Ch. 3

Question 1

experimental designs

Answer 1

turn IV ON and OFF, identify functional variables to help positively influence behavior

Question 2

2 kinds of exp. designs

Answer 2

1) group
-evaluate if behavior of treatment group is statically significant from that of control group
–difference is attributed to IV

2) single-subject
-expose individual to baseline and experimental phases to determine if IV systematically and reliably changes behavior

Question 3

4 group design weaknesses

Answer 3

1) when IV is a therapeutic intervention, no one wants to be assigned to control group

2) not studying behavior of individual

3) behavior of treatment and control groups will differ simply because the people assigned to 2 groups are different

4) reliance on inferential statistics to evaluate if IV changed behavior

Question 4

internal validity

Answer 4

experiment gives evidence that a functional relation exists between the IV and behavior change

Question 5

confounds

Answer 5

variables that influence behavior within an experiment, but not controlled by researcher

Question 6

4 single-subject designs

Answer 6

1) comparison (A-B)
2) reversal (A-B-A-B)
3) alternating treatments
4) multiple-baseline

Question 7

comparison (A-B) design

Answer 7

aka quasi-experimental design, quasi because a well-designed experiment rules out confounds

-arranges baseline (A) phase and experimental (B) phase

-can’t rule out confounds, if confound is responsible, turning OFF the intervention will not have influence

Question 8

stable

Answer 8

over repeated observations, there is little “bounce” (variability in behavior from one session to the next) and no systematic trend in behavior

Question 9

reversal (A-B-A) design

Answer 9

-behavior is evaluated in repeatedly alternating baseline (A) and experimental (B) phases

-turning on and off and back ON the intervention allows us to replicate the intervention effect with the one person

-data not averaged

Question 10

alternating treatments design

Answer 10

independent variable(s) is turned ON and OFF rapidly to evaluate if this systematically and repeatedly changes behavior

-2+ phases rapidly alternated in random order

-commonly used when trying to understand why problem behavior occurs

-establishes internal validity by repeatedly turning ON and OFF the IV and evaluating if this systematically and repeatedly changes behavior

Question 11

reversal and alternating treatments designs establish internal validity by?

Answer 11

a) show that behavior is systematically and repeatedly changed when the IV is turned ON and OFF
-impossible if IV produces lasting effect that can’t be reversed when intervention is turned OFF

b) rule out confounds that are correlated w/ IV

-if a) and b) do not apply, use multiple-baseline design

Question 12

standard deviation (SD)

Answer 12

average diff. between each data point and average of all data points in a condition

Question 13

multiple-baseline design

Answer 13

evaluates functional relation between IV and behavior by a series of time-staggered A-B comparisons either across behaviors, situations, or people

used when intervention is expected to produce an irreversible effect, or it would be unethical to remove an effective intervention for an extended period of time

-series of A-B comparisons conducted at time lags across various behaviors, people, or settings

Question 14

multiple-baseline across-behaviors design

Answer 14

time-staggered A-B replications are conducted across behaviors

Question 15

multiple-baseline across-situations design

Answer 15

time-staggered A-B replications are demonstrated across situations

Question 16

multiple-baseline across-participants design

Answer 16

time-staggered A-B replications are demonstrated across participants

Question 17

4 features of single-subject designs

Answer 17

1) focus on behavior of individual
2) individual receives intervention
-make single-subjects useful for clinical behavior analysts who work with 1 patient at a time

3) behavior is repeatedly measured in each phase until we predict what’ll happen if nothing changes
4) evaluate internal validity by investigating if IV produces systematic and replicable effects on behavior

Question 18

3 kinds of replications built into single-subject exp. designs

Answer 18

1) within-individual
-behavior of person is repeatedly observed after IV is turned ON

2) across-individual replication
-evaluate if effects of an IV can systematically and reliably influence behavior of 1+ individual

3) replication across labs or clinics

Question 19

inferential statistics

Answer 19

used to decide if behavior changed when the IV was manipulated

-require big # of participants, not designed for time-series data like those graphed

Question 19

approaches to address replication crisis

Answer 19

1) transparency to precent scientists from using “objective decision rules” that gives them the result they want

-ask researchers to publish in advance how they’ll conduct experiment and how they’ll analyze their data

2) visual analysis of behavior
-looking at graph of time-series single-subject behavior to evaluate if convincing change occurred when IV was introduced or removed

Question 20

2 advantages of visual analysis over inferential statistics

Answer 20

1) requires that behavior analyst develop methods for producing big changes in behavior

2) recognizes subjectivity of scientific enterprise
-doesn’t attempt to hide behind “objective decision-rules” that are used by those prone to errors, biases, and prejudices

Question 21

question to answer when conducting visual analysis

Answer 21

did behavior change when IV changed?

Question 22

2 ways in which behavior can change from no-intervention baseline

Answer 22

1) trend
-systematic change in behavior over time

2) level
-prevalence of behavior during stable portion of phase or condition

Question 23

least-squares linear regression

Answer 23

predicts what’ll happen to behavior in the future if nothing is changed

-extends arrow to right, beyond baseline, into future sessions

Question 24

3 steps to guide visual analysis

Answer 24

1) draw trend arrow through baseline data to predict what’ll happen if IV isn’t turned on

2) evaluate if behavior in baseline is too variably (bouncy) to have confidence in prediction of trend arrow

3) draw trend or level lines through intervention data
-evaluate if there is a convincing change in trend or level (whichever change is of interest)

Question 25

stimulation modeling analysis

Answer 25

made for single-subject time-series data and can be conducted w/ freely available software

-tests for changes in trend and level as supplement for visual analysis