Knowledge Base

Behaviors

What Are Behaviors?

Behaviors are actions, tasks, movements, situations, and locations of the subjects under study that are relevant for your research question. Behaviors must be organized in groups.

Examples of Behaviors

• Mother-infant interaction study – Gaze Mother, Baby Smile, Vocal Imitation, etc.
• Research on monkeys – Walk, Forage, Groom, Chase Away, etc.
• Usability study – Task 1, Task 2, Usability Hit, User Error, etc.

Behavior Groups

Behaviors are organized in groups. Behavior groups contain behaviors that are closely related. Behaviors cannot be part of groups within larger groups. Examples of behavior groups include:

• Mother-infant interaction study – A Gaze group including Gaze Mother and Gaze Elsewhere; an Emotion group including Baby Smile, Baby Neutral, etc.
• Research on monkeys – A Locomotory group including Walk and Climb; a Social group including Bite and Groom.
• Usability study – A Tasks group including Task 1 and Task 2; a User Experience group including Usability Hit and User Error.

Behavior Group Types

The Observer XT has the following group types:

• Mutually Exclusive – Behaviors in this group cannot occur at the same time. When one behavior is active, the other behaviors within the same group cannot be active. During coding, you only score the start of behaviors. When you code the start of a new behavior, the previously coded behavior of the same group automatically stops.
• Mutually Exclusive and Exhaustive – A special case of the mutually exclusive group where always one behavior is active, with no gaps between behaviors. To make a group exhaustive, select the group name in the Behaviors panel of the Coding Scheme, click the Properties button, and select the Exhaustive checkbox. Fill any gaps between events with a behavior such as Other Locomotion or No Locomotion. If you use a mutually exclusive and exhaustive behavior group, a behavior must be scored at the start of the observation using an Initial State Event. Note: In The Observer XT version 12.0 or lower, a mutually exclusive group was exhaustive by default. This is no longer the case, so it is no longer necessary to define and score Initial State Events.
• Start-Stop – Behaviors in this group can overlap and there can be gaps between behaviors. You must code both the start and the stop of each behavior. This group type requires more key presses than a mutually exclusive group. It is recommended to use mutually exclusive behavior groups where possible to reduce scoring effort.
• Sample Group – Used when instantaneous sampling is the observation method. Behaviors in sample groups do not have a duration. You score which behaviors are occurring at regular intervals and obtain frequencies rather than durations. Behaviors in a sample group always exclude each other, meaning only one behavior from the group can be scored in each sample. If behaviors can occur at the same time, define them in different sample groups.

Behavior Types

There are three types of behaviors:

• Point Events – Behaviors without measurable or relevant duration. Either their duration is immeasurably short (for example, hitting) or you are not interested in the duration but only in its frequency (for example, talking).
• State Events – Behaviors with a distinct start and end. Both the frequency of occurrence and the duration are recorded. Examples include walking, playing, and grooming.
• Initial State Events – This behavior type is only needed in a mutually exclusive and exhaustive behavior group. In such a group, one behavior is always active, including at the start of the observation. An Initial State Event is automatically scored at time 0. If another behavior is occurring at the start of the observation, press the key for the correct behavior before you start the observation.

Define Behaviors in a Behavior Group for Continuous Sampling

Aim

To specify the behaviors for continuous sampling observations.

Prerequisite

Your Coding Scheme is open. If this is not the case, choose Setup > Open Coding Scheme.

Procedure

1. Click the Add Behavior Group button.
2. In the window that appears, enter the Behavior Group name.
3. Choose whether the behaviors in the group type cannot occur at the same time or can overlap. See Behavior Group Types.
4. Add the behaviors and select whether they have duration or not. Take notice of the example of the data you can obtain with this behavior type under Behavior Analysis. See Behavior Types.
5. When done, click OK. The new group appears in the Behaviors panel.
6. Repeat the procedure for the other behavior groups.

Define Behaviors in a Sample Group for Instantaneous Sampling

Aim

To specify the behaviors for instantaneous sampling observations.

Prerequisite

Your Coding Scheme is open. If this is not the case, choose Setup > Open Coding Scheme.

Procedure

1. Click the Add Sample Group button.
2. In the window that appears, enter the Group name.
3. Add the behaviors.
4. When done, click OK. The new group appears in the Behaviors panel.
5. Repeat the procedure for the other sample groups.

Notes

• By default, each behavior/sample group is connected to each subject in a Subject-Behavior Combination, which means that you score every behavior/sample group for each subject. To change that, see Define Subject Properties.
• To re-open the behavior/sample group, double-click the name in the Behavior Name column.