Unit 6 Flashcards
- FBA interview
- ABC narrative recording
- Rating scales (motivational assessment scale)
- Scatterplot analysis
- Descriptive analysis
- Brief FBA
- Antecedent A-B analysis
- Functional A-B-C analysis
- Progressive analyses
Approaches to functional bx assessment
the degree to which a study’s finding’s have generality to other subjects, settings, and/or bxs.
external validity
differences between the conditions of assessment and the client’s natural environment in the functional properties of motivating and reinforcing events.
threats to external validity
What’s the most valid functional behavioral assessment approach?
a combination of methodologies
establishes that problem bx is a function of specific motivating and maintaining events
internal validity
threats to internal validity
events that co-occur with the independent variable that could account for the findings
Reasons for conducting a descriptive analysis
- Identify idiosyncratic forms of motivating and reinforcing events
- Design experimental FA conditions that more closely represent natural conditions
- Estimate natural schedules of reinforcement maintaining problem behavior
- Interpret the results of experimental FA methods

Approaches to descriptive analysis

• Scatterplot analysis
• Coding behaviors without reference to specific
motivational or reinforcing environmental events
• Direct recording of behavior in relation to
possible motivating and reinforcing events
Results showed that a scatter plot is a more practical way to collect data by direct-care staff across an entire day or shift and produced the same conclusions as more labor intensive methods of data collection
Touchette, MadDonald, & Langer (1985)
• First published descriptive assessment
• Developed to empirically study child development
• Real-time measurement of child behavior and
environmental events
• Important for operational definitions of behavior
Bijou, Peterson, & Ault (1968)
- Combined descriptive and experimental analyses in the study of bizarre speech
- Found that bizarre speech was functionally related to attention
Mace & Lalli (1991)
- Used conditional probabilities to assess student and teacher interactions
- Found that teachers were more likely to give “Do” directives than “Don’t” directives and that there was a greater probability of teacher attention given noncompliance than compliance
Ndoro, Hanley , Tiger , & Heal (2006)
Possibly the first descriptive analysis research to employ a fully comprehensive approach to functional behavioral assessment
Lalli, Browder, Mace, & Brown (1993)
More rigorous and accurate method of data collection (according to Dr. Mace)
Count within interval recording (rate)
Data collection method that yields the best estimate of duration (according to Dr. Mace)
momentary time sampling
Best inter-observer agreement measure
Exact agreement on an interval by interval basis
p (target behavior | MO)
Represents the probability of behavior when an antecedent event is present
(Reflects the power of the MO to evoke behavior)
p (subsequent event | MO-TB)
Represents the probability of a consequent event when a motivating operation and target behavior are present
(Estimates natural schedule of reinforcement)
best practice to set temporal gaps between events
use natural lines of fracture
Conducted a conventional analysis and ABC analysis, and a classroom analysis and found the same outcomes across analyses
sasso, et al. (1992)
Results indicated that the descriptive analysis was useful in identifying the extent to which SIB was related to social versus nonsocial contingencies, but was limited in its ability to distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement (i.e. attention versus escape).
lerman and iwata (1993)
Found that social consequences arranged by the experimental analysis did match naturally occurring events in the environment.
Thompson & Iwata
Reasons to use a line graph display of data
• Tells the story over observational samples
• Provides a more “fine grain” way to analyze the
data
• Shows the variability in conditional probabilities
over repeated samples
Convenient, practical, less labor-intensive methods of data collection
• Count of episodes of a target behavior across the day
• Count during large time periods across the day
• Rating scales with defined, numeric anchors
across the day or during shorter periods
• Rating scales without anchors
• Occurred or did not occur rating across the day
or during periods
Rigorous and accurate methods of data
collection
- Partial interval recording
- Whole interval recording
- Count within interval recording
- Momentary time sampling
Reasons for combining descriptive and experimental methods
- DAs can help identify idiosyncratic forms of motivating and reinforcing events
- This information can inform the design of experimental conditions that better represent natural conditions
- Natural schedules of reinforcement can be calculated to be used to design EAs
- Comparing DA and EA results can help estimate how valid the FA findings are
Internal validity is the degree to which a descriptive assessment:!
identifies specific antecedents and consequences influencing the occurrence of a target bx
According to Dr. Mace, what is the most valid approach to functional bx assessment?
combination of methodologies
internal validity establishes that problem bx is a function of
specific motivating and maintaining events
Per Dr. Mace, what methodologies have the lowest degree of internal validity?
interview, rating scales, descriptive analyses
being able to estimate natural schedules of reinforcement maintaining a problem bx is a benefit of what type of analysis?
descriptive analysis
Why was the scatterplot analysis developed?
as a practical means for direct care staff to collect data across and entire day or shift (Touchette, MacDonald & Langer, 1985)
In the Touchette, MacDonald & Langer (1985) study, what conclusions were made when comparing conventional plotting of assaultive bx to scatter plot analysis?
the scatterplot was more practical and produced the same conclusions
What was the first published study to use descriptive analysis?
Bijou, Peterson & Ault (1968)
Mace and Lalli (1991) combined what two functional behavioral assessment methodologies in the study of the bizarre speech of a 46-yr-old male?
descriptive and experimental analysis
Mace and Lalli (1991), found that bizarre speech was functional related to what hypothesis, as confirmed in the experimental analysis?
attention
Per Dr. Mace, the Lalli, Browder, Mace and Brown (1993) study of descriptive analysis research was possibly the first to…
employ a fully comprehensive approach to functional behavioral assessment
According to Dr. Mace, what method of data collection is a “more rigorous and accurate method”
count within interval recording
According to Dr. Mace, what data collection method yields the best estimate of duration?
momentary time sampling
what reflects the power of the MO to evoke bx?
p(target bx | MO)
