A measurement of the presence or absence of behavior during time intervals or at specific moments in time; useful with continuous or high-rate behaviors

• A. Time sampling
• B. Temporal extent
• C. Temporal locus
• D. Stimulus response

Answer: (A)

Time sampling measures whether a behavior is present or absent during predefined time blocks or at specific moments, making it especially useful for continuous or high-rate behaviors because it provides usable data without recording every single instance. By recording across intervals, you get the proportion of intervals in which the behavior occurred, which is practical when behaviors happen very often or continuously. This method can be implemented as momentary time sampling, partial interval sampling, or whole interval sampling, each with its own sampling bias but all aimed at simplifying data collection while still capturing the pattern of behavior over time. Temporal extent would focus on how long the behavior lasts, not whether it occurred within each interval. Temporal locus concerns the exact time the behavior starts or ends, rather than its presence across intervals. Stimulus response describes a relation between a stimulus and a response, not a method of sampling behavior over time.