Help for a newbie. Using Audacity in a psychology experiment

[PsychChris]

First off, sorry if I have posted in the wrong place.

Myself and a couple of colleagues are conducting a series of psychology experiments and I hope Audacity can help us. We will be asking participants to list a series of words which we will record. We then want to analyse how many words are said by each participant in a given time and the gaps between words.

Can Audacity automatically measure this information and then output the data? If it can not measure it automatically can the gap be measured manually and the data recorded for output?

Many thanks in advance.

[steve]

As it stands, your question is very vague.
I would suggest that you try using Audacity (the current version is 2.0.6 and is available free here: http://audacityteam.org/download/), then if you get stuck, ask about the specific thing that you are having difficulty with.
Note that the user manual is included in the recommended downloads for Mac and Windows (in the "Help" menu).
When asking questions on the forum, please pay attention to the text in the pink box near the top of the page.

[kozikowski]

We then want to analyse how many words are said by each participant in a given time and the gaps between words.

I can think of one problem without working too hard. How are you going to generate the "sterile environment?" It's not impossible to split words and expressions in a studio recording. It's a lot harder for a "Man On The Street" recording competing with trucks and busses. Even home recording has to compete with refrigerators, air conditioners, dogs barking and the TV.

Many people think voice recording is a lot easier than it is. All software products are going to run into the same shortcomings.

Koz