[Babase] comments on documentation for Parts and Interact
Susan Alberts
alberts at duke.edu
Sat Feb 23 17:42:25 EST 2008
HI Karl et al.,
I read the parts of the documentation that Karl indicated, concering
ad lib versus all-occurrences data. Comments below.
Comment: I suggest that you replace the first paragraph below with
the second one. The differences are not many but I hope the second is
clearer.
Remove this:
Many rules surrounding INTERACT_DATA's values are closely tied to the
project's data collection protocols. There are two general sorts of
data on behavioral events: all-occurrences data and ad-libitum data.
All occurrences data are collected only during focal animal samples.
They are data on all the occurrences of a particular behavior or
interaction during a given time interval and/or involving a
participating focal individual.[56] Ad-libitum data are data that are
collected opportunistically at the will of the observer; we do not
assume that ad lib data captures all the occurrences of a given
behavior. Although some ad-libitum data is collected during focal
animal sampling most is not. All occurrences data have an
INTERACT_DATA.Sid that is not NULL. Ad-libitum data have a NULL Sid
value (i.e., it was not collected during a focal animal sample). Some
sorts of interactions are only collected using certain protocols.
Approach (ACTS.Class = P), and request to groom (ACTS.Class = R)
interactions are only collected during all-occurrences sampling;
these must have a non-NULL Sid. Although consortship and mount[57]
information is collected as all-occurrences data during focal point
samples that information, along with ejaculation information, is
never reflected in INTERACT_DATA because, presumably, there will
always be a INTERACT_DATA row for the consortship, mount, or
ejaculation from the ad-libitum sample data collection. So, in
Babase, consortships (ACTS.Class = C), mounts (ACTS.Class = M), and
ejaculation (ACTS.Class = E) rows always have a NULL Sid.
Insert this:
Many rules surrounding INTERACT_DATA's values are closely tied to the
project's data collection protocols. There are two sorts of data
collected on behavioral interactions: all-occurrences data and ad-
libitum data. All occurrences data are collected only during focal
animal samples. They are data on all the occurrences of a particular
behavior or interaction during a given time interval and/or involving
a participating focal individual.[56] All occurrences data will
always have an INTERACT_DATA.Sid that is not NULL. Ad-libitum data
are data that are collected opportunistically at the will of the
observer; we do not assume that ad lib data capture all the
occurrences of a given behavior. Ad-libitum data, which generally are
not collected as part of focal animal samples, have a NULL Sid value
(i.e., they were not collected during a focal animal sample and hence
have no Sid). Some sorts of interactions are only collected during
focal sampling and not as ad libitum data outside of focal samples.
Approach (ACTS.Class = P), and request to groom (ACTS.Class = R)
interactions are examples of this; they are only collected during all-
occurrences sampling; these must have a non-NULL Sid. Although
consortship and mount[57] data are collected as all-occurrences data
during focal point samples, these data are also collected,
simultaneously and in more detail, in ad libitum notes. Consequently,
they appear in INTERACT_DATA as ad libitum data, not as all
occurrences data, and in Babase, consortships (ACTS.Class = C),
mounts (ACTS.Class = M), and ejaculation (ACTS.Class = E) rows always
have a NULL Sid.
Two paragraphs below that, I suggest replacing this paragraph:The
columns of this table that contain times, Start and Stop, are stored
using a data type that has a precision of 1 second. The Amboseli
Baboon Research Project Monitoring Guide must be consulted regarding
the precision and accuracy of the data itself. It is expected that ad-
libitum data is entered with a 1 minute precision.[58] Consequently
the seconds portion of the time value must always be 0 when Sid is
NULL. All-occurrences interaction data (Sid is not NULL) does contain
seconds.[59]
With this one:
The columns of this table that contain times, Start and Stop, are
stored using a data type that has a precision of 1 second. The
Amboseli Baboon Research Project Monitoring Guide must be consulted
regarding the precision and accuracy of these data. It is expected
that ad-libitum data are entered with a 1 minute precision.[58]
Consequently the seconds portion of the time value must always be 0
when Sid is NULL. All-occurrences interaction data (Sid is not NULL)
do contain seconds.[59]
Also note that throughout it will be good, at some point, to do a
global replace of "data is" with "data are", "data that is" with
"data that are", "data was" with "data were", etc., to keep
consistent with the fact that "data" is a plural word.
I also read through Samples and several other Psion sections, and it
looks good. I did not do an exhaustive read. But I think I've done
all you requested, Karl, pending my input on MPI documentation, will
I will not keep on my list for before I leave for Kenya (5 Mar).
THanks,
Susan
-----------------------------------------------
Susan Alberts, Dept. Biology, Duke University, Durham NC 27708. Phone
919-660-7272, Fax 919-660-7293. alberts at duke.edu
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