We're going to be examining a virtual animal that is a common subject
in animal behavior research, the albino rat. We will observe Sniffy behaviors at fixed time intervals
(10secs) in two conditions.
You will open one of the two Sniffy files
found on the desktop of the computer in the small observation room.
Which file you and your partner open first will be defined on the signup sheet
outside of my office. For each condition, you and your partner will
record your observations on the data sheet provided. You'll then show
your data to the TA on duty, or myself, to confirm that you have good inter-rater
reliability. If you fail this check, there's no penalty. You
will, however, have to sign up for another observation session. You
should allow yourself time to fail and repeat the assignment so you can enter
your data by the deadline (see the following Schedule
of Events). There is a BIG penalty for holding up the
entire class because of late data submissions (consult your friendly Syllabus).
Once you pass the live reliability check, you and your partner will then
transfer your collective data into a single
SPSS file (provided in BlackBoard under Documents ) and return it
via Assignments.
Your collective data will take up two records in the SPSS data file - one
record for each Sniffy file you opened. NOT one record for each observer.
We'll append all of your files together and give you back the class data
file for you to perform your first Hypothesis
Test. Since you know what the data looks like - you can start planning
your hypothesis test right away and just execute it when we get the file back
to you.