Opportunity to encounter

Staff assess a participant's opportunity before interpreting an approach or an absence. They examine available time and room access, check whether another person occupied the position, review handling permission. They also consider visibility, prior information, available assistance.

A visitor may pass the camera because another guest is using it. They may approach a workbench but lack the required host. They may avoid an annotation because the page is difficult to read. These conditions complicate interpretations of an absent action or short dwell.

Researchers retain opportunity while examining apparent absences and repeated behavior. They can offer another occasion under changed conditions, then compare participant accounts. Spatial design, self-report, longitudinal inquiry provide additional evidence. Opportunity is therefore part of the proposed account before interpreting a pattern as a preference.