Knowledge Base

Miscellaneous Coding Actions

Undo Coding Actions

Example: You have coded the first element of an event. You realize that the event should not be scored, so you want to cancel that action.

• When recording: Click the Undo button on the toolbar. To make a correction undone, press the Redo button.
• When you inserted an incorrect event between two existing events: Select the event line and click the Delete Event button on the toolbar. Alternatively, right-click in the first column of the event you want to remove and select Delete event(s).

Enter Events as Free Text

Log free text in the Comment column or choose View Settings > Show Window > Comment and type the text in the window that appears. You can also paste text that was copied from another source. You can enter maximally 1024 characters per event.

Enter Text Associated with a Scored Event

Score the event as usual, then click the Comment cell in that row and type the text.

Enter Text Only

1. To enter a new line of text only, press Ctrl+I or click the Insert Event button on the toolbar.
2. Click the Comment cell for the new line and enter the text. The time stamp of an event line that only includes a comment is the time when you type the first character in the Comment column.

Notes on Comments

• Comments are not visualized in the time-event plot if they are not associated with an event. To visualize comment-only events, create a dummy behavior in the coding scheme and score that behavior in the row of the comment.
• To annotate only free text, hide the Subject, Behavior, and Modifier columns in the event log.
• You cannot analyze free text, but you can use the Find function to find text across all observations, including the number of events that contain a certain word or phrase.
• To type text while listening to audio to transcribe speech, choose Setup > Project Settings > Scoring Options and de-select Pause Playback of Video When Scoring an Event.
• If you want to be reminded to add comments, open the properties for that element and select the option Add a Comment.
• Pressing Enter does not separate text lines within the same comment; it enters the comment in the event log. To keep two or more lines of text separated, create multiple event lines.

Submit an Incomplete Event

If an event is made of several elements (for example, Subject, Behavior, and three Modifiers), The Observer XT checks that all the required elements are scored. You can allow incomplete events, for example if you score instantaneous samples and some subjects are not visible. Choose Setup > Project Settings > Scoring Options > Always Press Enter to Confirm Event Line. To submit an incomplete event, press Enter.

Score Action-Reaction Data (Triggering Behavior)

Aim

To score data in a sequence like the following: Subject 1 - Behavior A - Subject 2 - Behavior B, where Subject 2 performs Behavior B as a response to Behavior A by Subject 1.

Procedure

1. Define a group of modifiers containing all subjects reacting (like Subject 2 in the example).
2. Define a group of modifiers containing all response behaviors (like Behavior B).
3. Score the data in sequence: Subject - Behavior - Modifier of first group - Modifier of second group.

Score Reciprocal Behavior

Aim

To score behavior that has no specific direction, for example Mark Plays with James.

Procedure

1. Define both Mark and James as both subjects and modifiers.
2. Define Play as Behavior.
3. Score two event lines: Mark - Plays - James and James - Plays - Mark.
4. If necessary, pause the video or edit the time in the event log afterwards to ensure the events get the same time stamp.

Suspend an Observation

Aim

To temporarily stop observing, for example when a subject is out of view. The currently active states for all subjects are stopped. The Observer XT is put in standby awaiting that you resume the observation.

Prerequisite

You chose Live Observation as Observation Source. You cannot suspend when you score offline from prerecorded video.

Procedure

1. Choose Observe > Suspend Observation. Alternatively, click the Suspend Observation button.
   • In the Timers window, the Observation - Observed Time timer stops and the Observation - Elapsed Time timer continues.
   • In the Event Log, two lines are added: Suspend (marked by the time when the observation was suspended) and Resume (with no time yet). For each state that was active at the time the observation was suspended, the program adds a row below the Resume row. The program assumes that those states are active when you resume the observation. You can change these states immediately before or after you resume the observation if the subjects have changed state in the meantime, or confirm them and resume the observation.
   • Example for mutually exclusive behaviors: In a chimpanzee study, the observation was suspended at 17:07 when the subject went out of sight. At that time, the states Walk and No Consumption of two different mutually exclusive behavior groups were active. After the line Resume, the start events for those states are added automatically.
   • Example for Start-Stop behaviors: The observation was suspended at 17.79. Before the line Suspend, stop codes are added for the active behaviors. Below the line Resume, two start codes are added for the behaviors that were active at the moment the observation was suspended.
2. When your subject comes back into view or when you are ready to resume, update the behaviors in the lines below the Resume line. If the states do not need to be updated, go to the next step. To update the behaviors, click the cell you want to update and score the new state.
3. To resume the observation, choose Observe > Resume Observation or click the Resume Observation button.
4. Continue scoring data as usual.

Notes

• The time period between suspending and resuming an observation is not considered for analysis.
• You cannot suspend Instantaneous Sampling. If you use both Continuous and Instantaneous Sampling, when you suspend the observation, only Continuous Sampling is suspended.
• Start codes cannot be changed into stop codes since this would lead to errors in the Event Log.