How to use Handspy
PROJECT TAB
How to create a task?
In the Project tab, click on the “Add” icon to create a task and type its name on the first field. In the “sheets” field, you should insert the smartpen notebook’s page numbers used in this task (you can easily find them, as they are printed on the bottom of each page). In this way, if you used the pages from 101 to 150, type this range, and then press enter.
You can keep track of your actions by clicking on the “Notifications” icon. Note that its window can be moved or hidden.
There is also an option for deleting tasks, which is generally switched off. As a preventive measure, it is available to administrators, but not to researchers.
How to upload the participants’ database?
To upload your participants’ database, you will need to have that information on an Excel file, which must be in the .CSV format. It is important to confirm that the first column of your database is “Code”, as this is a mandatory column. We recommend the use of codes with at least three digits. Besides code, you may include as many additional variables as you like (e.g., gender, handedness, grade).
Once your participants’ file is ready, go to HandSpy and, in the “Project” tab, click on “Upload”. Select your file, click on the “Upload” button, and check the status bar that appears on the bottom left corner (note that this bar is a Google Chrome feature). When it is complete, click on “OK”. A pop-up notification will confirm that your upload was successful.
Refresh the page to conclude the upload.
How to upload the writing protocols?
In the “Upload” tab, go to "Settings" and select as default task the one you want to upload your protocols into. Once the selected task is set as default, click on the “Upload” icon and select the protocol(s) you want to upload. We recommend that you upload them in groups of 5, which should be coded immediately.
After selecting your files, click on the “Upload” button. Keep track of your upload’s progress by checking Google Chrome’s status bar. When it is complete, click on the “OK” button.
A notification will confirm that your upload was successful, and your uploaded protocols' thumbnails will be displayed on the left. By clicking on a protocol, its enlarged version will be shown on the right side. To upload more protocols, just repeat the procedure.
How to code the writing protocols?
After uploading a set of protocols, you need to associate them with your participants’ codes. Select the protocol you want to code and confirm that the task displayed in the “Task” field is the one that corresponds to your protocol. If you want to change it, go to “Settings” and select a different default task.
On the “Page” field, HandSpy displays the smartpen’s notebook page of each protocol. Use this information to match each protocol with its participant’s code.
In the empty “Code” field, type your protocol’s code, and then save it. To code another protocol, click on “Next”. We recommend that you repeat this procedure and code all the protocols before uploading a new set.
Note that after coding a protocol, its thumbnail disappears from the left window. To view your coded protocols, go to “Settings”, select the “Coded” option, and press “OK”. All of your coded protocols will then be visible.
ANALYSIS TAB
How do I start analyzing my data?
To start analyzing your data, go to the “Analysis” tab and select a set of protocols by clicking on “Selection”. The variables available for selection are those included in your previously uploaded participants' database. Choose the ones that you want to analyze.
Note that, if you want, you can make multiple selections combining different variables.
Once you make your selection, click on “OK”. The protocols within your selection are now available for analysis.
The “Code” field displays the code of the protocol that you are currently viewing. Click on the “Code” dropdown menu to view all the codes selected for analysis. You can go directly to a specific protocol by selecting the participant’s code, or to the next one, by clicking on the “Next” arrow.
What kind of information does HandSpy provide?
For a set of selected protocols, HandSpy provides two types of online writing data.
On the right, there is a picture with visual data. If you click on the red flag, you can see where each pause starts. A pause is a period of transcription inactivity for longer than a given criterion. By default, HandSpy uses a pause threshold of 2000 ms. If you click on the blue flag, you can see where each burst starts. A burst is a period of transcription between two consecutive pauses.
On the left, there is a table with numerical data. The table informs you about burst and pause duration (ms), burst distance (mm), burst speed (cm/s) and cumulative total time (min). On the table’s bottom row, you can see the total values for each variable.
When you select rows in the table, you can see the corresponding visual data on the right side. Click on the red line icon “Path” to see a red line representing the pen’s movement during the last pause selected.
To see the pen’s movement that corresponds to the selected lines, click on the “Video” icon.
To go back to the picture, just click on the “Image” icon.
How to change the pause’s threshold?
On the threshold box, HandSpy displays the threshold you are currently working with. By default, HandSpy uses a pause threshold of 2000 ms.
To change it, click on the “Settings” icon, type a new threshold, and click "Add". The new threshold will thus be added to the threshold list. Then, select it, click on “Load”, and finally press “OK”.
You can always confirm the threshold you are working with by checking the threshold box.
How to measure bursts’ size?
To measure bursts’ size, start by selecting the first row and replacing the data of the first burst by zeros. This data refers to the drawing of the cross, which signals the beginning of the task. Its corresponding pause is called the prewriting pause.
Then, start measuring the bursts one by one: Select the next row and count the words between the beginning of the burst (blue flag) and the beginning of the following pause (red flag). Enter this value in the empty column labeled “Burst Size”. Repeat this procedure until the words of all bursts are counted.
There is another empty column labeled "Text”, where you can type the words contained in the burst. If you cannot understand one word, click on the “Zoom” icon and place the window over it. Click again on the icon to disable the zoom function.
After analyzing the whole protocol, confirm that all lines are selected, as only the selected lines will be saved. Then, click on “Save”.
Note that, except for the editable columns “Burst Size” and “Text”, all others cannot have empty cells.
Finally, click on the “Export” icon to export the table to an Excel file.
How to analyze parts of a protocol?
HandSpy allows you to select parts of a protocol to be analyzed. Click over the protocol’s visual data, on the right, and define an area. Note that, after your area is defined, the table’s corresponding rows become checked.
To edit the selected area, click on the “Draw” icon, and on the “Minus” button. Select the area that you want to remove, and click on “Save”.
The non-selected lines were deleted for your set threshold. If you want to restore the original data, go to "Settings" and use the reset buttons. By clicking on “Reset” you restore the data of the protocol you are currently analyzing. By clicking on “Reset all” you restore the data of all the protocols within your selection. Note that the reset function only impacts the threshold you have defined.
Thus, to restore the original data of a protocol, select the threshold, click on “Reset”, and press “OK”. Your deleted lines will then be restored.
