Hunting with dogs in the Nicaraguan rain forest.

Jeremy Koster (State College, USA)
Most indigenous Nicaraguan hunters in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve in Nicaragua rely on their hunting dogs to locate and corral potential prey animals. To study interactions between the hunters and their dogs, The Observer 5.0 on a Psion Workabout handheld computer was used on expeditions into the forest. The result was a detailed dataset that far surpassed the quality of traditional paper and pencil methods. Preliminary results suggest that hunters with dogs often enjoy tremendous benefits but also incur substantial costs. Some dogs pursue animals that their owners consider inedible, and the hunters can lose valuable time chasing after a dog only to be disappointed by the result. While hunters can speculate about unseen prey based on the quality and intensity of their dogs’ barking, there is considerable uncertainty in these assessments. Despite such misadventures, however, dogs typically corral enough desirable game animals to offset the wasted time. Either in combination with firearms or with simpler hand technologies, dogs allow hunters to locate a wide variety of potential prey items.

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[file] pu_psycho_koster.pdf149.04 KB
Studying repetitive behavior of autistic persons: An ethological approach.

Dina Joha, Gerard Nijhof and Hans Pekelharing (Baarn, The Netherlands).
Repetitive behavior is frequently displayed by those suffering various mental handicaps and is a commonly described symptom of autistic people. However, little is known about the patterns of repetitive behavior. This study aims to give an objective description of patterns of repetitive behavior of autistic individuals and to determine the functions of these different patterns in the behavioral repertoire of autistic individuals. The Observer was used for obtaining the patterns of repetitive behavior. 

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[file] pu_psych_joha.pdf86.91 KB
What brings about the alcohol consumption of young adults in peer groups?

Sander Bot and Rutger Engels (Nijmegen, The Netherlands).
Alcohol consumption of young adults takes mainly place in social settings. Often, in research on social influence and drinking behavior only questionnaires are used. However, to obtain insight in the process of social influence, it is valuable to observe the actual behavior.
In this study, The Observer Video-Pro 5.0 was used to record and analyze drinking episodes in existing peer groups of eight individuals. The process of ordering and consuming drinks was mapped, as well as the activities the participants were involved in. Combined with questionnaire data, it showed that there are some important differences between the peer influences on male and female drinking behavior.

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[file] cs_psych_bot.pdf316.79 KB
Behavioral observation and psycho-physiology of communication between patients and physicians.

Arnstein Finset, Peter K. Graugaard, and Erik Holt (Oslo, Norway)
At the University of Oslo, the Clinical Communication Research Laboratory has used several versions of The Observer over the years in a number of studies of clinical communication. Currently, they apply The Observer XT to study the psychophysiological aspects of clinical communication. During simulated medical consultations, blood pressure, heart rate, and electrodermal response on both doctor and patient were recorded. Results indicate that patients react with very responses to different doctor messages. Patients with alexithymia for instance were particularly sensitive to physician communication behavior.

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[file] cs_psycho_holt.pdf657.68 KB
The Observer in clinical practice: Observational analysis of arm function and gait.

Martijn Boekhoff, Jaap Harlaar and Karin Boeschoten (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
In this study The Observer was used by occupational therapists to automate the observational assessment and reporting process of the abilities of arm functions of children using the EPEK test, a method for observing daily activities in children. In addition, The Observer was applied to examine children with cerebral palsy (validation of the Edinburgh GAIT scale).

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[file] pu_others_boekhoff.pdf152.54 KB
Looking at learning in practice - Classroom observation with Noldus Observer XT

By Martijn van Schaik

In Dutch education and in education in general, there is an ongoing debate regarding how well new pedagogy and curricula work. The question is: “What works?” (Slavin, 2004).
That is not an easy question to answer. However, both policy makers and researchers are looking for forms of evidence that address at least part of that question. Often the answer is either qualitative or quantitative. In the research described below, I will show how using The Observer XT has allowed us to integrate different sources of data.

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[file] Case_study_Van_Schaik_observer.pdf113.96 KB
Children's food preferences: facial expression analysis with The Observer XT

Despite the health benefits, children consume less vegetables than recommended. Dutch children aged 4-6 years eat 44 grams of vegetables daily, whereas 100-150 grams is recommended [Dutch National Food Consumption Survey young children 2005/2006]. One of the main reasons for this low consumption, is that many children do not like vegetables. Since children’s liking or preferences play a crucial role in their food choice behaviour, it would be valuable to increase children’s liking for vegetables as an effective strategy to increase their vegetable consumption.

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[file] Children's food preferences - facial expression analysis with The Observer XT.pdf83.83 KB
The Observer XT - Flexible Coding

The coding scheme determines what data you collect and is, thus, an essential part of your behavioral study. Setting up a coding scheme is not as straightforward as it may seem. It often requires quite some thinking to define the perfect coding scheme. The Observer XT supports the whole process of refining and re-arranging the coding scheme by allowing you to build your coding scheme during scoring. Also the possibilities to score subjects or comments only and to define (up to ten) hierarchical levels, make that you can arrange your coding scheme any way you like it. This flexibility is one of the key features of The Observer XT.

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[file] obsxt_wp_flexiblecoding.pdf106.52 KB