Knowledge Base

Data

Assign Data Set information to the corresponding columns in the Data definition part.

1. Missing Samples – If your data set contains missing samples indicated by non-numeric symbols, you need to specify this symbol first. If you do not do this, The Observer XT will interpret the symbols as indicating that all the file up to that point is the header.

   Select the Treat as number check box. Type in the non-numeric symbol in the Treat as number field or click the button next to it to select one or more predefined symbols. To select a specific text, click <User Defined> > OK and enter this text after a comma (,). If text is identified by a character, select this from the Text qualifier list.

2. Time – Drag-and-drop one of the cells containing time stamps to the Time column. The Select Time Format window opens. Under Select Format, select a Numeric Value or a Date/time format. Click OK if the Converted time shows the right format and Conversion is OK.

   Under Import Time, select one of the options:

   • Relative to time zero – Suppose the first row in the imported event data set has time 00:00:05. When the option Relative to time zero is selected, the time stamp of the first row of the imported data set will remain 00:00:05.
   • Relative to the time of the first data line – Suppose the event data set you want to import starts at 14:28:00 and samples every 5 seconds. With the option Relative to the time of the first data line, the first row of the imported event data will get the time stamp 00:00:00. The second row will have time stamp 00:00:05.

3. Subject, Behavior, Modifier, Comment – Drag-and-drop cells containing information on Subject, Behavior, Modifier and Comment from the Data Sets sheet to the corresponding column in the Data definition sheet. To import multiple modifiers, select multiple modifier columns in the Data Sets group and drag them to the Modifier column in the Data definition group. The modifiers placed in different columns in the import file will be automatically organized in separate groups in the coding scheme.

   Event Type – If the import file contains a column that specifies whether the event line is a start/stop of an event, drag this column to the Event Type column in the Data definition group. In the Define Event Keywords window that appears, under Keyword enter the text that identifies the start of a state event (with duration), the stop of a state event and the point event (without duration) in the import file. Click OK to confirm.

Save the Import Profile

When all the information is in the Import Profile Definition sheet, click the Save As button and give the profile a name.

Import a Text File with the New Import Profile

The newly created import profile is now in the Files of Type list.

1. Locate the data file and select the filename.
2. Click Open.

Edit an Import Profile

1. Choose File > Import > External Data.
2. Click the Custom Import Profiles button.
3. Select the Import Profile from the list and click Edit. In the Select Sample File group, you see the original sample file next to Profile based on.
4. Browse to the original, or a new observational data file and click Open.
5. Follow the general instructions in Procedure to create an import profile.
6. When done, click Save Profile As.
7. Enter a name and choose OK > Close.
8. Select the new import profile from the Files of Type list.
9. Select the observational data file and click Open to import the data.

Notes

• If the import file contains data collected with Instantaneous Sampling, the Define Event Keywords window does not recognize the samples. We advise you to import sample data as ODX files. See Import ODX Files.
• If you add datasets to the Event Type columns, the Treat new behaviors as option (see Import Observational Data) is disabled because the program recognizes events automatically.
• To import data with Chinese, Japanese, or Cyrillic characters or characters like "ü" or "ç", make sure that the import file is Unicode UTF-16 encoded.
• To import data recorded with Instantaneous Sampling, see Import ODX Files.
• You cannot specify the type of modifier which is imported. If you import multiple modifiers of different types, all modifiers are imported as Numerical 'range' Modifiers.