quality of assessments Flashcards
1
Q
what are the conditions of an assessment?
A
- must be flexible (have a broad range of options beyond selecting frequency, interval, duration, and measurement strategies)
- must be rigorous (observation need to be made consistently)
2
Q
what are natural vs. contrived trades, activities, and settings?
A
- performance is observed without intervening or structuring the situation for the client
- often not possible as who knows how long you’ll have to watch them for?
- best to select contrived tasks as it is easier to do than naturalistic
3
Q
what is the natural environment vs. laboratory settings?
A
- naturalistic settings are real-life
- ideally, direct observations are made in a natural setting where clients normally are
- however, natural settings are often expensive
- usually real-life situations are used but something about them is contrived to allow observations to be made
4
Q
what are obtrusive vs. unobtrusive assessments?
A
- obtrusive (clients are aware of the measurement process and that their behavior is being assessed)
- obtrusive could be reactive, meaning it could influence the performance of the client
- unobtrusive (clients are not aware of the measurement process)
- often unobtrusive assessment is not possible due to clients having to be informed of the intervention
5
Q
what are human observers vs. automated recording?
A
- in most cases, humans assess behaviors
- with automated recording (recommended the most), humans are only involved when it comes to calibration of the machine
- often automated recording is better as it is not biased, can assess behavior more accurately, etc.
6
Q
what are point-by-point agreement ratios?
A
- assesses whether there is an agreement of each instance of observed behavior
- uses discrete opportunities (number of trials, intervals, or correct answers)
- most useful in interval assessment
7
Q
what is plotting agreement data?
A
- may be one observer (primary) observing the client each day and perhaps a second observer (secondary) also occurring the behavior
- usually only the data from the primary observer is plotted but data from a secondary observer may also be plotted to see similarities between them
- provides useful information about how closely the observers usually agreed in their totals for occurrences
8
Q
what are conducing checks for agreement?
A
- agreement has to achieve an acceptable level before baseline observations are begin and has to maintain that level throughout the project
- ageeement has to be between 80-100%
- major factor of influence interconnects agreement is whether observers know that their agreement is being checked
- if they know their agreement is being checked, they may show higher agreement
9
Q
what are the general guidelines for assessments?
A
- check agreement at least a few times in each phase (ex. baseline, intervention)
- calculate agreement during the project rather than when the project is over to see if any changes need to be made
- ensure the observers work independently from each other
- avoid conveying expectations to the observers about what the data should show
10
Q
what are evaluating interventions?
A
- whatever measure is selected, it will need to be administered repeatedly for an ongoing basis overtime
- measure should be able to reflect change
- should reflect a continuous dimension, not binary
- measure should make sense for the assessment
11
Q
what is the use of multiple measures?
A
- problems or subjects often have multiple components that can be measured
- different measurements can yield different results
12
Q
what are the purposes of pre and post intervention assessments?
A
often easily obtained and can elaborate or expand on the operational definition of the observation measures.
13
Q
what is a probe assessment?
A
- measures that are administered occasionally (rather than continuously) in other settings or at other times than those in which the intervention is conducted
- probes test whether there are other changes than those that served as the intervention focus
- probes see if whether the behavior carries over to other settings, is maintained, or whether another behavior has changed
14
Q
how does one construct a recording sheet?
A
- look at sheets other have used
- arrange the sheets in the same way you scan or record the behavior
- use symbols or abbreviations when possible
15
Q
what is observer drift?
A
- observers gradually depart from the original definitions of behavior
- can happen if observed become more lenient, more stringent, or less consistent in their definitions of behavior
