Observer ratings: validity and value as a tool for animal welfare research

摘要: Ratings by human observers have long been used animal scientists and veterinarians to assess certain physical traits (e.g. body fat), can also be applied the assessment of behaviour a variety welfare-relevant variables pain responsiveness, alopecia/barbering). Observer ratings offer myriad advantages, not just practical money-saving) but scientific: they integrate multimodal information across time situations, for constructs that are otherwise very difficult nest quality). Because observer involve subjective judgements, some researchers may question whether trusted reflect reality in an unbiased manner. In this paper, I present evidence from range zoo, laboratory farm studies demonstrating both reliable valid. They shown predict important biological phenomena such as reproductive success rhinoceroses cheetahs. Biases indeed risk, particularly when could on observer's own care animals or their institution; however, risk minimized through careful experimental design, including blinding phrasing questions need answer. review steps involved validating rating scheme, discuss study design issues selecting terms rated appropriate observers) statistical schemes raise ordinal data truly normal).