Pascal Mangold

A Best Practice Guide to Video-Supported Behavior ObservationObservation appears to be a simple skill. It is assumed to be something everyone does every day since early childhood, and thus, it seems to be an easy and well-trained skill. However, observation of behavior with a scientific outcome is far from easy. It requires a well-thought-out method based on scientific knowledge and hypothesis. It further requires appropriate software tools to create reliable data and new findings with significant validity in a reasonable time.The significant difference between everyday observation and scientific observation and the enormous chances specific software tools can create in this field are discussed in this document.

Pascal Mangold

Weil man davon ausgeht, dass es jeder Mensch seit frühester Kindheit tagtäglich etwas beobachtet, scheint dies eine einfache und gut trainierte Fähigkeit zu sein. Wissenschaftliche Beobachtung ist dagegen alles andere als leicht. Es erfordert eine gut durchdachte Methode, die auf wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen und Hypothesen basiert. Darüber hinaus sind geeignete Softwaretools erforderlich, um in angemessener Zeit zuverlässige Daten und interessante, valide Ergebnisse zu erstellen.Der Hauptunterschied zwischen alltäglicher Beobachtung und wissenschaftlicher Beobachtung und die enormen Chancen, die spezialisierte Softwaretools auf diesem Gebiet bieten, werden in diesem Artikel erörtert.

Roger Bakeman

Categorical cutpoints used to assess the adequacy of various statistics—like small, medium, and large for correlation coefficients of .10, .30, and .50 (Cohen, Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.)—are as useful as they are arbitrary, but not all statistics are suitable candidates for categorical cutpoints. One such is kappa, a statistic that gauges inter-observer agreement corrected for chance (Cohen Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20(1), 37–46, Cohen, Educational and Psychological Measurement 20:37–46, 1960). Depending on circumstances, a specific value of kappa may be judged adequate in one case but not in another. Thus, no one value of kappa can be regarded as universally acceptable and the question for investigators should be, are observers accurate enough, not is kappa big enough. A principled way to assess whether a specific value of kappa is adequate is to estimate observer accuracy—how accurate would simulated observers need to be to have generated a specific value of kappa obtained by actual observers, given specific circumstances. Estimating observer accuracy based on a kappa table the user provides is what KappaAcc, the program described here, does.

Bakeman, R. (2022). KappaAcc: A program for assessing the adequacy of kappa. Behavior Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-022-01836-1

Pascal Mangold

The following insights are based on my company’s long term empirical experience as system developer in the field of behavioral research. The paper discusses several aspects of data collection and analysis in day to day studies on behavior. It points out the necessity of using specialized software tools in behavioral research. It shows why video recordings are very beneficial for analysis and not only for documentation purpose. It discusses the advantages of using structured coding schemas instead of taking notes only. Finally the possibilities of the INTERACT software tool environment are sketched.

Linda Candy

Practice-based Research is an original investigation undertaken in order to gain new knowledge partly by means of practice and the outcomes of that practice. In a doctoral thesis, claims of originality and contribution to knowledge may be demonstrated through creative outcomes in the form of designs, music, digital media, performances and exhibitions. Whilst the significance and context of the claims are described in words, a full understanding can only be obtained with direct reference to the outcomes.