Hm, I apologize for not giving a code, thank you (initially I just wanted to know about the WEIGHT option as opposed to the OFFSET option) !
but no, I don't have a binary variable, just COUNTS of specific behaviours, which I observed multiple times/day (e.g. hourly I count a specific behaviour for a certain time (e.g. for 30 sec ....common methodology in ethology); for feasibility reasons it was not always possible and therefore number of times was not equal across all subjects.
Yes, I sum across multiple observations to get my response variable for the model. (sumhs1 for example)., and I thought about taking the means across multiple observations.
and yes, I used the number of times on which the response variable was based (c_hs1...number of times I counted hs during morning hours(=1) ) as offset term:
model sumhs1= origin period mean_bg1 period*origin / offset= c_hs1 dist=poisson link=log solution;
random farm farm*origin animal(farm*origin) period*farm period*animal(farm*origin);
run;
So, you mean offset=log(c_hs1) ?
I am not sure if I understand your information correctly, that T measures the total "opportunity" for observing the behaviour; actually, it IS the total number of times e.g. some subjects could be observed every hour in the morning (between 8 and 12am; c_hs1=4, some could only be observed between 8 and 9 am, 9 and 10 am, but not between 10 and 11 am ...(c_hs1=2).