Chapter 4 Measurement Flashcards
_____________- is how scientists operationalize empiricism
Measurement
The act or process of applying quantitative or qualitative labels to events, phenomena, or observed properties using a standard set of consensus-based rules.
Measurement
Three fundamental properties A.K.A
Three-dimensional quantities
Refers to the fact that a behavior can occur repeatedly through time (i.e., behavior can be counted); (e.g. count, rate/frequency, celeration).
Repeatability
Refers to the fact that every instance of behavior occurs during some amount of time
(e.g. duration).
Temporal Extent
Refers to the fact that every instance of behavior occurs at a certain point in time with respect to other events (i.e., when in time behavior occurs can be measured)
(e.g. response latency, interresponse time).
Temporal Locus
A simple tally of the number of occurrences of a behavior
Count
The number of responses per unit of time.
Rate/Frequency
Behaviors that have a discrete beginning and ending points, require minimal displacement of the organism in time and space, can be emitted at nearly any time, do not require much time for completion, and can be emitted over a wide range of response rates.
Free operant
Any operant whose response rate is controlled by a given opportunity to emit the response.
(aka restricted operant, and controlled operant)
Discrete Trial
A measure of how rates of response change over time.
Rate of response accelerates when a participant responds faster over successive counting periods and decelerates when responding slows over successive observations.
Celeration
___________incorporates three dimensional quantities: count per unit time/per unit of time; or expressed another way, rate/per unit of time.
Celeration
Response rate is displayed on the vertical axis (Y), and successive calendar time is presented on the horizontal axis (X)
Standard Celeration Chart
A straight line drawn through data points that visually represents the degree of trend in the data. It shows a factor by which rate of response is multiplying (accelerating) or dividing (decelerating) across the celeration time period (e.g. rate per week, per month, year etc..)
Celeration trend line
A _______ ________ _________ is 1/20th of the horizontal axis of all Standard Celeration Charts
Celeration time period
the amount of time in which behavior occurs is the basic measure of temporal extent.
Duration
__________ is also an appropriate measure for behaviors that occur at very high rates (e.g., rocking; rapid jerks of the head, hands, legs) or task-oriented continuous behaviors that occur for an extended time (e.g., cooperative play, on-task behavior, off-task behavior).
Duration
two kinds of duration measures:
Total duration per session (or observation period) and
Duration per occurrence.
A measure of the cumulative amount of time in which a person engages in the target behavior.
Total Duration per Session.
a measure of the duration of time that each instance of the target behavior occurs.
Duration per Occurrence.
is a measure of the elapsed time between the onset of a stimulus and the initiation of subsequent response.
how much time occurs between an opportunity to emit a behavior and when the behavior is initiated.
Response Latency
The amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a response class.
Interresponse Time (IRT)
Two forms of Derivative Measures.
Percentage and
Trials-to-criterion
A ratio (i.e., a proportion) formed by combining the same dimensional quantities, such as count (i.e., number ÷ number) or time (i.e., duration ÷ duration; latency ÷ latency).
Percentage
A measure of the number of response opportunities needed to achieve a predetermined level of performance.
Trials-to-Criterion
Two Definitional Measures
Topography and
magnitude
The physical form or shape of a behavior.
Topography
The force or intensity with which a response is emitted.
Magnitude
________ ________encompasses a wide variety of procedures for detecting and recording the number of times a behavior of interest occurs.
Event recording
Devices for Event Recording
Wrist counters Hand-tally digital counters Abacus wrist and shoestring counters Masking tape Pennies, buttons, paper clips Pocket calculators
a variety of methods for observing and recording behavior during intervals or at specific moments in time.
Time Sampling
whole-interval recording,
partial-interval recording, and
momentary time sampling
Three forms of time sampling method
At the end of each interval, the observer records whether the target behavior occurred throughout the interval.
Whole-Interval Recording
whole-interval recording usually _____________ the overall percentage of the observation period in which the behavior actually occurred.
Underestimate
the observer records whether the behavior occurred at any time during the interval.
Partial-Interval Recording
partial-interval recording often ____________ the overall percentage of the observation period (i.e., total duration) that the behavior actually occurred.
Overestimate
records whether the target behavior is occurring at the moment that each time interval ends.
Momentary Time Sampling
momentary time sampling both __________and ___________ the continuous duration measure when time intervals are greater than 2 minutes.
Overestimates and Underestimates
A variation of momentary time sampling
Planned activity check (PLACHECK)
Uses headcounts to measure “group behavior.”
A teacher using PLACHECK observes a group of students at the end of each time interval, counts the number of students engaged in the targeted activity, and records the tally with the total number of students in the group.
PLACHECK
something that appears to exist because of the way it is examined or measured
Artifact
Measuring behavior after it has occurred by measuring the effects that the behavior produced on the environment.
Measurement by permanent product
Measurement of many behaviors can be accomplished via
Contrived permanent product
- The practitioner is free to do other tasks;
- it enables the measurement of behaviors that occur at inconvenient or inaccessible times and places;
- measurement may be more accurate, complete, and continuous;
- it facilitates the collection of interobserver agreement and treatment integrity data; and
- it enables the measurement of complex behaviors and multiple response classes.
Advantages Measurement by permanent product
Rule 1: Each occurrence of the target behavior must produce the same permanent product.
Rule 2: The permanent product can only be produced by the target behavior.
Behaviors suitable for measurement via permanent products must meet two rules
