5.3 PROGRAM TO ANALYZE THE SIGHTING CARD DATA 



5.3.1 Description of the Program 



The purpose of this program is to use the results of a simple questionnaire to 

 identify marine mammals to species, to determine densities of these species, 

 to determine the relationship, if any, between densities and oil drilling 

 activities, and to compare the results of chance data gathered from sighting 

 cards to data from more conventional methods of estimating marine mammal 

 population densities. 



Figure 5-1 represents the flow of the overall program which accomplishes the 

 above goals. Raw data is read in, new variables are generated, questionnaires 

 are evaluated to determine species of marine mammal observed, counts are 

 tallied, densities calculated, data from an unpublished BLM report are read 

 in, densities from both sources are compared and reports are written. 



5.3.2 Creating the Raw Data to be Read Into the Program 



This section presents information necessary to correctly create data cards for 

 input into the sighting card analysis program. 



Data will be input in standard 80-column record format. Each sighting card 

 will result in two 80-column records. The data will be column dependent. 



This "code book" presents the data format, variable by variable, with column 

 specifications, all possible values for each variable, a definition of each 

 variable, a definition of each value, and, where appropriate, notes on converting 

 multiple responses or incorrect responses to a codeable form. 



The two cards which represent the information from one sighting card must be 

 in sequence. In other words, the final data deck (or data set if on tape or 

 disk) must have the following sequence, card one, card two, card one, card 

 two. . .etc. 



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