Abstract
BackgroundResearchers have developed a variety of techniques for the visual presentation of quantitative data. These techniques can help to reveal trends and regularities that would be difficult to see if the data were left in raw form. Such techniques can be of great help in exploratory data analysis, making apparent the organization of data sets, developing new hypotheses, and in selecting effects to be tested by statistical analysis. Researchers studying social interaction in groups of animals and humans, however, have few tools to present their raw data visually, and it can be especially difficult to perceive patterns in these data. In this paper I introduce a new graphical method for the visual display of interaction records in human and animal groups, and I illustrate this method using data taken on chickens forming dominance hierarchies.ResultsThis new method presents data in a way that can help researchers immediately to see patterns and connections in long, detailed records of interaction. I show a variety of ways in which this new technique can be used: (1) to explore trends in the formation of both group social structures and individual relationships; (2) to compare interaction records across groups of real animals and between real animals and computer-simulated animal interactions; (3) to search for and discover new types of small-scale interaction sequences; and (4) to examine how interaction patterns in larger groups might emerge from those in component subgroups. In addition, I discuss how this method can be modified and extended for visualizing a variety of different kinds of social interaction in both humans and animals.ConclusionThis method can help researchers develop new insights into the structure and organization of social interaction. Such insights can make it easier for researchers to explain behavioural processes, to select aspects of data for statistical analysis, to design further studies, and to formulate appropriate mathematical models and computer simulations.
Highlights
Researchers have developed a variety of techniques for the visual presentation of quantitative data
Frontiers in Zoology 2006, 3:18 http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/3/1/18 interactions generate questions about the behavioural processes leading to that expected result: Did the animals establish relationships within the hierarchy quickly or were there protracted battles between the pairs? Were there typical sequences of interaction such as losers of encounters being attacked by other group members? Were the interaction records across several groups similar in form? Cases such as the discussion between the husband and wife or the grooming bout in the primates, where there is no clear, overall outcome, can generate questions about the organization of the interaction itself
Visualization of interaction records of groups The simplest use of the graphical method developed here is display: providing a form in which records of interaction among group members can be directly inspected – something, as noted earlier, that is impossible to do with the usual text list form of a social interaction data set
Summary
Researchers have developed a variety of techniques for the visual presentation of quantitative data These techniques can help to reveal trends and regularities that would be difficult to see if the data were left in raw form. Considering several examples of social interaction is perhaps the easiest way to explain how the new method introduced here can be applied These examples could include, say, animals forming a dominance hierarchy, a husband and wife having a discussion, and two primates alternately grooming each other. In some cases, such as the formation of the dominance hierarchy, the interaction will progress to some expected result. What kinds of verbal tactics did the husband and wife typically use? Were certain types of responses – questions, statements, criticisms, etc. – typically followed by certain other types? For the primates, did they alternate acts of grooming and, if so, were the acts of approximately the same length, or did one primate groom the other for longer periods of time?
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