Knowledge Base

Define Behavior (Group) Properties

Aim

To specify details for the behavior or behavior group.

Behavior Group Properties

Open the Behavior Group Properties pane by selecting the group name and clicking the Properties button at the bottom of the screen. Enter the following details:

• Description – Optionally add a description to your behavior in the Description field (maximum 1024 ASCII characters). This is particularly useful if two or more people are using the same coding scheme and need to know how the behaviors are defined.
• Mutually Exclusive – To change a group in which behaviors can overlap (start-stop) into a group in which behaviors cannot occur at the same time (mutually exclusive), or vice versa.
• Exhaustive – By default, gaps can occur in a group in which behaviors cannot occur at the same time. If you do not want that, select the Exhaustive checkbox. If you do so, also define one of the behaviors in this group as an Initial State Event. See Behavior Types.
• Inactive – To make the behavior group inactive when you do not want to use it anymore. See Delete a Coding Scheme Element or Group.

Behavior Properties

Open the Behavior Properties pane by selecting the behavior name and clicking the Properties button at the bottom of the screen. Enter the following details:

• Description – Optionally add a description to your behavior in the Description field (maximum 1024 ASCII characters). This is particularly useful if two or more people are using the same coding scheme and need to know how the behaviors are defined.
• Start Code – The code to score the behavior. With the option Generate Keycodes Automatically, the key code is automatically assigned to the behavior. Optionally, change it.
• Color – This color and pattern are shown in the Data and Audio Visualization window and in the Visualization. Click the Color cell to change it and to add a pattern (optionally).
• Sound – Optionally browse to a sound (*.wav file) you want to hear when you score that behavior. To play the sounds, you must select the Use Coding Scheme Sounds (for elements only) checkbox in the Sound Feedback tab of the Project Settings.
• Event Type – Optionally, change the behavior type. See Behavior Types.
• Add Comment – Select this checkbox if you want to add a comment every time you score that behavior. Selecting Add Comment is especially useful if you score from audio files and want to transcribe spoken text into comments; select the Add Comment checkbox for each behavior separately.
• Inactive – Select this checkbox if you want to make the behavior inactive when you do not want to use it anymore. See Edit a Coding Scheme Element After Observing in Carry Out an Observation.
• Modifiers – Choose the modifier groups you want to link to that behavior. See Modifiers for information about modifiers, how to define them, and how to assign modifier groups to behaviors.

Note: Many of the properties can be shown as columns in the Behaviors pane but are hidden by default. To show these columns, right-click one of the headers and select Show All Columns. To hide a column, right-click that column's header and select Hide Column. To choose a subset of columns, right-click a header, select Show Column, and make your selection.

Frequently Asked Questions About Behaviors

When to Use Behaviors With or Without Duration?

Define behaviors with duration (State events) if you need to know the duration of activities. Behaviors without duration (Point events) are recommended for behaviors of negligible duration, like eye blinks. The behavior "look at screen" can be defined as a state, and each blink as a point event. However, if you want to know the durations of the time between blinks, you need to define them as states, recording with every "blink" event the start of an interval between two blinks. Point events can be placed anywhere in the coding scheme and do not stop mutually exclusive states.

When to Use a Group Type in Which Behaviors Cannot Occur at the Same Time?

Use behavior groups in which behaviors cannot overlap (Mutually Exclusive) when you want to calculate time budgets or when you are interested in the durations of the events. Use this kind of group also when you plan to analyze the time when a specific event occurred during a certain episode. For example, if you want to calculate the number of user errors during each task performed, define the tasks in a mutually exclusive group.

When to Use Mutually Exclusive Exhaustive Behavior Groups?

Make the behavior group in which behaviors cannot overlap Exhaustive if you want the durations within the group to add up to 100%. This way you can compare figures from different calculations. Mutually exclusive groups were exhaustive by default in The Observer XT 12.0 and earlier versions; this is no longer the case.

When to Use Behavior Groups in Which Behaviors Can Overlap?

Use a group in which behaviors can overlap (Start-Stop) when the behaviors in the group do not exclude each other. Scoring effort is higher in such a group because you have to press a key for both the start and the stop of each behavior. If possible, divide the behaviors over multiple behavior groups in which behaviors cannot occur at the same time.

When to Use Sample Groups?

Use sample groups when the observation method is instantaneous sampling. See Observation Method.

Can I Use Point Events in a Behavior Group for Instantaneous Sampling?

You cannot define point events when you use instantaneous sampling. You can use them if you use Combine Continuous and Instantaneous Sampling. See Observation Method.