Chapter 3

Question 1

Define behavioral assessment.

Answer 1

Behavioral assessment involves the collection and analysis of information and data in order to

(a) identify and describe target behavior;
(b) identify possible causes of the behavior;
(c) select appropriate treatment strategies to modify the behavior; and
(d) evaluate treatment outcome.

Question 2

List the five phases of a behavior modification program.

Answer 2

A successful behavior modification program typically involves five phases during which the target behavior is identified, defined, and recorded:

(a) a screening or intake phase;
(b) a defining-the-target-behavior phase;
(c) a pre-program or baseline-assessment phase;
(d) a treatment phase; and
(e) a follow-up phase.

Question 3

What are the five functions of the intake phase of a behavior modification program?

Answer 3

1. One function of the screening phase is to determine whether a particular agency or behavior modifier is the APPROPRIATE one to deal with a potential client’s behavior.
2. A second function is to INFORM the CLIENT about the agency’s or practitioner’s POLICIES and procedures for the services provided.
3. A third function is to SCREEN for a crisis condition, such as child abuse or suicide risk, that might require immediate intervention.
4. A fourth function, in some cases, is to gather sufficient information to DIAGNOSE the client according to the standardized categories of mental disorder, such as those listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. As indicated in Note 1 of Chapter 1, clinics, hospitals, schools, and other agencies might require such diagnoses before treatment can be offered, and health insurance companies often require them before treatment can be paid for.
5. A fifth function of the screening phase is to provide initial information about which behavior(s) should be ACCESSED. To achieve this initial assessment, applied behavior analysts and behavior therapists use all of the above information plus other information—teachers’ reports, various traditional test results, and other assessment devices—to aid in pinpointing specific target behaviors to address.

Question 4

*What does the term target behavior mean? What were the target behaviors in Darren’s case?

Answer 4

A target behavior is a behavior to be improved in a behavior modification program. In Darren’s case, the target behaviors were increasing his cooperative behavior and decreasing his commanding behavior.

Question 5

*What two things typically occur during the baseline phase of a behavior modification program?

Answer 5

To determine the level of the target behavior prior to treatment, and to try to identify possible controlling variables of the target behavior.

Question 6

*In what types of settings are the terms training program and intervention strategy or therapy program typically used?

Answer 6

The term training program is typically used in an educational setting. The terms therapy program and intervention strategy are typically used in community or clinical settings.

Question 7

What is the purpose of the follow-up phase of a behavior modification program?

Answer 7

Finally, a follow-up phase is conducted to determine whether the improvements achieved during treatment are maintained after the program’s termination. When feasible, this will consist of observations in the natural environment—i.e., the home—or under circumstances in which the behavior is expected to occur.

Question 8

*What is prerequisite to the design and implementation of a behavior modification program?

Answer 8

Defining target behaviors clearly, completely, and in measurable terms.

Question 9

Briefly distinguish between direct and indirect assessment procedures.

Answer 9

Applied behavior analysts and behavior therapists regard thoughts and feelings as covert behaviors. For such target behaviors, applied behavior analysts and behavior therapists make use of indirect assessment procedures—assessments for which the behavior modifier or a trained observer does not directly observe the target behavior in the situation in which the behavior occurs. Direct assessment procedures are assessments in which the behavior modifier or a trained observer directly observes and records the target behaviors in the actual settings in which the behavior occurs.

Question 10

*Describe two circumstances that might lead to the use of indirect assessment procedures.

Answer 10

Indirect assessment procedures are likely to be used if it is impractical or you to observe clients regularly in the situations in which the target behaviors occur, or if your clients want to change some of their thoughts and feelings that are difficult to observe.

Question 11

Briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of indirect assessment procedures.

Answer 11

Indirect assessment procedures have the advantages of being convenient, not requiring an inordinate amount of time, and potentially providing information about covert behaviors.

However, they suffer from the disadvantages that those providing information might not remember relevant observations accurately or have biases that would influence them to provide inaccurate data.

Question 12

List the five main types of indirect assessment procedures.

Answer 12

The most common of these indirect procedures are interviews with the client and his or her significant others, questionnaires, role-playing, and client self-monitoring.

Question 13

*List and describe briefly four types of questionnaires used in behavioral assessments.

Answer 13

Life history questionnaires, problem checklists, survey schedules, and third-party rating scales. These are briefly described in the section on indirect assessment.

Question 14

Briefly describe the main advantage and the three disadvantages of direct assessment procedures.

Answer 14

The main advantage of direct assessment procedures is that they are more accurate than indirect assessment procedures, which is the main reason that applied behavior analysts prefer to use direct assessment procedures whenever possible.

Disadvantages of direct assessment procedures are that they are time consuming, require that observers be appropriately trained, and cannot be used to monitor covert behaviors.

Question 15

What does the topography of a behavior mean? Describe an example that is not in this chapter.

Answer 15

The topography of a response is the specific movements involved in making the response. For example, Stokes, Luiselli, and Reed (2010) analyzed the movements of effective tackling in high school football as 10 distinct components (e.g., head up, wrap arms around ball carrier’s thighs, etc.).

Picture prompts are sometimes useful for helping observers to identify variations in the topography of a response. One of the authors developed detailed checklists with picture prompts for evaluating swimming strokes of young competitive swimmers. See Figure 3.2 for the backstroke checklist.

Question 16

What does the frequency of behavior mean? Describe an example that is not in this chapter.

Answer 16

Frequency or rate of behavior refers to the number of instances of a behavior that occur in a given period of time. If you want to improve the practice performance of figure skaters, you might examine the frequency with which the skater performed various jumps and spins. at was the approach taken by Michelle Hume, a figure skating coach at St. Anne’s Figure Skating Club in Manitoba (Hume, Martin, Gonzales, Cracklen, & Genthon, 1985). Coach Hume first defined jumps and spins in such a way that student observers could decide when either of those responses occurred. A jump was defined as any occasion when a skater jumped in the air so that both skates le the ice, a minimum of one complete revolution occurred in the air, and the skater landed on one foot, facing in the opposite direction without falling. A spin was defined as spinning on one skate for a minimum of three revolutions while maintaining a balanced, stationary position. When the observers knew what behaviors to look for, Coach Hume’s next step was to take a baseline of the number of jumps and spins each individual skater performed during several practices. e observers used the data sheet shown in Figure 3.3.

Question 17

*What was plotted on the vertical axis and the horizontal axis of the frequency graph of a figure skater?

Answer 17

Vertical axis – number of elements (jumps and spins) attempted.

Horizontal axis – sessions.

Question 18

What are two common measures of the amount of behavior?

Answer 18

While frequency or rate is the most common measure of the amount of a given behavior, another common measure is its duration.

Question 19

What do we mean by the duration of a behavior? Give and explain an example in which duration might be more appropriate than frequency.

Answer 19

The duration of behavior is the length of time from the beginning to the end of an episode of behavior. In dealing with a behavior such as a tantrum, you may be more concerned with its duration than with its frequency. In fact, frequency can be ambiguous when trying to apply it to something like temper tantrums (Pear, 2004). What should be counted as a separate response? Each cry, scream, or kick on the floor? Or should we count each episode of a tantrum as a separate response? Because it is usually difficult to answer these questions, we can generally avoid them by focusing on the duration of the behavior. Other examples of behavior for which duration may be more appropriate than frequency are listening attentively, sitting in one’s seat in a classroom, watching television, talking on the telephone, and taking a break. Duration of behavior is measured using timers, stopwatches, or clocks.

Question 20

What is another word for the intensity of a response? Describe an example in which it would be important to measure the intensity of behavior.

Answer 20

Sometimes we are concerned with measuring the intensity, magnitude, or force of a response. Assessments of intensity often utilize instrumentation. For example, when voice loudness is the behavior of concern, decibel level can be measured by a device called a voice meter. To measure the strength of grip pressure—such as during a handshake—a device called a dynamometer can be used. Measures of force are common in the skills involved in various sports. For example, devices are available that assess the speed at which a pitcher can throw a baseball, a hockey player can shoot a puck, or a tennis player can perform a serve (e.g., Robinson & Robinson, 2016). e speed of an object as determined by such devices is used to deduce the force with which it was propelled.

Question 21

*Define stimulus control. Give an example of it that is not in this chapter.

Answer 21

Stimulus control refers to the degree of correlation between the occurrence of a stimulus and the occurrence of a response. For example, there is typically good stimulus control between a traffic light turning red and the cars stopping at the intersection.

Question 22

What do we mean by the latency of a response? Describe an example that is not in this chapter.

Answer 22

The latency of a behavior, o en called reaction time, is the time between the occurrence of a particular event or cue and the start of that behavior. For example, suppose a child in a classroom works effectively once started, but seems to fool around forever before starting. is child has a long latency getting started. Like duration, latency is assessed using timers, stopwatches, or clocks.

Question 23

Using an example, explain how the quality of a behavior is a refinement of one or more of the other dimensions of behavior.

Answer 23

Concern about the quality of a behavior is frequently encountered in everyday life. Teachers might describe the quality of a child’s handwriting as good, average, or poor. In judgmental sports—i.e., sports in which human judgement regard- ing the occurrence of the desired response is required—such as specific dives off a diving board, gymnastic movements, and figure skating jumps, athletes receive points based on the quality of their performances. We all make resolutions to do various activities “better.” But quality is not a characteristic additional to those mentioned previously. Rather, it is a refinement of one or more of them. Sometimes differences in judgments of quality are based on topography, as when a figure skating jump that is landed on one foot is considered better than one that lands on two feet. Sometimes it is a combination of frequency and stimulus control. For example, someone who is considered a good student is likely to show a high frequency of studying and answering test questions correctly. A child who is said to be “good” shows a high frequency of following instructions from parents and teachers. In terms of latency, a runner who leaves the blocks very quickly a er the firing of the starter’s pistol might be considered to have a “good” start, while a runner who shows a lon- ger latency had a “poor” start. us, quality of response is essentially an arbitrary—and o en subjective—designation of one or more of the previously mentioned characteristics of behavior that has functional or social value. An important aim of behavior analysis is to make measures of behavior more objective, as the effectiveness of behavior modification procedures depends critically on the precise specification of the behavior to be treated.

Question 24

Define continuous recording. Describe an example that is not in this chapter.

Answer 24

Continuous or event-frequency recording is the recording of every instance of a behavior during a designated observation period. A continuous recording system is commonly used when successive responses are quite similar in duration, such as the number of cigarettes smoked, instances of a child pinching another child, or frequency of saying “you know.” But what if successive responses are of variable duration, such as time spent being on social media or exhibiting off-task behavior in a classroom? In such cases, interval recording is commonly used.

Question 25

*Define interval recording. Distinguish between partial-interval recording and whole-interval recording.

Answer 25

With interval recording the behavior is recorded as either occurring or not occurring during short intervals of equal duration during the specified observation period.

With partial interval recording, the target behavior is recorded a maximum of once per interval regardless of how many times the behavior occurs during each interval and regardless of the duration of the behavior.

With whole interval recording the target behavior is recorded as occurring during an interval only if it persists throughout the entire interval.

Question 26

*When would one likely select to use continuous recording?

Answer 26

A continuous recording system is commonly used when successive response are quite similar in duration.

Question 27

When would one likely select an interval recording system over continuous recording?

Answer 27

But what if successive responses are of variable duration, such as time spent being on social media or exhibiting off-task behavior in a classroom? In such cases, interval recording is commonly used.

Question 28

Define time-sampling recording. Describe an example that is not in this chapter.

Answer 28

Time-sampling recording scores a behavior as occurring or not occurring during very brief observation intervals that are separated from each other by a much longer period of time. For example, a parent of a preschool child might be concerned about the frequency of the child’s self-stimulation behavior, like rocking back and forth while sitting.

Question 29

Briefly describe momentary time-sampling recording.

Answer 29

A special case of time sampling is referred to as momentary time sampling, in which a behavior is recorded as occurring or not occurring at specific points in time, such as every hour on the hour rather than during specific brief intervals.

Question 30

Describe three relatively simple methods for recording behavior.

Answer 30

One simple method of frequency recording is to transfer a small item such as bean from one pocket to another each time the behavior occurs and then count the number of these items that end up in the second pocket at the end of the session. Another simple but slightly more expensive method is to use a golf counter. With these counters, you can count up to 99 simply by pressing a button for each instance of the behavior. Another method is to use a hand-held calculator and press +1 each time the behavior occurs.

Question 31

Describe an example of how technology can be used to automatically record a behavior.

Answer 31

For those interested in hi-tech applications, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, with appropriate apps (i.e., so ware applications) downloaded from an online site, such as Apple Store or Google Play, or custom-made, can be used to record or assist in recording a number of different behaviors. ese devices can record (a) more than one behavior, (b) the behavior of more than one individual, (c) the times of each instance of the behavior(s), and the location of each instance of the behavior(s). Wearable activity trackers that operate on their own or can transfer data to smartphones have been developed to automatically record physical activity, such as number of steps walked. Mobile phone apps have been developed for self-recording dietary intake by individuals desiring to lose weight, for self-monitoring blood glucose levels by individuals with diabetes, for self-monitoring other physiological activity such as brain waves, cardiovascular function, and breathing for individuals suffering from difficult-to-manage stress, and for self-recording adherence to medical prescriptions.

Question 32

Describe five categories of error that can affect the accuracy of observations.

Answer 32

Hawkins and Dotson (1975) identified three categories of error that can affect the accuracy of observations.

First, the response definition might be vague, subjective, or incomplete, so that the observer has problems making accurate observations.
Second, the observational situation might be such that an observer has difficulty detecting the behavior because of distractions or other obstructions to the observing process or because the behavior is too subtle or complex to be observed accurately in that situation.
Third, the observer might be poorly trained, unmotivated, or biased. Two other possible categories of error are poorly designed data sheets and cumbersome recording procedures.

Question 33

List and briefly describe five sources of bias and artifact that can influence an observer.

Answer 33

Five sources of bias and artifact that can influence an observer include: reactivity, observer drift, observer expectancy, feedback, and complexity of the observations. The details of each are described under “Assessments of the Accuracy of Observations.”

Question 34

In a sentence or two, explain what we mean by interobserver agreement. (Describe the process, but don’t give the procedures for calculating IOA.)

Answer 34

Because any one or combination of the above categories and sources of error might be present in any behavior modification project, behavior modifiers frequently conduct interobserver agreement or IOA estimates (also called interobserver reliability or IOR estimates). Two independent observers might record observations of the same behavior of the same individual during a given session. e observers are careful not to influence or signal each other while they are recording. e question is, given their best efforts while using the available behavior definitions and recording procedures and considering their training, how closely will their scores compare? Several IOA procedures can evaluate this, but two are more commonly used than the others.

Question 35

Using the procedure described in the text for computing IOAs with partial-interval data, compute an IOA for the data of vocalizing as recorded by observers 1 and 2 (Figure 3.6). Show all of your computations.

Answer 35

To illustrate one common IOA procedure, we return to the example of the observer recording the number of elements—jumps plus spins—of figure skaters. Suppose that a second observer stands on the opposite side of the ice rink from the first observer. e second observer is familiar with the definitions of jumps and spins and uses a data-recording sheet identical to that used by the first observer. At the end of the session, the first observer recorded 20 elements and the second observer recorded 22 elements. is is converted to an IOA by dividing the smaller num- ber by the larger number and multiplying by 100%: IOA equals 20 divided by 22 times 100% equals 91%. is IOA score means that the two observers agreed quite closely on the total number of elements. It does not mean that they agreed on 20 specific elements; the second observer counted 2 extra. It is quite possible that one observer recorded an element that the second observer missed or could not observe from where the observer stood. e second observer could then have counted an element that the first observer missed or could not see. is could have gone on through- out the session, in which case the two observers would have disagreed completely on specific individual responses. Nevertheless, their close agreement on the total gives us confidence that the actual total was close to the number that each observer tallied despite the possible disagreements on individual cases.

Question 36

*Distinguish between a frequency ratio index (or total accuracy agreement) and point-by-point agreement.

Answer 36

The frequency ratio index (or total agreement index) is a measure of how close two observers agree on the total number of instances of a response of an individual. Point-by-point agreement is a measure of the extent to which two observers agree on each instance of a response of an individual.

Question 37

*What is an acceptable IOA in a behavior modification program?

Answer 37

An IOA score between 80% and 100%.

Question 38

What is procedural reliability or treatment integrity? What is an acceptable level of procedural reliability in a behaviour modification program?

Answer 38

Two terms for the extent to which the treatment provided is in fact the intended treatment are treatment integrity and procedural reliability— we use the latter term in this book. Similar to the manner in which an IOA is assessed, procedural reliability is assessed by having two or more trained individuals observe the treatment while it is being carried out or on a video recording. e observer(s) record instances in which the components of the procedures are carried out correctly and instances in which the components are not carried out correctly. Procedural reliability is assessed as a percentage of instances the components were carried out correctly relative to the instances the components were carried out correctly plus the instances the com- ponents were carried out incorrectly. It is generally desirable for procedural reliability scores to be at least 95%, since it is difficult to draw valid conclusions about the effectiveness of a procedure that is not carried out accurately. Moreover, if the intended treatment has been judiciously selected by a well-qualified behavior modifier as it should have been, not providing it as intended will result in a less effective or possibly even harmful treatment.

Question 39

Give six reasons for collecting accurate data during an assessment or baseline phase and throughout a program.

Answer 39

One reason is that, as indicated at the beginning of this chapter, an accurate behavioral pre-program assessment helps the behavior modifier to decide whether he or she is the appropriate one to design a treatment program. A second reason is that an accurate baseline will sometimes indicate that what someone thought to be a problem is actually not one. A third reason is that data collected during the baseline phase often helps the behavior modifier identify both the causes of a behavior and the best treatment strategy, as discussed in subsequent chapters. A fourth reason for collecting accurate data throughout a program is that it provides a means for clearly deter- mining whether the program is producing the desired change in behavior. A fifth reason for accurately recording behavior is that publicly posted results—preferably in the form of a graph or a chart—can prompt and reward behavior modifiers for carrying out a program. A final reason for recording data is that the displayed data might lead to improvements by the learner separately from any further treatment program.

Question 40

*What error does the case of the boy who went around pinching adults exemplify? Explain how accurately recorded data counteracted this error.

Answer 40

Assuming that a procedure is working, when in fact it is not. Harris et al. used the data collected to convince the teachers that the level of pinching during the initial program that was at the same level as during baseline.

Question 41

What does reactivity mean in behavioral assessment? Illustrate with an example not given in the chapter.

Answer 41

This is an example of a phenomenon known as reactivity , which was also described above with regard to accuracy of observations. When people know that their behavior is being observed either by others or by self-recording, their observed behaviors often improve. For example, students who graph their own study behavior by daily recording the number of paragraphs or pages studied or the amount of time spent studying might find increases in the graph to be rewarding.

Question 42

Briefly describe the details of the clever graphing system devised for the child who got the rabbit to the carrot patch.

Answer 42

A chart was prepared showing a picture of a rabbit moving toward a carrot patch. With days depicted across the bottom and the amount of time spent in the cloak room up the side of the chart, decreases in time spent in the cloak room by the child was signified by moving the rabbit down the green grass on the chart toward the carrot patch at the bottom.

Question 43

Briefly describe how Ernest Hemingway and Irving Wallace used self-recording to help them maintain their writing behaviour.

Answer 43

Each of the authors kept daily records of the number of pages written when working on books. Trollope and Hemmingway also kept track of the number of words written daily. While Trollope recorded his output in a diary, Hemmingway and Wallace maintained charts of their output. In all three cases, their daily self-recordings helped to maintain their work output at what they considered to be reasonable levels.