I'm having trouble finding a tool for some basic data analysis. I want to input discrete lists of items, which will have some overlap between the lists, and then, for any given item, browse its associations (the frequency of list-fellows). My data won't be very extensive - roughly in the order of 30-50 lists of 20-40 items each.
An example of the kind of analysis I need (not what I will be using it for) would be lists of cities visited by my friends. Each friend has a list containing the names of the cities they have visited. The minimum analysis I would require is that when browsing "Paris" I would be able to see associated cities in order of frequency, and also the names of which friends have visited.
Further useful information would be about similarity between lists, and an indication of which lists are the more unusual/original and which most "average". Also, bearing in mind list similarities, which cities tend to be indicators of averageness or originality.
I don't mind if it's not visually represented, though that would be a bonus.
All I've managed to find is expensive software like
TouchGraph Navigator and bewildering toolkits like
Prefuse. I keep thinking I must be missing something. Perhaps language analysis software? Some clever Excel trick?