Known fate data--how ragged is too ragged?

[jbruggin]

We used telemetry to monitor woodcock in multiple sites and had staggered entry (daily) during part of the period of interest. We monitored the birds daily except when the crews took a day off (try as I might to talk them out of it) or when vehicle breakdowns or other problems resulted in lost field days. Thus, we have fairly complete daily encounter histories for the ~2 month field seasons except for these awkward days (e.g. days off) when the number of individuals encountered drops to zero for a given site. Is there a way to deal with this or should we start reformatting for the nest survival data type now? Thanks.

John

[gwhite]

John:
Sounds like an easy way to handle those periods is to specify a 2-day interval for the length of the period instead of the usual 1-day default interval.
Gary

[jbruggin]

Gary,

Thanks. Just to make sure I am clear on this, would we need to use the 2-day interval throughout the period of interest or just where we have the gaps (i.e., is it legit to mix interval lengths if we are consistent among sites?).

John

[gwhite]

John:
You would just use the 2-day interval where there are gaps.

Gary