  • Always read from left to right.
  • Perform any operations with AND or NOT second.
  • Perform any operations with OR last.

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