Animal Observation Schema

Schema

• subject groups
  • Subjects
    • Names
• Behaviors
  • Name
  • Type (state or event)
    • State behavior
      • Has duration
    • Event behavior
  • Some state behaviors are mutually exclusive
    • Can’t overlap.
    • Ex: sitting and standing are mutually exclusive
    • Ex: sitting and growling can overlap in duration
  • Target
    • Self, other (input a subject at time of observation), none
  • Parent type
    • E.g. a two level hierarchy of behaviors
    • Used as a grouping of behavior types
  • Modifiers (mapping of modifiers to behaviors)
    • Behavior has many modifiers
    • Modifiers belong to many behaviors

Observation

• Different methods with different rules
  • The methods produce a set of observations
• Belong to a session
• Have a time with zone
• Duration
• Actor (a subject)
• Behavior
• Behavior modifiers (specific modifiers for this behavior instance)
• Receiver/target (other)
• Notes

Observation Method (Strategy)

• Focal animal
  • Duration is fixed (using a timer)
  • Actor is fixed
  • Free form observations (unbounded in size)
• Scan
  • Define an interval
  • Pick a set of behaviors
  • Every interval, note what each subject is doing/presence
  • State behaviors will be recorded as events in this model
• Focal behavior
  • Pick a set of behaviors
  • No timer/no fixed duration (in this app)
  • Check on this one
• Ad libitum
  • Unlimited time duration
  • Free form observations