Transana Help System

2. Use Boolean operators to create a query. Click Search. The search and its results are list under the Search Results heading in the Data window.

3. To save the search results, you must convert them to a collection. See Converting search results to a collection.

Note: You must construct the query carefully to get the results you want. For example, the searches "(A or B) and C" and "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.

This is particularly an issue with the more ambiguous search "A or B and C." Many people initially expect this to be equivalent to the first query above. However, (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.

Note: 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, most likely 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.