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The analysis of observational data, particularly from social interactions, is often made difficult by the process of transcribing the verbal and behavioral interactions, having observers code on the transcriptions, and then transferring those codes to a statistical analysis program. The advent of computer-aided coding schemes has, to some extent, eliminated this laborious and time-consuming process. However, existing programs may not fulfill the needs of all of the researchers interested in this methodology, and furthermore, the expense of current systems may put these tools out of reach for some. The Observational Data Coding System (ODCS) software package presented here is a flexible coding tool designed to make efficient the process of coding observational data. A control panel allows the researcher to customize the program and coding system to suit his or her research questions. A variety of media (including video, audio, image, and text) can be read directly into the Windows-based program; trained observers can then code a variety of factors via buttons on the screen while the file is playing. An example of using the program to analyze conversation is provided. ODCS is a flexible, free tool for the coding of observational data.
Many researchers in social psychology, behavioral analysis, comparative psychology, clinical psychology, and other research areas are interested in the systematic observation of behavior. Social interactions, spoken interchanges, individual and group behaviors (animal or human), and nonverbal communication are just a few such domains in which the systematic coding of behaviors is often necessary. Typically, this coding process has been necessarily laborious, requiring that every codable factor (e.g., utterances or behaviors) be transcribed into a written form (Alien & Guy, 1974; Potter & Wetherell, 1995).
Distilling real-life events into analyzable form often results in large volumes of data. Take, for example, the coding of conversations. If one considers that it is estimated that 30 sec of natural conversation equals approximately 4 pages of transcription (Lampert & Ervin-Tripp, 1993), one can imagine that coding a transcription from a fairly simple 15-min interaction would yield 450 pages of transcription. In addition, the resulting transcription often bears little resemblance to the real-life event that was coded, and these transcriptions are often very difficult to read (Drew, 1995; Edwards & Lampert, 1993). Depending on the...