ArticleScientific reports2022
A simulated comparison of behavioural observation sampling methods.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comparing behavioural sampling methods in shelter dogs: implications for enrichment studies.Animal cognition · 2026Article
- The Primate Welfare INdicators project (PWIN): For an objective and standardised welfare assessment of non-human primates used in research.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2026Article
- Herbal synergy enhances growth performance, antioxidant status, immunity, and lymphoid tissue architecture in pigeons.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Dynamic Risk From Mexican Wolves and Mountain Lions Influences Elk Foraging Behavior.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- An Examination of Visitor and Tiger Activity Between Two Zoo Tiger Groups.Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Article
- A methodological approach to compare continuous and instantaneous sampling and two methods to deal with animals out of sight on dairy cattle behavior and interaction with their calf in the first hours post-partum.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Article
- Impacts of social isolation stress in safety learning and the structure of defensive behavior during a spatial-based learning task involving thermal threat.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- New approaches to selecting a scan-sampling method for chicken behavioral observations and their practical implications.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A comprehensive investigation of negative visitor behaviour in the zoo setting and captive animals' behavioural response.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Information Theory Opens New Dimensions in Experimental Studies of Animal Behaviour and Communication.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Bridging the gap between laboratory and applied research on response-independent schedules.Journal of applied behavior analysis · 2023Article
- Investigating Unused Tools for the Animal Behavioral Diversity Toolkit.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Diurnal and Nocturnal Behaviour of Cheetahs (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Nonhuman primate abnormal behavior: Etiology, assessment, and treatment.American journal of primatology · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Behavioural research requires the use of sampling methods to document the occurrence of responses observed. Sampling/recording methods include ad libitum, continuous, pinpoint (instantaneous), and one-zero (interval) sampling. Researchers have questioned the utility of each sampling method under different contexts. Our study compared computerized simulations of both pinpoint and one-zero sampling to continuous recordings. Two separate computer simulations were generated, one for response frequency and one for response duration, with three different response frequencies (high, medium, or low) and response durations (short, medium, and long) in each simulation, respectively. Similarly, three different observation intervals (5, 50, and 500 s) were used to record responses as both pinpoint and one-zero sampling methods in the simulations. Under both simulations, pinpoint sampling outperformed one-zero sampling, with pinpoint sampling producing less statistical bias in error rates under all frequencies, durations, and observation intervals. As observation intervals increased, both mean error rates and variability in error rates increased for one-zero sampling, while only variability in error rate increased for pinpoint sampling. The results suggest that pinpoint sampling techniques are effective for measuring both frequency (event) and duration (state) behaviours, and that pinpoint sampling is a less statistically biased behavioural observation method than one-zero sampling.
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Registered trials
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