Hello,
We consider using jamovi instead of SPSS for our teaching of medical students. In medicine and it should be in science general all changes to the data set should be documented, but we are not able to find a way to do that in jamovi. Is there a feature that we can use so that all changes from the original data are saved and documented?
I know, in the desktop Version there is a way that you can use the Rj Editor + to alternate your data permanently, but then you need to know R and that is exactly what we try to avoid. We do not want to teach all medical students R as it is not important for them. Some of them go into R, we offer split courses where they can decide if they want to use R or SPSS but 80% choose SPSS.
And another problem is the Rj editor + is not available in the browser-based version. And some of the students do only have tablets with android or IpadOS and are unable to install jamovi.
We need a way to document what was done to the original dataset they got, that can be exported and can be reviewed by us, preferable as R-Code. And all of that preferable browser based. Our IT is very capable so running the servers for the browser version could be done if necessary.
For the timeline:
We would love to do a test run with about 20-40 students starting this November and if it works good we would change everything to jamovi for next year and then run it for all 200 students.
For the test run only desktop version would be fine. We also have the option to install it on remote access windows clients, if everything fails.
Even if you cannot help, thanks for reading and thinking about it.
Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
Hi,
"the jamovi way" is to maintain all the information about how the data has been modified.
if you compute a new column, that formula is retained for future inspection (and can be changed/updated)
if you filter out some rows, once again, the criteria used for filtering is stored, and can be inspected later.
almost everything in jamovi is "stateful", that is it retains how it cames to be.
even if someone types values manually in, jamovi shades those values a different colour, so you know what was manually entered.
jonathon
"the jamovi way" is to maintain all the information about how the data has been modified.
if you compute a new column, that formula is retained for future inspection (and can be changed/updated)
if you filter out some rows, once again, the criteria used for filtering is stored, and can be inspected later.
almost everything in jamovi is "stateful", that is it retains how it cames to be.
even if someone types values manually in, jamovi shades those values a different colour, so you know what was manually entered.
jonathon
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
Hi Jonathon,
That is good to know. But how can i access this information?
Our students should be able to hand in this documention, as one file, with there analysis.
Thanks
Dominik
That is good to know. But how can i access this information?
Our students should be able to hand in this documention, as one file, with there analysis.
Thanks
Dominik
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
you simply open the .omv file.
if you want to see how a "computed variables" values were computed, what formula was used, you can double click on the computed variable's column heading.
if you want to see what filter they used, again, you can open the filters settings and see.
if you want to see what settings were used for a particular analysis, just click on the analysis, and you can see the options specified.
you can view these things the same way you would create or change them.
jonathon
if you want to see how a "computed variables" values were computed, what formula was used, you can double click on the computed variable's column heading.
if you want to see what filter they used, again, you can open the filters settings and see.
if you want to see what settings were used for a particular analysis, just click on the analysis, and you can see the options specified.
you can view these things the same way you would create or change them.
jonathon
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
Okay,
as we are 4-6 teachers and around 200 students this method will not work for us, it is just to much work in the corretion phase.
And the documention should be independent from the programm we use to anaylse. The students have to hand in .pdfs as it is part of there exam and they get rated on it, we are obliged to keep the record of theses for around 10 years i think.
So if there was a way to just print out the data manipulation it would work but not like this.
We found that in JASP we have nearly the same issues but there you can at least show the R-Code for each created variable in the creation and specification window. Here we could tell the students that they have to copy them together into one document.
But Jasp does not work browser based at the moment. So i thing we still need to figure out something else.
as we are 4-6 teachers and around 200 students this method will not work for us, it is just to much work in the corretion phase.
And the documention should be independent from the programm we use to anaylse. The students have to hand in .pdfs as it is part of there exam and they get rated on it, we are obliged to keep the record of theses for around 10 years i think.
So if there was a way to just print out the data manipulation it would work but not like this.
We found that in JASP we have nearly the same issues but there you can at least show the R-Code for each created variable in the creation and specification window. Here we could tell the students that they have to copy them together into one document.
But Jasp does not work browser based at the moment. So i thing we still need to figure out something else.
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
yeah, we do have a plan to add a description of the computed variables and filters into the results (so these would go into the "results document" ... but it may not get there on a time frame that works for you.
jonathon
jonathon
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
Our timeframe is relativly wide, as we want to try it this year first time and
implement it widly next year. So really working we need it in spring 2027.
We will have a look from time to time, maybe it works out.
implement it widly next year. So really working we need it in spring 2027.
We will have a look from time to time, maybe it works out.
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
yeah OK, in which case I'd suggest keeping an eye on us.
cheers
jonathon
cheers
jonathon
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
If a copy-paste solution is okay for you, you could have your students either screenshot the filters/computations, or have them copy-paste the code. They can copy the information to a separate document, or insert it in the jamovi results within jamovi. If you choose the second option, you'll find everything in the exported pdf too.DDS wrote: ↑Tue Aug 12, 2025 10:58 am Okay,
as we are 4-6 teachers and around 200 students this method will not work for us, it is just to much work in the corretion phase.
And the documention should be independent from the programm we use to anaylse. The students have to hand in .pdfs as it is part of there exam and they get rated on it, we are obliged to keep the record of theses for around 10 years i think.
So if there was a way to just print out the data manipulation it would work but not like this.
We found that in JASP we have nearly the same issues but there you can at least show the R-Code for each created variable in the creation and specification window. Here we could tell the students that they have to copy them together into one document.
But Jasp does not work browser based at the moment. So i thing we still need to figure out something else.
I have only used it on my own device (windows), and there it is extremely simple: printscreen button, choose area for screenshot, then ctrl-v in the jamovi results pane for screenshots. Not sure if this would work across devices though.
Re: Data manipulation documentation and teaching of med students
@DDs
I'm curious about this teaching/assessment issue, and would like to understand it better.
If students are using SPSS rather than jamovi, then for their work to be maximally reproducible they need to save the syntax file. Without that syntax file, someone wanting to reproduce the result might be unsure how the data were transformed and therefore would have to try (and possibly fail) to reconstruct the transformations.
But if the students are using jamovi, the data, transformation, and output are all part of an integrated record. If someone wants to try to reproduce the transformations and analysis later, all the person has to do is open the jamovi file and it happens automatically. (And if the records need to be kept for 10 years, the instructor cold simply keep the students jamovi (omv) files for 10 years.) I think that the only reason to have an r-code version of the transformation is if one wanted to reproduce the analyses not with jamovi but with R alone.
It's possible some day that jamovi will gain the ability to output the transformation code to a separate file (like SPSS can do), but I don't see how that would help at all in evaluating the student's work, or in having a maximally reproducible set of analyses. Why would an instructor even need or want to look at such a file? and how could the files' contents be relevant to the students' grades?
I'm curious about this teaching/assessment issue, and would like to understand it better.
If students are using SPSS rather than jamovi, then for their work to be maximally reproducible they need to save the syntax file. Without that syntax file, someone wanting to reproduce the result might be unsure how the data were transformed and therefore would have to try (and possibly fail) to reconstruct the transformations.
But if the students are using jamovi, the data, transformation, and output are all part of an integrated record. If someone wants to try to reproduce the transformations and analysis later, all the person has to do is open the jamovi file and it happens automatically. (And if the records need to be kept for 10 years, the instructor cold simply keep the students jamovi (omv) files for 10 years.) I think that the only reason to have an r-code version of the transformation is if one wanted to reproduce the analyses not with jamovi but with R alone.
It's possible some day that jamovi will gain the ability to output the transformation code to a separate file (like SPSS can do), but I don't see how that would help at all in evaluating the student's work, or in having a maximally reproducible set of analyses. Why would an instructor even need or want to look at such a file? and how could the files' contents be relevant to the students' grades?