This presentation gives an idea on Scientific Methods and Recording in Animal Behaviour

1. The Scientific Method and
recording of Animal Behavior

2. Continuous & Instantaneous
observations

3. Advantages and Role of Observations
• Records actual behavior, not what
people say they said they did or
believe they will do.
• Recorded behavior can be
compared to verbal statements or
other records, to check for the
validity of their responses.

4. Limitations
• Observation techniques do not provide
insights into what the person may be
thinking, why they performed a behavior,
or what might motivate a given
behavior/comment.
• That type of information can only be
obtained by asking people/viewing
subjects directly or indirectly from written
or other sources.

5. Ethical Considerations
• Ethical issues arise when subjects are
being observed, whether they are aware of
it or not.
• Technological advances--cameras and
microphones—facilitate observing verbal
and non-verbal behavior that might be
considered to be an invasion of privacy,
particularly if the subject is unaware of
being observed.
• Yet the information is used to make
decisions that impact the subject.

6. Types of Observations
• Observation is a method of collecting data
by human, mechanical, electrical or
electronic means.
• The researcher may or may not have
direct contact or communication with the
people whose behavior is being recorded.
• Observation techniques can be part of
qualitative research as well as quantitative
research techniques.

7. Six Different Ways Of Classifying
Observation Methods:
1. Participant vs. Nonparticipant
observation.
2. Obtrusive vs. Unobtrusive (including
physical trace observation).
3. Observation in natural vs. contrived
settings.
4. Disguised vs. non-disguised observation.
5. Structured vs. unstructured observation,
and
6. Direct vs. indirect observation.

8. Two Commonly Used Methods Of
Direct Observations:
1. Continuous Monitoring
2. Time Allocation

9. Direct Observation
Continuous Time Allocation
Focal Subject Sequence Scan Instantaneous

10. Continuous Monitoring
• Continuous monitoring: observing and
recording (manually, electronically, or
both) as much of the behavior as
possible.
• May be problematic due
to the Hawthorne Effect
--people react to
being observed and
their behavior changes.

11. The instantaneous/continuous divide
• If we observe behavior continuously we can compute all of the
below but if we record instantaneously we can only compute
the first:
• Examples of instantaneous/continuous methods
– Frequency (instances per unit time)
– Duration (length of single occurrence)
– Intensity (pace, useful for energetic expenditure studies)
– Sequence of behaviors (behavior flow) to complete a task
(steps in food preparation)
– Latency: the time between the end and start of a behavior

12. Basic divide in recording:
• Events: behaviors have no duration
(dimensionless). E.g., what the individual
was doing the moment encountered.
• States: continuous recording of behaviors,
typically have a beginning and end.
Duration and frequency can be measured.

13. Scan and Focal
Focal: Watch 1 animal (or subgroup), and
record all of its activities for a
predetermined period of time
Scan: Watch 1 animal or a group of animals,
and record what the animal(s) is doing at
preset intervals

14. Focal Subject Sampling
• Used to study specific behavior patterns.
• Observe a single individual, for a specified
time, recording all instances of the behavior
under study.
• Generates frequency of behaviors and
compares subjects or groups.
• Observations produce an ethogram: a
description and inventory (usually with some
information on relative frequency) of all of the
behavior patterns exhibited the subject.
• An ethogram requires considerable effort and
numerous observation periods throughout the
life cycle of the subject.

16. Sequence Sampling
• Similar to focal subject sampling--a specific
individual is observed.
• Focus is on a chain or sequence of specific
behaviors.
• Some potential for subjectivity and bias.
• Careful and well-trained observers can usually
recognize changes (“events”) in subject behavior
and use these as starting and ending points for
an observation period. Videography can be
helpful.
• The result is a description of the sequence of
behaviors involved in an activity or interaction.

18. Time Allocation
• Randomly selected place and time and recording
behaviors over a set or random period.
• Useful when you want to find out the percent of time
people are doing things (i.e., playing with kids,
working, eating, etc.).
• Several sampling problems with this approach:
1. A large representative sample is needed to
generalize about how people spend their time.
2. Questions such as when, how often, and where to
observe are problematic.
3. Many overcome these by visits to nonrandom
locations, at random times, and/or using scan
sampling or instantaneous sampling.

19. 2 Types of Time Allocation
• Scan Sampling
• Instantaneous Sampling

20. Scan Sampling
• A “census” of a large number of people leading to
records of behavior at the instant they are observed.
• Because scan sampling must be done relatively
quickly (otherwise it reverts to focal subject sampling
with short but variable sampling periods), it is usually
restricted to discrete behaviors such as "feeding",
"reading", or "resting".
• Scan sampling is vital for estimates of time budgets:
what individuals are doing at a given time.
• If 100 individuals are observed , and 70 are resting, 25
are feeding, and 5 are interacting aggressively, the
assumption is that any individual spends 70% of its
time resting, 25% feeding, and 5% interacting
aggressively at that time of day and/or in that place.

21. Basic Observational Methods
Group Individual
Instantaneous
(event) Instantaneous scan Instantaneous focal
Continuous
(state)
Continuous scan Continuous Focal
Recording
methods
Sampling methods

22. Sampling and Recording
• Sampling decisions have to do with who
or, less commonly, what one is going to
record
• Recording decisions have to do with
whether one is going to record events
(short duration observations) or states
(long duration observations)

23. Possibilities (from Bateson & Martin
schematic)
Continuous Instantaneous One-zero
Focal
C-F I-F O-F
Scan
C-S I-S O-S
Behavior
C-B I-B O-B
Sampling
Rules
Recording Rules

24. The Scientific Method and
Levels of Analysis in Animal
Behavior
1. Understand the scientific method and be able to identify and
generate hypotheses and predictions.
2. Distinguish between proximate and ultimate questions in the
study of animal behavior and be able to generate both types
of questions.
3. Understand the four levels of analysis (Observation, Question,
Hypothesis and Prediction) of animal behavior and distinguish
between questions at different levels.