ABSTRACT
OBSERVE is a preliminary release of a multimedia course for teaching undergraduate and graduate students how and why to study behavior by direct observation. The instructional text and commentary and the self-test and examination materials are built around a series of exercises in which the student observes and categorizes film clips of the behavior of several different species in several different ways. Incorporation of elements from The Observer software for computer recording and video analysis implements fully computerized continuous recording. At present, the text, together with check sheets that the program generates, enables a comparison between one-zero, instantaneous, and continuous sampling of the same behavioral excerpts. Matrices are printed out for an exercise in calculating interobserver reliability. Another section supports carrying out and writing up a small observational project on human behavior in the field. Plans for the future development of OBSERVE are briefly described.
Subject(s)
Behavioral Sciences/education , Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods , Multimedia , Observation , CD-ROM , Europe , HumansABSTRACT
P-SPACE is a computer program that simulates spatial behavior in a small group of individuals. The program describes how interpersonal distances change through time as a result of changes in microlevel features, such as the minimization of local dissatisfaction. Agents are located in a two-dimensional lattice and can move some discrete space units at each discrete time unit within their neighborhood. A nonsymmetrical matrix of ideal distances between agents must be specified. Agents move in order to minimize their dissatisfaction, defined as a function of the discrepancy between possible future distances and ideal distances between agents. At each iteration, agents will move to those cells in their neighborhoods for which the function is minimized. Depending on the specific values in the ideal-distance matrix, different kinds of social dynamics can be simulated.
Subject(s)
Electronic Data Processing , Spatial Behavior/physiology , Humans , Models, Psychological , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
A program for converting Noldus Observer data files (ODF) to sequential data interchange standard (SDIS) files is described. Observer users who convert their data files can then take advantage of various flexible and powerful data modification and computational procedures available in the Generalized Sequential Querier, a program that assumes SDIS-formatted files.
