ABSC STUDY GUIDE Section One EVENT RECORDING observe and record every instance of the behavior Duration of each response needs to be about the same each time need to be able to see the onset and offset of behavior if the behavior occurs quickly and repeatedly you probably can t use the event recording OUTCOME RECORDING some behavior change the environment in a way that we can record For example littering online reading quizzes weight obesity cars manufactured by a factory simply count the products INTERVAL RECORDING divide the observation period into equal contiguous intervals of time for example 20 seconds record whether the behavior occurred once during the interval What do you record if the behavior happened more than once what do you do if the behavior started before the interval and continued during a portion or at all during the interval TIME SAMPLE REPORTING divide the observation period into intervals might be standard duration intervals might be irregular intervals observe the behavior only at the end of the interval Time sampling is primarily used when observing multiple behaviors of multiple people Tips for selecting the appropriate direct observation technique outcome recording is always preferred it s easier and almost as accurate as event One draw back is that you don t know who produced the outcome did you take the online quiz or did your roommate if outcome is not possible then if you can go with event recording it s the most accurate interval is not as accurate so it should be used only if the behavior is not of a uniform duration time sample is the least accurate so it should be used only when simultaneously observing multiple behaviors of multiple people behavioral definitions should be written down so they may be referred to in the future this also decreases the probability of observer drift LESSON QUIZ 2 A major benefit of a behavioral definition is that it redirects a client s focus away from private causes of behavior Once this focus has shifted clients can begin observing and recording the behavior itself Problem with self report observations lack important facts details information Cannot check the accuracy Self reports are notoriously wrong unreliable inaccurate Using direct observation you must record events IMMEDIATELY independently After one has defined the behavior to OBSERVE one must then choose the appropriate method to record it behaviorists deny do not deny the existence of cognition Behavior analysts don t typically use self report measures They prefer direct observation techniques Behavior analysts tend to accept or reject private events as a cause of human and animal behavior The behavior analyst s goal is to CHANGE human behavior behavior that is causing the client difficulties Indicate whether you would APPROVE or DISAPPROVE of the following behavioral definition Aggression The child is engaging in aggressive behavior when we can see that she is angry and tantruming SNAP SHOT time sample recording LESSON QUIZ 3 Meaningless results are acquired by OUTCOME recording or EVENT recording if the behaviors are non uniform Observations intervals are CONTINUOUS during interval recording The direct observation method that requires the least amount of labor and is least time intensive is OUTCOME RECORDING Continuous intervals are used to record non uniform behaviors in the method of interval recording Mrs Katz s 4 teenagers were not brushing their teeth properly She began observing them each night as they all brushed together She broke the 2 minutes that they usually brushed into intervals of 5 seconds Then she looked at one teenager during each of the intervals to see if that they were using the recommended circular brushing method If they were she made a check mark for that teen Mrs Katz is using the recording method TIME SAMPLE Time sample discontinuous Sandy watches her daughter as she eats watermelon in the 20 minute dining interval Each time she takes a bite of watermelon in the interval Sandy records this on her data sheet At the end of the 20 minute interval the observation session is over Sandy is using the EVENT RECORDING method of direct observation ABSC NOTES 2 RELIABILITY quantifying the degree to which you and your partner s observations agreed Why is it important to assess reliability It s our best measure of the accuracy of the observations To rule out experimenter bias To assess observer drift If you don t no one will believe you How often do you assess reliability Before the study starts assess reliability every time Once reliability is at an acceptable level you can start the study Once the study is underway you need to assess reliability periodically 30 of the time seems to be the industry standard Quantifying reliability math time Reliability agreements agreements disagreements What reliability level is acceptable MILLER SUGGESTS 80 is ACCEPTABLE IF IT S A NEW DEFINITION He suggests 90 is acceptable if the definition is established Trial Reliability the method of calculating reliability that we just used used whenever you select interval or time sample recording methods Frequency reliability used whenever you select outcome or event recording FREQUENCY RELIABILITY agree agree disagree LESSON QUIZ 4 OPERANT behavior is behavior affected by reinforcement When instances of behavior are uniform you would use EVENT recording FREQUENCY reliability is used when comparing the total count between two observers Karl Jamie 68 75 Candice counted the number of times Dr Reed said basically in class on Tuesday She got a count of 12 Jerry counted the same behavior on Wednesday and counted 12 also Can we conclude that Candice and Jerry s observations are reliable NOOOOO Mark developed a behavioral definition for being angry as showing redness in the face and bulging of the eyes Mark wanted to determine if his definition of anger was equivalent to how people outside of his study defined being angry Mark was interested in the SOCIAL VALIDITY of his definition Lauren and Molly are observing how many times a child in their daycare room bites her fingers It can be hard to tell sometimes if the child is putting her fingers in her mouth to bite them or if her hands are just near her mouth Occasionally the child would have her hand near her mouth but not biting her fingers and Lauren would count this as an occurrence of the behavior they are looking for Molly would look at Lauren recording this behavior and would record it herself If Molly was not