hi Jen,
No, the purpose of the adapter I suggested is so that a none DIL IC package can be mounted on the adapter PCB and the PCB with pins spaced at 01.inch, which would make it compatible with a 'regular project board or strip board.
The signal from an opto IR detector, although analogue, it can also be considered as digital.
For example, if the IR detector signal had an On/Off voltage level of 5V, this could be used to drive a Schmitt input gate and then a counter.
The counter would see the change from say, 0v to +5V as a clock signal... OK.?
E