What are the benefits of observational research?
questionnaires have limited applicability; only 1 species with language
apparatus limits generalisability
context-dependent behaviour where context may be difficult/infeasible to replicate in a lab
What are operational definitions?
specific the physical requirements for coding behaviour
What are ostensive definitions?
examples through pictures and diagrams along with written explanations of behaviour
What two things can be measured in observational research?
events/occurrences
states; usually long lasting e.g. sleep/play
What is an ethogram?
the list of a full behavioural repertoire of a species used in specialised studies of a subset of species of groups behaviour
What are the types of measures?
latency; time taken to respond to a stimulus
frequency; number of behavioural occurrences in a given time
rate; frequency per unit time
duration; total amount of time a single occurrence is manifested
proportion; the amount of total time that the behaviour occurs in
What are the 4 sampling rules?
ad libitum
focal sampling
scan sampling
behaviour sampling
What is ad libitum?
used for preliminary observations
What is focal sampling and its potential bias?
a specific individual is isolated for observation
PB; can be a large bias if individual may seek privacy for certain behaviours
What is scan sampling and its potential bias?
a number of individuals, typically an entire group, are sampled
PB; rare events of short duration tend to be underestimated, while conspicuous events are overestimated
What is behaviour sampling and its potential bias?
all occurrences are sampled
PB; overestimation of conspicuous events
What are the recording rules and their purpose?
time sampling and continuous recording are used to specify how behaviour is recorded
What is time sampling recording?
periodically sampling behaviour
PB; can cause underestimation of rare behaviours of short durations
What is continuous recording?
records absolute frequencies and durations of behaviours but usually means fewer categories can be used
PB; underestimation of long-duration behaviours as these are likely to be shortened by the end of the recording session
What is accuracy?
the degree to which measurements actually capture the phenomena of interest
What is precision?
the degree to which results are reliable/replicable
What are the principles of design?
codes should be;
mutually exclusive; behaviour can only be put into one category
exhaustive; all possible behaviours have categories
What is intra-observer reliability?
the same observer coded the same behavioural record in the same way at different times
What is inter-observer reliability?
different observers independently coded the same behavioural record in the same way either at the same time or at different times
What is consensus inter-observer reliability?
estimates are based on the assumption that two or more coders can come to exact agreement
What is consistency inter-observer reliability?
estimates are based on the assumption that it is unnecessary for two or more coders to interpret a scale identically, but that the coders will consistently classify phenomena with their understanding of the scale
How can we measure consensus inter-observer reliability?
percent agreement; rather liberal
Cohen’s Kappa; accounts for agreement by random chance
How can we measure consistency inter-observer reliability?
correlation coefficient
Cronbach’s alpha; corrects for variance between coders
What 3 factors can affect coding scheme reliability?
the behavioural record
the level of detail in the coding scheme
the interpretation of the behaviour by observers
