[Athen] SPSS

Patrick Burke burke at ucla.edu
Fri Sep 26 14:04:48 PDT 2014


Hi Andrea,

I now notice you didn't mention what type of disability your student has.

Here's the story for blind users:

I have only done very brief testing myself. Overall, the track record
is pretty much what Teresa describes. :(

A few specific points, mostly contributed by a kind off-list replier,
from when I asked about SPSS a year or so ago.

1: The Java Access Bridge has to be enabled for Jaws to communicate
with SPSS. From the Command-line, go to your jre7\bin directory, then
enter the command:

jabswitch -enable

2: Link to IBM documentation :

><ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/documentation/statistics/20.0/en/client/InstallationDocuments/Linux/Accessibility.pdf>



Note: The instructions also apply for SPSS 21 (presumably 22 also?),
& it now works with 64-bit Windows. (File paths should reference your
SPSS version number.) Also, ignore the "linux" in the link above: the
document has info for Windows & Mac.

There are three key steps: turning on Jaws access within SPSS;
copying over a properties file; copying the SPSS dictionary file for
Jaws into the right folder.

3: The keyboard command that is supposed to move the cursor into the
data display area is: Tab > DownArrow.

Or, from the menu system: Data Menu > Goto Case > case 1

4: Just a warning, if things continue not to work: Installation order
may be the problem. SPSS may need to be reinstalled after Jaws is
configured (for example, first install Jaws, set up the braille
display, then install SPSS). From the original email:

"JAWS seems to be extraordinarily sensitive, and any modifications to
it should be done BEFORE SPSS21 is installed. If you change any JAWS
parameters, you may need to entirely de-install SPSS21 and re-install
it to get it to run at all (I assume its waiting for some response
from Java or JAWS it isn't getting, and so doesn't load.)"

5: If necessary, for tech support from IBM, the address is:
spss_support at ecurep.ibm.com
(tell them you've already read the document linked above.)

...

Given all these difficulties, the R stats package may be a better
alternative. But this would require reworking the course material to
focus on the basic stats concepts, rather than SPSS-specific features. :
http://www.r-project.org/


At 01:02 PM 9/26/2014, Teresa Haven wrote:


>Hi, Andrea. I'm currently working with a student attempting to use

>SPSS 22, JAWS 14 or 15 (he has tried both) and Windows 8 or 7 (he

>has tried both). His best results have come with Windows 7 and JAWS

>14, but we have found the program to still be highly unstable when

>JAWS is in use. When it works, it works pretty well, but he

>generally can only complete a few commands before SPSS stops

>responding and his only option is to kill SPSS, restart, and do a

>few more steps. If anyone else has suggestions on how to make the

>two work better together, we would love to hear it.

>

>Thanks,

>

>Teresa Haven, Ph.D.

>Accessibility Analyst, Northern Arizona University

>Co-Chair, AHEAD Standing Committee on Technology

>

>

>

>From: athen-list

>[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of

>Engle, Andrea June

>Sent: Friday, September 26, 2014 12:52 PM

>To: 'athen-list at u.washington.edu'

>Subject: [Athen] SPSS

>

>We have a student that needs to use SPSS for a class. Does anyone

>know about the accessibility of the program?

>

>

>

>

>

>Thank you,

>Andrea Engle

>Academic Accommodation Specialist

>Student Disability Services

>The University of Toledo

>2801 W. Bancroft St. MS#342

>Toledo, OH 43606-3390

>Phone: 419-530-4981

>

>

>_______________________________________________

>athen-list mailing list

>athen-list at mailman13.u.washington.edu

>http://mailman13.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list



--
Patrick J. Burke

Coordinator
UCLA Disabilities &
Computing Program

Phone: 310 206-6004
E-mail: burke at ucla.edu
Location: 4909 Math Science


Department Contact: dcp at oit.ucla.edu




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