Observe One Subject per Pass

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Observe One Subject per Pass

In case you are concentrating on a single subject per pass, there is no need to manually enter the Subject information for each Event.

To make your coding life easier and to simplify Subject-based analysis we advise to start by collecting your observations in separate Sets per Subject.

We presume you already defined at least part of your observational Codes to get started.

Note: Depending on the number of behavioral types you are interested in, you might even need multiple passes per subject. Even though it is technically possible to log various behaviors simultaneously, spreading your attention over too many different activities is bound to cause coding errors, especially for inexperienced coders.

Arrow-Right-OrangeMultiple Rater - If multiple rater are at work, start by saving each observation in a separate file. You can easily merge your data after all data has been collected, as described in Merge Data Files from Multiple Observations.
Arrow-Right-OrangeSingle Rater - If you are observing all Subjects your self, you can create a DataSet Btn_AddSet per Subject within the same document. But even in this case, creating separate files per observation is not a bad idea.

After data collections and merging separate files, your INTERACT document may look like this:

Example_ObserverMulitpleSubjects1Pass_Sets
TIP:We recommend to save a separate document per session and merge the data afterward for plain data security reasons: If something damages a file (power failure while saving or copying or an unintended replace or delete action), it is worse enough for a single session, for a file holding multiple sessions it is a catastrophe.