DESCRIBED AND EXEMPLIFIED IS A CODING SYSTEM FOR TRANSLATING ON-GOING BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS INTO A NUMERICAL LANGUAGE, THUS PERMITTING THE DATA TO BE SUMMARIZED AND ANALYZED BY COMPUTER. APPROACH IS BASED ON OBSERVATION. THE OBSERVER, WHO BECOMES PART OF THE ENVIRONMENT, REPORTS INTO A TAPE RECORDER THE RESPONSES OF THE MAIN FIGURE BEING OBSERVED. THE REPORT MUST CONTAIN FOUR COMPONENTS WHICH ARE THE SUBJECT (WHO OR WHAT DOES THE ACT), THE PREDICATE (WHAT IS DONE), THE OBJECT (TOWARD WHOM OR WHAT THE ACT IS DIRECTED), AND ANY NECESSARY SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION (QUALIFIERS OF THE ACTION). THESE COMPONENTS ARE TRANSLATED ACCORDING TO THE CODING SYSTEM INTO THE NUMERICAL LANGUAGE. A CHART SUMMARIZES THE MAJOR APPROACH BEHAVIOR CATEGORIES AND NUMBERS ASSIGNED TO THEM. (EF)