Unit 6

Question 0

External validity

Answer 0

The degree to which a study’s finding’s have generality to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors.

Question 1

Approaches to functional behavioral assessment

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

Threats to external validity

Answer 2

Differences between the conditions of assessment and the client’s natural environment in the functional properties of motivating and reinforcing events

Question 3

Most valid functional behavioral assessment approach

Answer 3

Combination of methodologies

Question 4

Internal validity

Answer 4

Establishes that problem behavior is a function of specific motivating and maintaining events

Question 5

Threats to internal validity

Answer 5

Events that co-occur with the independent variable that could account for the findings

Question 6

Reasons for conducting a descriptive analysis

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

Approaches to descriptive analysis

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

Touchette, MadDonald, & Langer (1985)

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Bijou, Peterson, & Ault (1968)

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

Mace & Lalli (1991)

Answer 10

• Combined descriptive and experimental analyses in the study of bizarre speech
• Found that bizarre speech was functionally related to attention

Question 11

Ndoro, Hanley, Tiger, & Heal (2006)

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

Lalli, Browder, Mace, & Brown (1993)

Answer 12

Possibly the first descriptive analysis research to employ a fully comprehensive approach to functional behavioral assessment

Question 13

More rigorous and accurate method of data collection (according to Dr. Mace)

Answer 13

Count within interval recording (rate)

Question 14

Data collection method that yields the best estimate of duration (according to Dr. Mace)

Answer 14

Momentary time sampling

Question 15

Data collection method that yields the best estimate of duration (according to Dr. Mace)

Answer 15

Momentary time sampling

Question 16

Best inter-observer agreement measure

Answer 16

Exact agreement on an interval by interval basis

Question 17

p (target behavior | MO)

Answer 17

Represents the probability of behavior when an antecedent event is present
(Reflects the power of the MO to evoke behavior)

Question 18

p (subsequent event | MO-TB)

Answer 18

Represents the probability of a consequent event when a motivating operation and target behavior are present
(Estimates natural schedule of reinforcement)

Question 19

Best practice to set temporal gaps between events

Answer 19

Use natural lines of fracture (“windows”)

Question 20

Sasso et al. (1992)

Answer 20

Conducted a conventional analysis and ABC analysis, and a classroom analysis and found the
same outcomes across analyses

Question 21

Lerman & Iwata (1993)

Answer 21

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).

Question 22

Thompson & Iwata

Answer 22

Found that social consequences arranged by the experimental analysis did match naturally occurring events in the environment

Question 23

Reasons to use a line graph display of data

Answer 23

• 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

Question 24

Convenient, practical, less labor-intensive methods of data collection

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

Rigorous and accurate methods of data

collection

Answer 25

• Partial interval recording
• Whole interval recording
collection
• Count within interval recording • Momentary time sampling

Question 26

Reasons for combining descriptive and experimental methods

Answer 26

• 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