Chapter 10 - Planning & Evaluating ABA Research Flashcards
add-in component analysis
A method for conducting a component analysis in which components are assessed individually or in combination before the complete treatment package is presented. The add-in method can identify sufficient components. Sequence and floor or ceiling effects may mask the effects of components added in toward the end of the analysis.
component analysis
Any experiment designed to identify the active elements of a treatment condition, the relative contributions of different variables in a treatment package, and/or the necessary and sufficient components of an intervention. Component analyses take many forms, but the basic strategy is to compare levels of responding across successive phases in which the intervention is implemented with one or more components left out.
direct replication
An experiment in which the researcher attemtps to duplicate exactly the conditions of an earlier experiment.
double-blind control
A procedure that prevents the subject and the experimenter(s) from detecting the presence or absence of the treatment variable; used to eliminate confounding of results by subject expectations, parent and teacher expectations, differential treatment by others, and observer bias.
drop-out component analysis
A method for conducting a component analysis in which the investigator presents the treatment package and then systematically removes components. If the treatment’s effectiveness wanes when a component is removed, the researcher has identified a necessary component.
placebo control
A procedure that prevents a subject from detecting the presence or absence of the treatment variable. To the subject, the placebo condition appears the same as the treatment condition (e.g. a placebo pill contains and inert substance but looks, feels, and tastes exactly like a pill that contains the treatment drug).
procedural fidelity
The extent to which procedures in all phases and conditions of an experiment, including baseline, are implemented correctly.
systematic replication
An experiment in which the researcher purposefully varies one or more aspects of an earlier experiment. A systematic replication that reproduces the results of previous research not only demonstrates the reliability of the earlier findings but also adds to the external validity of the earlier findings by showing that the same effect can be obtained under different conditions.
treatment drift
An undesirable situation in which the independent variable of an experiment is applied differently during later stages than it was at the outset of the study.
treatment integrity
The extent to which the independent variable is applied exactly as planned and described and no other unplanned variables are administered inadvertently along with the planned treatment.
treatment package
A behavioral intervention consisting of multiple components
Type I error
An error that occurs when a researcher concludes that the IV had an effect on the DV when no such relation exists; a false positive
Type II error
An error that occurs when a researcher concludes that the IV had no effect on the DV hen in truth it did; a false negative
