Note: Not all situations need to be coded manually. INTERACT offers a range of routines to automatically generate Events based on available data. Read Create Events Automatically for details.
To enter any of your predefined Codes, you can use your mouse to click those Codes in the Coding panel, or you can press the [keys] you assigned to your Codes.
Once INTERACT is in Observation mode, it depends on the Selected Coding Mode how to proceed. A short description of the principle of each Coding mode is listed in this topic.
| TIP: | For easier and more accurate coding, REDUCE the playback SPEED of the video, with the small blue speed control arrows  next to the video controls! |
 | Coding mode: Standard (Ad-hoc) |
▪Position your video at the start of your session.
▪Click on the Code(s) that describe the current situation, to log the current time as the start time of an Event.
Each Code appears as a single Event line in the INTERACT document. This line contains the start time as well as the Code itself.
▪Start the video with the Play 
button in the Multimedia Controls.
▪The moment the observed behavior ends, click on the same Code again, to log the offset of that Event.
The time value from the Timer display on the moment you clicked, is now entered into the current Event and the multimedia file continues playing.
▪Click on any of the available Codes to log the start time of another Event, the moment it starts.
IMPORTANT: If you work with Mutual Exclusive Codes, you only need to log the start of the next behavior, without logging the end time of the previous Event. This makes coding much faster!
| Coding mode:Lexical (Post-hoc) |
Note: Using the SPACEBAR to log the start time and the offset of each Event, saves you from 'looking into the future' and results in a seamless string of Events.
Single, sequential string of Events:
To log the first Event and start the video:
▪Press the SPACEBAR or click on the Start new event button in the Coding panel.
The video starts and the Event appears as a single line in the INTERACT Document, containing only its start time.
To log the end time of that Event:
▪Press the SPACEBAR again or click on the now available Stop current Event button in the Coding panel
The video pauses and the end time is entered. Now you can describe the Event just closed:
▪Click all the Codes that apply, sub-level Codes do appear automatically.
▪For better judgment, press F12 to replay the current Event.
To log the next Event and start the video again:
▪Press the SPACEBAR or click on the Start new event button in the Coding panel.
▪Continue as before.
Multiple, simultaneous strings of Events
To log the first Event and start the video:
▪Click on any of the available Codes in the Coding panel.
The video starts and each first level Code clicked, appears as a single Event line in your INTERACT Document. This Event now contains the start time and the Code you clicked.
To log the end time of an Event:
▪Make sure you click the same Code that was used to create that event!
The video pauses and the end time is entered. Now you can enter all required sub-level Codes that apply to the Event just closed.
To log the next Event and start the video again:
▪Click on any of the available Codes in the Coding panel, if applicable, or click the Play button, if no sequential Event is required.
▪Continue as before.
IMPORTANT: Remember to always close each Event with the same Code or [key] as it was created with!
| Coding mode: Refine Existing Events |
▪Make sure you already do have Events in your document. Either created automatically, following the Create Fixed Intervals instructions, or previously coded Events that need additional Codes.
▪Double-click the first Event or press F12, to play the time interval covered by that Event and watch the video.
▪Click on the corresponding Codes in the Coding panel, which describe the situation just observed (or press the assigned [keys]).
▪Select the next Event and proceed as before.
Note: Codes, that can be applied to the same Event, need to be assigned to different Classes! INTERACT does not create any new Events in this coding mode. All information is entered into the currently selected Event. Lexical chains can be used as well.
| Coding mode: Complex |
▪To label the situation at the start of the video, click on each of the first level subject codes and specify their status with your sub-level Codes.
▪Start the video with the Play button in the Multimedia Controls.
▪The moment the situation changes for a first level code, you click that code and specify the new situation.
This closes the previous Event and automatically creates a new Event for the new situation. This coding method results in multiple, sequential and exhaustive strings of Events.
IMPORTANT: All Events are logged with duration. There is a Code required for every situation. The video does not pause automatically.
| TIP: | Step by step details of the actual logging process using the different coding modes, is available in the corresponding sections: |
oEVENT SAMPLING - Log Behavioral Events
oCoding Mode: Standard (ad hoc)
oCoding Mode: Lexical (post-hoc)
oCoding Mode: Complex
oTIME SAMPLING - Log Codes per Interval