Knowledge Base

Problem

Users need to restructure Observer XT behavioral data into an interval-based format (e.g., one row per second with behavior codes as column values) for use in external statistical tools, but Observer XT's native export does not directly produce this layout.

Details

Reported in Observer XT 17 by users with a mix of continuous (state) and instantaneous (point) event codes who need a 'wide' interval dataset — one row per time bin, one column per code — for import into R, SPSS, or similar tools. Observer XT's Data Profiles can produce interval-based summary results internally (using fixed-duration time bins), but cannot natively export a fully stacked wide-format table with one row per second and a value per code in a single step.

Solution

1. **Within Observer XT** (partial solution): Use a Data Profile with fixed-duration time bins (e.g., 1-second intervals) in the Results configuration. This allows Observer XT to summarize behavior occurrence or duration per bin. Export the results to Excel for further reshaping.
2. **For a fully stacked wide-format dataset**: A post-processing script in R or Python is the most practical approach. The exported Observer XT event log (with timestamps, subjects, and behavior codes) can be read into R or Python and reshaped into 1-second bins using standard data-wrangling libraries (e.g., `tidyverse`/`dplyr` in R, or `pandas` in Python).
3. Export the raw event log from Observer XT: Analyze > select observation > Export > Event Log (tab- or comma-delimited).
4. In your script, define the bin boundaries (e.g., 0–1 s, 1–2 s, …), then for each bin determine which behaviors were active (for state events) or occurred (for point events) and assign the appropriate value to each column.
5. Contact Noldus Support or the user community if you need guidance on specific R/Python approaches, as community-contributed examples may be available.