[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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