ABA Lesson 16, 17, 18

Question 1

Partial Interval Recording

Answer 1

Method of discontinuous data collection in which behavior is marked as occurring or not occurring at any point during the interval, regardless of duration or frequency.
- So more specifically, when you are collecting partial interval recording, you will begin with a data sheet that has structured your observation time into subsegments.

Question 2

Use Partial Interval Recording if

Answer 2

The behavior has to occur frequently enough to collect samples that are sensitive to change during the designated time period.
e.g. if you’re collecting partial interval recording data for 15 minutes, then the behavior needs to be occurring at least once every 15 minutes.
- it is better to overestimate the behavior that we’re trying to get rid of than to underestimate it

Question 3

Whole Interval Recording

Answer 3

Method of discontinuous data collection in which the interval is marked if the behavior occurs throughout the interval.

Question 4

Use Whole Interval Recording if

Answer 4

The behavior has to occur frequently enough to collect samples that are sensitive to change during the designated time period.
- What is different between partial interval and whole interval is that with whole interval, you’re actually going to be giving an underestimate of how often the behavior occurs. So it will be used in situations where that is preferable than an overestimate.
- you’re more likely to use whole interval for replacement behavior or skill building goals.

Question 5

Momentary Time Sampling

Answer 5

Method of discontinuous data collection in which the interval is marked if the behavior occurs at a designated point within the interval (usually the beginning of the interval).

Question 6

Use Momentary Time Sampling if

Answer 6

The behavior has to occur frequently enough to collect samples that are sensitive to change during the designated time period.
- it’s going to be sensitive to what it being picked up at the time that you’re making observations. And it is going to underestimate the occurrence of the behavior because we are only interested in having the behavior occur at a particular moment in time, which means it’s going to be harder to pick that up.
- if the behavior occurred one nanosecond prior to the time that you’re supposed to assess it, it doesn’t get counted.

Question 7

Planned Activity Check

Answer 7

Discontinuous data collection method which applies momentary time sampling methodology to groups. The number of people engaged in the target behavior at the designated time is recorded.

Question 8

Use Planned Activity Check If

Answer 8

it is appropriate for assessing the usefulness of group interventions, classroom routines, or workplace systems designed to improve overall productivity.
- ensure the behavior being assessed is practical for this type of scanning
- ensure the purpose of the data collection is to look at the group as a whole

Question 9

Permanent Product Recording
(Les 17)

Answer 9

indirect method of assessing behavior by recording the outcome of a behavior instead of the behavior itself.
e.g. we tell them to go clean their room and we go away. Then we come back and check the room afterwards. If this was a part of an ABA functional skills curriculum task, then what we could is to snap a picture and have some sort of scoring guide.

Question 10

Limitations of Permanent Product Recording

Answer 10

• indirect measure
• can’t assess antecedents to errors, so it’s hard to design an intervention to repair the errors.
• no proof the product was produced by your client
• difficulties measuring improvement unless we really put a lot of front-end work on that

Question 11

Trials to Criterion

Answer 11

A count of the number of trials required to achieve a predetermined level of performance.

Question 12

Uses of Trials to Criterion

Answer 12

• Discrete Trial Training
  e.g. you may be just marking plus or minus for every trial. And then at the end of the session, you may be determining how many total pluses and see how many times they had to try in order to meet the definition of mastery, either for that session or for the whole goal.
• Dichotomous Right/Wrong Responses
• Generalization Training also used frequently, knowing that the person has already mastered and maintained the skill in sessions
• Behavioral Cusps, which is a behavior that, once it is learned, a whole new world of contingencies opens for the person and new experiences open through the reinforcement that allows them to engage in new behaviors without direct training.
  e.g. reinforcement from peers

Question 13

Least Effective Prompt Data Collection

Answer 13

• Used with Least-to-Most Prompting Procedures
• Can be used with discrete tasks or chained tasks
• Indicates the learner’s response to each prompt OR
• Indicates the prompt required to elicit the correct response
  Where it says level one, level two, level three, level four, your BCBA would have indicated which type of prompt is to be used at each level.
  e.g. level one might be independent, level two gestural, level 3 Modeling and level 4 verbal. Something like that to show the hierarchical nature, we are increasing our type of prompt as we proceed through the levels. As you went through each trial, you would indicate plus or minus whether the person gave the correct response at that level of prompt.

Question 14

Treatment Integrity Check. What are the methods of treatment integrity?

Answer 14

Data collection focused on the degree to which program components are implemented correctly.
The methods are: Self-Report, Permanent Product Review,
Interview with Feedback, Direct Observation

Question 15

Data Level (Les 18)

Answer 15

The point on the y-axis around which the data converge.

Question 16

Variability

Answer 16

The degree to which data points diverge from the line of best fit on a graph. High variability indicates poor control over behavior.

Question 17

Data Trend

Answer 17

The overall direction of the data. There are 3 descriptors for trend: increasing, decreasing and zero trends.

Question 18

Inappropriate Graph Manipulation Techniques

Answer 18

1) Cropping the y-axis
2) Cropping the x-axis
3) Resizing the Graph
4) Adding text
5) Manipulating Visual Effects

Question 19

Rules for Behavior Analytic Graphing

Answer 19

1) keep your graphs to one of these ratios 2 inches by 3 inches, 3 inches by 4 inches or 5 inches by 8 inches.
And that’s height to width.
2) keep a constant y-axis. Generally, you should start from 0 or the minimum possible score. Sometimes you might have an outlier value - just maybe somebody had an extraordinary day and it’s not likely to recur, something odd happened, like a tornado. You can just plot it at the top of the chart and change the marker type so that it’s noted to be different and then put a label on it stating what the actual value of that is.
3) next, we have a constant X-axis and again, we’re going to start at 0. If you need to have a break in time because the person was sick or missed sessions, you can put 2 forward slashes on the line itself to show that there is missing data.
4) Follow the annotation rules
No title on the top of the graph - can caption below the graph.
If you’re determined to have a title, then just make sure you add it in excel as a text box into the plot area, and that will keep that from compressing your y axis.
When adding explanatory text to a graph, where should it go? - inside the plot area.
Keep in mind that anything that is placed inside your graph but outside the plot area changes the shape of your graph unless it is directly below the X-axis or placed inside the field itself as a text box.
5) Keep it free of visual effects.
ABA graphs are black and white
Condition change lines - solid for major changes; dashed for minor changes; asterisk for very small or temporary changes
Keep fonts and styles consistent