[Babase] Protocols for data entry in BaBase Demog Notes Table

Catherine Markham babase@www.eco.princeton.edu
Fri, 29 Jul 2005 09:02:19 -0400


Hi Susan and Leah,

Jeanne, Karl, and I recently met to discuss updating the protocols for 
entering data in the Demography Notes Table.  Revisions seemed necessary 
given the changes to the interpolation program in the new system.

Below is a draft of the revised protocols for review when you get a chance.

Thanks,
Catherine



Demography Notes Table

The primary objective for adding information to the Demography Notes 
Table is to capture census-related information that otherwise would not 
appear in the Census Table and the Members Table.  Accordingly, the 
Demography Notes Table typically does not include information redundant 
with the study group censuses or attempt to manually interpolate an 
animal’s placement in Group 9.0 (“unknown group”).

General guidelines for entering records in the Demography Notes Table: 
Each record in the Demography Notes Table contains information linking a 
named individual with a group ID on a specified date.  Upon update, the 
Demography Notes Table adds records directly to the Census Table and, 
consequently, affects how the Members Table is generated.

The three sources of information usually referenced when entering 
records into the Demography Notes Table are:

1.  Field demography notes in each of the study group notebooks
2.  Other group notes in each of the study group notebooks
3.  Comments or censusing of known individuals in a non-study group in 
the other groups notebook

It is important to keep in mind that not all notes appearing in the 
sources above merit a record in the Demography Notes Table.  For 
example, the following types of field notes are not relevant to the 
Demography Notes Table:

1.  Field demography notes providing general comments about the study 
group or miscellaneous occurrences in the field.  (Not relevant because 
records in the Demography Notes Table are specific to a single, named 
individual.)
	
2.  Non-study group censuses that record general information on the 
count of the different sexes or age classes present (i.e. sub-adult 
male, brown infant, or adult female.  (Not relevant because records in 
the Demography Notes Table are specific to a single, named individual.)
	
3.  Field demography notes providing a verbal descriptive of the field 
census data (i.e. WAM with Omo’s group today or ORI not seen in Linda’s 
group today).  (Not relevant because the  information is automatically 
captured in the study-group census.)

With regard to record entry, remember that multiple notes pertaining to 
a particular individual on a given date should be combined into a single 
entry.  Notes referring to more than one individual must appear 
separately for each individual (i.e. one entry per individual).

Some examples of commonly entered records in the Demography Table Notes 
follow.  Note that this list is by no means exhaustive and record entry 
should not be limited solely to these scenarios.

“Alone” observations – Include a record in the Demography Notes Table 
for a day an animal is observed alone (Group 10.0).  For example, 
“Liberty was observed alone today.”

Other group notes – Include a record in the Demography Notes Table for 
any references in the “Other Group Notes” section of the monitoring 
notebooks that identify a named baboon.  For example, “OGN: Godot seen 
in Ositeti's group.”

Visits – Include a record in the Demography Notes Table for a day an 
animal “visits” a group.  Observations that qualify as visits include 
cases where the individual was present in a group either (1) after the 
group had already been censused that day or (2) the individual was 
already censused as present in another group that same day.  In either 
case, the baboon should not be listed as present in the Members and 
Census tables in the group it visited.  The group associated with the 
record will be the group where the animal was censused (if applicable) 
or the group where the interpolation program places the animal - it 
should not be the group the animal visited.  Text for the record row in 
the Demography Notes Table should read, for example, “Liberty visited 
Omo’s group today but was censused in Viola’s group.”