TY - JOUR
T1 - The Quantitative Ethology of the Zebra Finch
T2 - A Study in Comparative Psychometrics
AU - Figueredo, Aurelio Jose
AU - Ross, Donovan Michael
AU - Petrinovich, Lewis
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by a Summer Stipend from the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute (SBSRI), University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. Special thanks to Richard Gorsuch, Steve Reise, Keith Widaman, and the University of Arizona Evaluation Group for the Analysis of Data (EGAD) for helpful advice and consultation in the application of the complex quantitative methods, and to Stanley Mulaik for a helpful and insightful philosophical critique of the various metascientific limitations of these quantitative methods. Thanks also to Ramon Rhine and Roberta Cox for the written materials, verbal explanations and kind permission needed to adapt the UCR primate behavior sampling system for application to avian modcls. Thanks to Nancy Burley for providing a list of tested sexually neutral colors for Zebra finch identification bands. Our research assistants, Scott Biaggi, Andrea "Angel" Blinder, Andrea Bloom, Stephanie Cadwell, Stephanie Chiprin, Brian DeHaan, Ziya Dikman, Elizabeth Ely, Susan Ephraim, Lisa Gaudet, Sharon Harris, Plavilayil Kochumman "P.K." Jacob, Karen Jordan, Patricia Juerling, Dianne Kim, Adam Mann, Patrick McMurphy, Kristine Miller, Yolanda Nunez, Lynn Lackner, Jaime Platas, Amy Powell, Van Santiago, Natasha Smith, Cleo Strazdas, Despina "Michelle" Walter, and Arden Weitzman were exceptionally helpful with the data collection and entry, colony monitoring and maintenance. Thanks also to my wife, Maureen, and to our good friends, John Burling, Jim King, Tony Mascaro & Company, and Murray Victor for their help in the construction of the research aviary.
PY - 1992/7/1
Y1 - 1992/7/1
N2 - A quantitative ethogram was developed for the Zebra finch, using one-zero focal animal sampling on an ethologically comprehensive checklist of 52 behavioral items, and was assessed for both interobserver reliability and construct validity. Interobserver reliabilities were highly acceptable (an eta-squared of.923 for aggregation periods of 5 minutes). Nine common factors (Singing Parenting, Social Proximity, Social Contact, Social Submission, Social Aggression, Sex Violence, Object Handling, Surface Foraging, and General Activity) produced highly acceptable convergent validities (high factor loadings for most behavioral items) and discriminant validities (low factor intercorrelations). Applying the quantitative methods of psychometrics thus permits the verification of ethological theory and the testing of diverse hypotheses with a high degree of sophistication.
AB - A quantitative ethogram was developed for the Zebra finch, using one-zero focal animal sampling on an ethologically comprehensive checklist of 52 behavioral items, and was assessed for both interobserver reliability and construct validity. Interobserver reliabilities were highly acceptable (an eta-squared of.923 for aggregation periods of 5 minutes). Nine common factors (Singing Parenting, Social Proximity, Social Contact, Social Submission, Social Aggression, Sex Violence, Object Handling, Surface Foraging, and General Activity) produced highly acceptable convergent validities (high factor loadings for most behavioral items) and discriminant validities (low factor intercorrelations). Applying the quantitative methods of psychometrics thus permits the verification of ethological theory and the testing of diverse hypotheses with a high degree of sophistication.
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U2 - 10.1207/s15327906mbr2703_7
DO - 10.1207/s15327906mbr2703_7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84921597882
SN - 0027-3171
VL - 27
SP - 435
EP - 458
JO - Multivariate Behavioral Research
JF - Multivariate Behavioral Research
IS - 3
ER -