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Repeatability

BehavioralEcologyFall2001

Repeatabilityassesseshowconsistentsomethingis;inthecaseofbehaviorweare
usuallyinterestedinhowconsistentanindividualis(orwemightbeinterestedinour
measurementerror,whichcanalsobeassessedthroughrepeatability).
Weallknowthatbehaviorisveryvariable,bothacrossdifferentindividualsaswellas
withinanindividual.Repeatability,inourbehavioralcontexthere,isameasureofhow
consistenttheindividualis.
Whyisindividualconsistencyinbehaviorofinteresttous?
Ifindividualsarehighlyconsistent,butthereisalotofdifferenceamongdifferent
individuals,thenthatsuggeststhattheremaybeageneticbasistothedifferencesin
behavioramongindividuals.Thatisthetypeofgeneticvariationthatselectionactson.
Ontheotherhand,ifindividualsareasvariableintheirownbehaviorasthewhole
populationofindividuals(i.e.individualsareNOTconsistent)thenthatsuggestthatany
differencesbetweenindividualsmayhavecausesotherthangeneticdifferences.
Repeatability,oftensymbolizedr,rangesfrom0to1andexpressestheproportionof
variationinatraitthatisduetodifferencesamongindividualsnotduetodifferences
withinanindividual.Thinkforasecond:iftheaverageindividualisconsistent,thenthe
averagewithinindividualvariationwillbelow.Thiswillmaketheratioofamong
individualvariationtowithinindividualvariation(therepeatability)behigh.
RepeatabilityiscalculatedfromAnalysisofVariance(ANOVA).Ifyouhavehad
statistics,morepowertoyou,butthisexerciseassumeslittlestatsbackground.Justgo
alongwiththeideathatANOVAcaninfactpartitionvariationintopartsduetovariation
withinindividualsandpartsduetovariationamongindividuals.
Example,youmeasuresomething2timesforeachof15individuals.Because
individualsdonotbehaveexactlythesamewayallthetime,younoticethatthe
individualscoresvaryfromthefirstmeasurementtothesecond.Nonetheless,itlooksas
thoughsomeindividualsgotlowerscoresbothtimes,andotherindividualsgothigher
scoresbothtimes.Isthereasignificantrepeatabilitytothisbehavior?

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Somepretenddata:
Individual
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
11
11
12
12
13
13
14
14
15
15

Measurement Score
1 0.34325629
2 0.14305564
1 0.80843765
2 0.97922126
1 0.70119901
2 1.23151964
1 1.15389224
2 0.88256177
1 1.26174179
2 1.52169388
1 0.00791876
2 0.85306927
1 1.84605942
2 2.03122889
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2

2.11409613
2.09923619
2.23405768
1.65710812
1.78042119
1.32637704
0.40223491
1.46224999
1.93175326
1.14711549
0.62974894
2.49582839
2.54894476
1.92692013
2.61080975
2.0333514

ThisishowyoumightkeepyourdatainExcelifyouareawellorganizedindividual.
ButtodoanANOVAinMSExcel,youneedtoarrangeyourdatalikethis:
Sum of
Individu
Score
al
Measureme
nt
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
1
0.343 0.808 0.701 1.154 1.262 0.008 1.846 2.114 2.234 1.78 0.402 1.932 0.63 2.549 2.611
2
0.143 0.979 1.232 0.883 1.522 0.853 2.031 2.099 1.657 1.326 1.462 1.147 2.496 1.927 2.033

ExperiencedMSExcelusersmightwanttousethePivottablecommandtochangetheir
dataaroundsothateachindividualisacolumn;otherwisedoittheoldslowway,cutand
paste.

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Oncethedataarearrangedsothateachindividualisacolumn,highlightthedata(notthe
columnheading,etc,justthedata)andthenfindDataAnalysisintheToolsMenu.Ifit
isntthere,selectAddInsfromtheToolsMenu,andthenchecktheAnalysisTools
Packbutton.

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OnceyouhavefoundDataAnalysisyouwantAnova:SingleFactor

Hitok,andthisshouldappear:

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YouhavetochecktheOutputoptionsOutputrangebutton,andthenenteracell
destinationwherethereisroomonyourworksheet,ifyouareunsurewherethereis
room,justchecktheNewworksheetplybutton.Hitok,andthisappears:

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Checkthatthecomputercooperated.Inthetoppartyoushouldhavethesamenumberof
groupsasyouhaveindividuals(eachindividualistreatedasagroupinExcellingo),each
individual(group)shouldhaveacountof2observations(youobservedeachindividual
twice),aswellasasum,anaverage,andavariance.
AtthebottomistheANOVAtable.Itistheinformationinherethatyouusetocalculate
repeatability.NoticefirstthatExcelgivesyouastatisticaltestofwhetherornota
significantamountofthetotalvariationisfoundbydifferencesBetweenthedifferent
groups(individuals)RELATIVEtotheamountofvariationWithinthegroups.The
statisticistheFtest,withdegreesoffreedom(df)andthePvalue.ThePvalueisthe
likelihoodoffindingasbigadifferencebetweengroupsasyoudidfindIFTHERE
WERENOTRUEDIFFERENCE.
HereFwith14and15df=3.217,P=0.016.Thatmeansthatyouhavea1.6%chance
thatthereisNOTatruedifferencebetweengroups.Ifthischanceislowenough,thenwe
mightprovisionallysaythatthegroupsAREdifferent.Usuallyinmostofscienceifthe
chanceis5%orlesswesayitisstatisticallysignificant.
Ok,sothereisa1.6%chancethatthegroups(individuals)areNOTdifferent,soitlooks
asthoughtheybehaviorsareinfactrepeatable.So.
Howdowecalculatetherepeatabilityr?
r=S2A/(S2+S2A)
WhereS2AisthebetweengroupvarianceandS2isthewithingroupvariance.
TheS2=themeansquarewithin(MSW).ExcelgivestheMSWastheWithinrowMS
column=0.257inthisexample.
S2A=(MSAMSW)/n0
Andnoistheweightedaveragenumberofobservationpergroup(herewehave2
observationsperindividual,sono=2,butyoucouldhavethecasewhereyouhave
differentnumbersofobservationsineachgroup.Inwhichcase:
N0=[1/(a1)]*[SUM(ni)(SUM(ni2)/SUM(ni))
So,inthisexample:
S2=MSW=0.257
S2A=(MSAMSW)/n0=(0.8280.257)/2=0.2855
r=S2A/(S2+S2A)=0.2855/(0.257+0.2855)=0.526

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Thatmeansthatabout52%ofthevariationisduetodifferencesamongindividuals,
whichcanonlyhappenifindividualsareconsistent.Recallthatrrangesfrom0to1,so
anrof0.5isprettyconsistent.GoodStuffMaynard.