Hi,

I am a complete novice with Filemaker, so please forgive me for asking a question that is probably very simple to answer.

I am trying to set up a database for a research project. Basically, we will be entering a record for each time a behavior of an animal is observed. There will be several hundred animals, for each of which there will be many observation sessions. In one observation session, there could be 200 total occurences, each of which could be one of a 10 different behaviors. My inclination was to have one record for each individual tied to records for each observation session, in which I would define several repeating fields (time, behavior, etc). But I have since learned that repeating fields are a kind of temporary storage and so I'm at a loss as to what I should do. Do I need to create 200 invididual fields for "time" and 200 for "behavior", or is there an easier way?

...Do I need to create 200 invididual fields for "time" and 200 for "behavior...?

No, just a related table !

How about having an Observation table that would store the Dtae, Observer, Animal etc. and a seperate table for the behaviors observed for that session. See if the attached example helps you out.

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MyDB.zip

Thanks to both of you! This is exactly what I'm looking for.

And thanks for the example. The behavior options were great.