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What you see is not always what

you get.
Dr. Cindy Trussell
Assistant Professor of Biology
Kodiak College

Learning to Observe
Observations
what you know and can verify

Inferences
what you think you know or what you
have concluded

Guidelines for writing descriptions of behavioral events

Set the stage

describe the physical setting
describe the social setting
describe camera location and angle
remember to note what looks like camera and
human focused behavior

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Describe events
postures and movements
(orientations and distances)
timing
(latencies and durations)
sequence of events
(what follows what, what events are simultaneous)
apparent purposes or intentions
(labeled as such)

Closing Summary

mention duration of entire scene or

interaction
summarize essence of scene and its
apparent effect or purpose