Observational Methods

Question 1

What are the uses of observational methods?

Answer 1

• only 1 species have language so questionnaires have limited applicability
• apparatus limits generalisability to the species/individuals who are familiar with it
• behaviour can be difficult to replicate in controlled environments eg. hunting

Question 2

define ‘operational definitions’

Answer 2

to specify the physical requirements for the coding behaviour

Question 3

define ‘ostensive definitions’

Answer 3

operationalising the coding behaviour through providing examples through diagrams/written descriptions

Question 4

define an ‘event’

Answer 4

a coding behaviour that is occurs in a short duration of time

Question 5

define a ‘state’

Answer 5

a coding behaviour that is occurs in a long duration of time

Question 6

what is an ethogram?

Answer 6

a complete table of all coding behaviours observed in the study species

Question 7

what are the types of measures?

Answer 7

• latency (how long it takes to respond to a stimulus)
• frequency (the total number of observed behaviours during the observation period)
• rate (the frequency of the coding behaviour per unit of time)
• duration (the total amount of time that a single occurrence happens during the observation period)
• proportion (the proportion of total time that a behaviours occurred of the proportion of total behaviours that occurred)

Question 8

what are the scales of measurement?

Answer 8

1. nominal (categorical)
2. ordinal (order)
3. interval (0 is arbitrary)
4. ratio-interval (continuous)

Question 9

what are the different sampling rules?

Answer 9

ad libitum - observer writes down everything that seems interesting
:( underestimates less conspicuous events
focal sampling - an individual is isolated for observation
:( time consuming
scan samples - a number of individuals samples at the same time
:( overestimates conspicuous events
behaviour sampling - all occurrence sampling
:( overestimation of conspicuous events

Question 10

what are the types of recording methods?

Answer 10

time sampling
:(can underestimate behaviours of short duration
continuous recording
:( underestimate long duration behaviours

Question 11

what is a coding scheme?

Answer 11

a way of categorising behaviour

Question 12

what is intra-observer reliability?

Answer 12

the degree to which measurements taken by the same observer are consistent with one another

Question 13

what is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 13

the degree to which measurements taken by different observers are consistent with one another

Question 14

what are some problems of coding schemes that might cause poor inter-rater reliability?

Answer 14

• poor behavioural record
• coding scheme not detailed enough
• the target behaviours may be too subtle

Question 15

how can you ensure inter-rater reliability when using a coding scheme?

Answer 15

• train coders

- get 2 coders to code the same data and compare them for inter-rater agreement

Question 16

what is the formula for inter-rater agreement?

Answer 16

number of times raters agreed/total number of observations

Question 17

how do you work out percentage agreement?

Answer 17

times the IRA by 100

Question 18

why is cohen’s kappa used?

Answer 18

because it controls for probability of agreement by chance

Question 19

what is the formula for cohen’s kappa?

Answer 19

p(observed) - p(expected by chance)/1-p(expected by chance)

Question 20

what is the p(observed) value?

Answer 20

the inter-rater agreement, the amount of times the codes agreed divided by the total number of observations

Question 21

what is the p(expected by chance) value? What is the formula

Answer 21

probability of observers saying yes by chance - (a+c)x(a+b) + probability of observers saying no by chance (b+d)x(c+d)

Question 22

how can you interpret cohen’s kappa value?

Answer 22

can range from -1 to 1
0=bad 1=perfect
negative numbers = agreement is below that expected by chance