Applying Behavioral Analysis: A Program for Developing Competence [2 ed.] 0030492912, 9780030492914

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A Program for Developing Professional Competence

Beth Sulzer-Azaroff and Ellen P. Reese

9 ‘

Applying Behavioral Analysis: A Program for Developing Professional Competence

* Applying Behavioral

Analysis A Program for Developing Professional Competence _,

6

Beth Sulzer-Azaroff

University of Massachusetts — Amherst

Ellen PB Reese Mt. Holyoke College

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Fort Worth Montreal

Chicago SanFrancisco Philadelphia Toronto London Sydney Tokyo

SoS

a

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Sulzer-Azaroff, Beth. Applying behavioral analysis.

1. Behavior modification—Study and teaching. Il. Title. BF637.B4S88 158'.3 81-6757 AACR2 ISBN 0-03-049291-2 |. Reese, Ellen P.

Copyright © 1982 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Address Editorial correspondence to: 301 Commerce Fort Worth, TX 76102

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to: Permissions Department, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 8th Floor, Orlando, Florida 32887.

Cover design by Richard Emery Printed in the United States of America

0123

022

109876543

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

The Dryden Press Saunders College Publishing

Z 9

To T.W. Reese an Leonid Azaroff

@

@ Contents

Ce

Preface

gaggggaaaggggaa

xi

1. Introduction

‘ .) '

1

1. A Model for Applying Behavior Analysis 3 A. Preliminary and Continuing Considerations B. Designing the Program 5 C. Carrying out the Program 8 D. After the Program is Completed 10

—-l.Summary

3

11

I. Workshops and Field Activities

13

2. Ethics and Accountability: Written Agreements

A

15

|. Introduction 16 A. Accountability in Education and Therapy 16 B. Writing Behavioral Contracts 24 C. Consumer Satisfaction 25 11. Workshop: Negotiating Contracts with Clients (2 hours)’ 25 Ill. Field Activity: Analyzing a Journal Article for Compliance with Ethical Standards of Practice 35 3. Behavioral Objectives and Task Analyses

41

|. Introduction 42 I!. Workshop or Field Activity: Translating Goals into Object (% hour) 45 111. Workshop or Field Activity: Analyzing Tasks (17% hours) 51 IV. Workshop: Self-management: Goals and Objectives (20 minutes each) 59 1Times are general estimates, and can be expected to vary as a function of the composition of the group and other factors.

vii

65

4. Observing, Defining, and Recording Behavior

|. Introduction 66 A. Rationale 66 B. Behavioral Definitions 67 C. Recording Procedures 68 Il. Workshop: Defining and Recording Behavior (2 hours) 72 Ill. Field Activities 83 Narrative Recording and Sequence Analysis 83 Frequency (Event) Recording from Television or Videotape’ 85 Introduction to a Field Setting 89 Interval Recording in a Classroom Setting 97 101 Time Sampling in a School, Institution, or Animal Colony Recording in Conjunction with Projects 105 DS MMOOW 107

5. Operant Procedures |: Increasing Behavior

|. Introduction 108 Il. Workshops 112 A. Designing an Individual Service Plan (45 minutes) 112 B. Selecting Procedures for a Client (30 minutes each) 118 C. Selecting Reinforcers (20 minutes each) 121 11. Field Activity: Identifying and Assessing Reinforcers 125 IV. Field and Workshop Activity: Abstract and Presentation of a Journal Article (Presentations 15 minutes each) 135

6. Within-Subject Designs

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1. Introduction 146 11. Workshop: Within-subject Designs 152 A. Analysis of a Study from the Literature (% hour) 155 B. Presentations of Data by Participants (15 minutes each) 159 C. Designing a Program for a Hypothetical Case (% hour) 161 111. Advanced Workshop: Planning Within-subject Designs for Client Projects (25 minutes each) 163 IV. Articles Illustrating Within-subject Designs 169 7. Maintenance, Generalization, and Follow Up

171

|. Introduction 172 Il. Field Activity: Analysis of Research (1 hour)

175

A.

Analyzing Abstract for Principles of Maintenance 175 and Generalization: Occupational Safety 175 B. Analyzing Portion of a Study for Principles of Maintenance and Generalization: Aerobic Exercises 179 I1!. Workshop: Programming for Generalization and Maintenance 185 A. Preparation 185 B. Workshop 185 1. Case study (45 minutes) 186

2. Self-management Project (% hour) 3. Client Project (% hour) 187 viii

187

@

8. Operant Procedures ||: Programming Instruction

189

|. Introduction 190 Il. Workshop: Programming Instruction 192 A. Preparation (at least two weeks) 193 B. Instructional Plan 197 C. Workshop (15-25 minutes per presentation)

201 D. Evaluating Instruction 201 Ill. Field Activities 203 A. Introduction to a Field Setting (Chapter 4, III C) B. Observation of Instruction 203

203

207

9. Operant Procedures II1: Reducing Undesirable Behavior

1. Introduction 208 e 11. Workshop (2% hours) 213 A. Practicing Reductive Procedures 215 B. Selecting Reductive Procedures for Familiar Problems 215 C. Planning Reductive Procedures for Projects 217 11. Field and Workshop Activity: Presentation of Studies from Literature

223

225

10. Reducing Anxiety 1. Introduction 227 A. Defining Anxiety 227 B. Conditioned Anxiety 229 C. Reducing Conditioned Anxiety 230 D. Relaxation Training 233 E. Issues for Evaluating Programs to Reduce Anxiety 234 Il. Field Activity A. Constructing an Anxiety Hierarchy (1 hour) 111. Workshop A. Reducing Anxiety (2 hours) 247 IV. Field Activity B. Practicing Relaxation 257 V. Workshop B. Physiological Recordings in Conjunction with Anxiety and an Introduction to Biofeedback (2 hours) 259

235

II. Individual Projects

263 265

11. Self-management Projects

|. Introduction 268 Il. Instructions 269 Ill. Field Activities 273 A. Preliminary Recordings 273 B. Preliminary Self-management Proposal 281 IV. Self-management Proposal and Contract 283 V. Workshop: Evaluating Progress (20 minutes each)

301

12. Individual Projects: Workshops, Research, and Projects in Practicum Settings

|. Introduction 307 A. Selecting a Project 307 B. Ethical Responsibilities 313 C. Selecting Goals and Procedures

314 ix

305

Evaluation and Accountability 315 Project Notebook or Daily Log 320 Project Proposal 322 . Oral 325 QOmmo and Written Reports Il. Field Activities 326 A. Introduction to a Field Setting (Chapter 4, III C) 326 B. Adaptation 326 C. Recording in Conjunction with an Individual Project (Chapter 4, III F) D. Identifying and Assessing Reinforcers (Chapter 5, II| A) 326 E. Preliminary Project Proposal 329

326

I1l. Workshops 335 | A. Analysis of Preliminary Project Proposal (25 minutes each) 335 B. Planning Experimental Designs for Projects Clients (Chapter 6, III) 336 C. Programming for Generalization and Maintenance (Chapter 7, III B) 336

D. Planning Reductive Procedures for Projects (Chapter 9,11 C) IV. Project Proposals 339 A. Final Proposal, Projects with Clients 339 B. Research Proposal 347 C. Proposal for Workshops, Symposiums, Other Projects 351 13. Current Issues in Applied Behavior Analysis: Symposium, Seminar, Review Paper |. Introduction

A.

365

Selectinga Topic 365 Reviewing the Literature Preparing an Oral Report

Il1l.Workshop

359

360

Il. Field Activities A. B. C.

336

368

365 366

|

Presenting an Oral Report of a Topic in Applied Behavior Analysis (20-25 minutes each) 368

14. Communication: Oral and Written Reports

369

|. Introduction 373 Il. Preparation of Graphs 374 11. Oral Reports (15 minutes per presenter) 378 A. General Instructions 378 B. Checklist 379 C. Audiovisual Aids 381 IV. Written Reports 386 A. General Instructions 386 B. References 386 C. Checklist 391 V. Poster Sessions (Time to be arranged) 395

15. Epilogue: Competence in Applying Behavior Analysis |. Competencies and Self-check References

Appendix: Six Illustrative Case Studies

399

400 407

413

® Preface

A.

Teaching Behavior Analysis According to the Principles of Behavior Analysis Using the Manual Preparation and Resources Projects Recommended Schedule

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A. Teaching Behavior Analysis According to the Principles of Behavior Analysis This manual of workshops and field activities has evolved out of our efforts to teach behavior analysis according to the principles of behavior analysis. The model that we follow is described in Chapter 1, which also tells the students how each of the 35 workshops and field activities relates to the model and to the individual projects that we hope they will design and conduct. To ensure that the model governed our own behavior, we had to identify observable, measurable goals; we had to find the procedures to achieve these goals; and — because the model demands account-

ability — we had to evaluate the extent to which our goals were achieved. 7. Goals It seemed obvious that if we were to succeed as teachers of behavior analysis, our students would have to be able to do what behavior analysts do. Fortunately, we could draw on an earlier study to determine what it is that behavior analysts do. Sulzer-Azaroff, Thaw, and Thomas (1975) identified and defined a list of competencies, or skills, which they then sent to a large number of recognized authorities in the field. The authorities were asked to decide which competencies were necessary or desirable for behavior analysts (defined as people who conceptualize, supervise, and evaluate behavioral projects and programs). A revised list of the competencies appears in Chapter 15. Each of the original 70 items was judged necessary or desirable for applied behavior analysts by at least two thirds of the 68 authorities who completed the questionnaire. Categories in bold face type were judged necessary by at least 80 percent of the respondents. Roman type designates additional categories judged necessary or desirable by at least 80 percent of the respondents. Only six categories were judged necessary or desirable by fewer than 80 percent of the respondents. (We have included these in parentheses. ) The activities listed in /ta/ics are those we have added since the Sulzer-Azaroff et al. study. Although they have not been rated by our colleagues, they constitute important goals for our courses

— and this manual. Taken together, the activities and the criteria for assessing competency that xi

analysis. are listed in Table 15.1 can be considered an operational definition of applied behavior is beyond goals these of all attain To ls. professiona training for As such, they can constitute goals and Training under items the of most omit example, for we, and the scope of a single course; graduadvanced certain for goals constitute ies competenc (These Consu/ting and Administration. M |

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@ Introduction

1. A Model for Applying Behavior Analysis A. Preliminary and Continuing Considerations B. Designing the Program C. Carrying Out the Program D. After the Program is Completed Il. Summary

ad

All of us experience problems with some aspects of our behavior. A person may become discouraged because she does not seem to be progressing in her job. Her supervisor tells her that she is not likely to be promoted because she procrastinates so much. A child’s teacher complains about the child’s lack of compliance. A college student is not doing well in college because he becomes sidetracked from studying. Conflicts resulting from ambiguity in allocating responsibilities are threatening a particular marriage. Certain children may perform. below their capacity to achieve in school. Others seem unable to make friends. Parents may find it difficult to agree upon priorities or to obtain cooperation from their children. People with specific developmental disabilities may encounter serious difficulties in their attempts to learn the skills of daily living — skills such as dressing or feeding themselves, making change, or using public transportation. We all know yet that there are sensible rules for our health and well-being and for protecting our environment,

we fail to maintain our resolve to follow those rules. In all these and many other situations, potential solutions are available. The field of applied behavior analysis has effectively tackled problems such as these and many, many others. Behavior analysts have also become increasingly to involved in the prevention of problems by identifying and managing those conditions that tend adbeen have that topics of examples for 1.1 Table create difficulties in the first place. (See to apply dressed by applied behavior analysts.) The purpose of this manual is to teach its users prevent may that problems ameliorate to and abilities behavior analysis: to discover and promote potential. their individuals — oneself or others — from achieving is so You are probably asking what is distinctive about applied behavior analysis and why it is a analysis behavior Applied n. supervisio under important to learn its rules and practice its skills it. affect reliably that conditions the and behavior systematic, accountable method for examining order in them manage to possible becomes then it When these controlling conditions are isolated, ance, a that specific goals may be achieved. By discovering the conditions that control noncompli A secretary teacher could find out how to work more effectively with a noncomplying pupil.

Table 1.1.

A Sample of Topics Addressed by Applied Behavior Analysts.

Animal Training entertainment (e.g., Marine Land) guide dogs, sentry, police work Assessment identification of problems physical, intellectual capacities

Business and Industry absenteeism accident prevention counseling efficiency job skills management skills

Clinical (see a/so health, rehabilitation) anxiety reduction autism community day-care centers

community mental health centers counseling drugs (including alcohol), marriage and family, personal problems delinquency

fears and phobias geriatrics

Ethics certification and licensing establishing and maintaining standards evaluation of programs informed consent and contracts

Families child abuse noncompliance : responsibilities of parents, children shopping, disruption during sibling rivalry Health and Medicine (see Clinical, Rehabilitation) biofeedback (heart, headaches, tension, physical

therapy) control of seizures dentistry

management of pain nutrition preventive medicine specific problems, e.g., weight (anorexia, obesity); vomiting; asthma stress reduction

Jobs (see a/so Business and Industry) counseling finding and keeping

nervous habits: hair pulling, nail biting, thumb sucking psychotic behavior self-maintenance skills (feeding, dressing, toileting, etc.) Physical Education school and college sports sleep disturbances social skills training professional sports Ecology — Community conservation (gas, electricity) littering, pollution police patrolling population control recycling, traffic, auto, pedestrian safety

Rehabilitation deinstitutionalization (retarded, prisoners, mental patients), community programs, sheltered workshops delinquents drugs physical therapy

Education (preschool through adult education) academic skills and programming behavior problems career counseling homework

Self-control

Social Work general clinical, counseling welfare

peer tutoring

self-paced instruction (PSI) social interactions (incl. race) speech (acquisition, problems) tardiness, absenteeism task completion teaching methods (format, evaluation) underachievement vandalism

Special Education retarded, learning disabled, physically handicapped, gifted ee

Training in Applied Behavior Analysis counselors, social workers medical personnel teachers parents peers students (H.S., college, grad.) other paraprofessionals Veterinary Medicine

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who procrastinates might arrange alternative conditions that will enable her to procrastinate less. Yes, people can manage the conditions that affect their own behavior. They can also manage the conditions that affect the behavior of others. Since time immemorial, parents, teachers, employ_ ers, friends, adversaries, and just about anyone in direct or indirect contact with specific individuals have been influencing, either intentionally or by happenstance, the conditions that affect the behavior of those individuals. When people become proficient in applying behavior analysis, they are better able to achieve their own goals and to discharge their responsibilities toward their families and those they serve professionally. They also gain greater control of their own behavior, and they become better able to recognize situations where others control the conditions that affect what they do. This awareness permits them to capitalize on, or to avoid, situations that promote the control of behavior. Being able to recite the rules of applying behavior analysis is not enough, however. For, if you think about it, you will recognize that the ability to state how to do something is not necessarily the same as being able to do it. Acquiring the knowledge of the principles of behavior analysis is but an essential foundation. Beyond that, there are many applied skills to be learned, and the skills must be maintained over time and across conditions. That is why this manual has been prepared. It is designed to guide you through a series of activities that will permit you to become more proficient in applying the skills of behavior analysis than if you were simply able to recite rules. Having received your initial training by using this manual under the guidance of your supervisors or instructors, you will find it necessary to continue to work toward consistent improvement. The system will train you to manage your own behavior so that your instructors’ support can gradually be eliminated as you refine your skills. .

1. A MODEL FOR APPLYING BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS We have said that applied behavior analysis is systematic and accountable. A series of steps are followed to ensure that all components of the method are included. As a behavior analysis program progresses, events are recorded objectively and accurately, with measures that are as unbiased as possible. Progress or deterioration may be noted as a program progresses, and factors affecting behavior change may be isolated with reasonable clarity. Those individuals either directly or indirectly involved may thus remain reasonably informed, better capable of making reasoned decisions. Models are frequently designed to emphasize the more critical aspects of an activity. Ina sense, they take a fluid event and stop it at various important points, much in the way that a television camera may stop a frame at a critical point in the replay of a segment of action ina sports event. There is a certain arbitrariness in the selection and in its timing and placement. Similarly, the model that we propose is, in a sense, based on certain arbitrary decisions as to what

should be highlighted and also when and where. In fact, the authors of this manual have modified this model several times over the years. (See Reese, 1966, 1978; Sulzer and Mayer, 1972; Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977, for example.) We presume that others will make reasoned modifications of it as well to adjust it both to their own situations and to developments in the field. A current representation of the applied behavior analysis model is presented in Figure 1.1. The model shows who might be involved in the decision to conduct a particular program in applied behavior analysis, what activities continue throughout all phases of the program, and the elements of the program as it is carried out and afterwards. A. Preliminary and Continuing Considerations 1. The Decision to Change Behavior

The decision to change behavior may derive from one or more sources. In some cases, people

touch the client wish to alter their own behavior. In other cases, some of the people whose lives

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A. Preliminary and Continuing

Observe

Client Family

Advocate

1. Decision to

Educator

Ve Consult 2. Ethics and

Counselor

accountability

conduct program

gpecialists

Evaluate

B. Designing the Program

7. Identify current

4. Specify goals,

. Assess: examine

objectives

history, records

contingencies

5. Define, 2. Analyze

record

6.

procedures

situation

-

10. Negotiate

Goals,

Priorities} yj,

12. Select evaluation

9. Program contingencies

measure,

system

11. Establish favorable

Sietene i coeeute

contract

objectives reasonable

C. Carrying Out the Program

1. Permit

adaptation

2. Record

baseline

3. Introduce

7. Apply

procedures

8. Carry out

within-

generalization

subject design

maintenance procedures

4. Build from repertoire

6. Modify procedures

5. Are changes positive

Eami

aN Reviee

1. Take follow-up

maintenance

measures

procedures

Client

Advocate

amily

Educator

Counselor Physician

4. Communicate results

Scientific community

Figure 1.1.

A Model for Applying Behavior Analysis.

Cour

Others

(for example, teachers or parents) may decide that a program to change behavior is indicated. (Those people may also participate subsequently, as the program is designed, implemented, and evaluated.) '

2. Ethics and Accountability As the field of applied behavior analysis has evolved, certain concerns characterize its practice. Ethical factors, such as freedom from coercion and exploitation, the incorporation of due process procedures, provision for input by the client into the design and implementation of the program, are considered throughout the program. Accountability to those being served depends upon continuous eva/uation — evaluation that is based on valid, objective, and reliable observational recording. Should the data suggest the need, the program also permits revision. Recognizing the limitations of their own competencies and special skills, as do all responsible service professionals, behavior analysts keep abreast of developments in the field and consu/t regularly with other specialists. In this manual, you will be guided through many of the skills that are involved in ethically responsible and accountable practice. Chapter 2, ‘Ethics and Accountability,” emphasizes the steps that may be followed in negotiating contracts with clients and helps you view research in behavior analysis from a broad ethical perspective. You will become familiar with the ethical codes and guidelines of professional organizations, and you will incorporate those guidelines into simulated and actual practice. For example, you will be selecting a sample case from the appendix or from your own experience and designing contracts to suit the situation. This is a good time to skim those cases. You will notice throughout the manual how ethical and accountable practice is emphasized. As the chapters progress, they lead ultimately to those that guide you to design, implement, evaluate, and communicate the results of behavior analysis programs with actual people — possibly yourself or perhaps a client in a field setting. Throughout, you will note a consistent emphasis on ethics, observation, recording, evaluation, revision, and consultation.

B. Designing the Program

Once a decision has been made to conduct a behavior analysis program, it needs to be designed. Here we present a series of steps to be followed.

1. Assessment: Examine History and Records As indicated previously, measurement or assessment is applied throughout the program. During the design process, however, it is useful to assess the behavior of the client from a general perspective. It may, for example, be particularly helpful to identify the client's skills and deficits by using a behavioral inventory. Questionnaires, case histories, letters of reference, medical records, and other data may yield information pertinent to the selection of potential goals and procedures. They also suggest the kinds of behavior that should be recorded in natural settings. Chapter 3, “Behavioral Objectives and Task Analyses,”’ contains some exercises that will help you to see how a general preassessment fits into the overall design of a behavior analysis program. You will be able to analyze the tasks that constitute such varied activities as developmentally disabled children ordering food and eating at a restaurant and normal adults trying to improve their study habits. Identifying component tasks will help you to will locate the skills and knowledge that are essential precursors for acquiring more advanced skills. The exercises help you locate the specific prerequisite or entering behaviors that must be assessed. Similarly, should you plan to conduct a program with an actual client, the task analysis will help you determine the nature of the preassess-

ment that should be conducted.

2. Analyze the System People do not live in vacuums. Rather, they operate within several systems: children within families, school organizations, the neighborhood; adults within their family, occupational organiza-

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their tion, their network of friends, and so forth. The way those social networks function affects as such work behavior. Similarly, factors in the physical environment in which people live and ecological space, temperature, material resources, and others also affect what they do. Those variables often tend to support certain behaviors and impede others. We have learned that it is critical to consider the social and physical environment when designing a behavior analysis program, for it is within that system that any modified behavior should be maintained. If the conditions within the system will be supportive of the anticipated change, that’s fine. Should the system not be likely to support the modified behavior, the time and effort may well have been for naught. Several chapters in this manual require attention to the physical and social system, whether one is working with a case study, with a self-management project, or with a client in a practicum setting. Chapter 7 specifically emphasizes the conditions for maintenance and generalization, many of which depend upon the system within which the individual operates.

3. Establish Priorities Given finite time and resources, there is a limit to what any single individual may accomplish. The practitioner of behavior analysis, whether a change agent or a client, must set priorities. If the change agent is employed by an agency, there are probably specifications of the job to be

performed, But still, there is room for decision making. The need for setting priorities is also critical when individuals are to modify their own behavior. Issues include what problems to target for change, the time required for each, the likelihood of success, and several others. In this manual, you will be guided in your efforts to set priorities. Factors such as ethics (Chapter 2), objectives and task analyses (Chapter 3), information yielded via observation and measurement (Chapter 4), educational and programming issues (Chapters 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12), variables related to maintenance and generalization (Chapter 7), and many others will be emphasized to aid you in this process.

4. Specify Goals and Objectives Once priorities are sorted out, a set of goals is selected. These are refined tional or behavioral objectives. Objectives indicate the behavior that is to ditions under which the behavior will or will not occur, and the standards desired change has been accomplished. Sometimes it is necessary to break their component tasks, especially if the goal is fairly difficult or complex.

into specific instrucbe changed, the confor judging that the down objectives into

Chapter 3 will help you to increase your proficiency in those skills. You will also have the opportunity to practice preparing objectives when you design individual educational or service plans (Chapter 5), prepare an instructional program for your peers (Chapter 8), and plan reductive procedures (Chapter 9) and especially when you conduct a behavior analysis program with yourself (Chapter 11), or a client (Chapter 12).

5. Define; Measure; Record The hallmark of behavior analysis is defining, measuring, and recording behavior. The precision of

this technology permits an assessment of the validity of the identified problem and of the validity and reliability of measuring instruments. Learning how to define, measure, and record behavior may appear deceptively simple. Actually, the skills involved are highly technical and require intensive guided practice. They cannot be acquired simply via the written or spoken word. For this reason, we have included many activities that will help you to acquire those skills. Chapter 4 is fully devoted to the topic. You will also have opportunity to practice behavioral measurement when you select reinforcers (Chapter 5); when you design, conduct, and evaluate your self-management or client

project (Chapters 11 and 12); and when you visit field settings (Chapter 12). The more skilled you become in this area, the more valuable you will be to human service agencies that are required to be accountable for the programs they conduct. You will also find yourself more efficient in achieving your own personal goals.

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6. Are Goals and Objectives Reasonable? Goals and objectives must be capable of achievement.

Reliable methods of observational measure-

ment must be designed and applied. If necessary, goals have to be modified realistically. Nearly every chapter in the manual deals with the selection of goals that are feasible and that meet ethical standards of practice.

7. Identify Current Contingencies An essential aspect of the behavior analysis model is to identify those antecedents and consequences that currently influence the target behavior.The technical word for the relation between behavior and its consequences, including the conditions under which the consequences will and will not be forthcoming, is contingency (Reese, 1978, p. 28). It is important to identify current contingencies because those that interfere with the progress toward a behavioral goal must be modified or other more powerful contingencies added. We have also noted earlier that the system may support or impede change. Systems influence the outcomes of behavior analysis programs because of the contingencies that operate within the system. In this manual you will have several opportunities to practice identifying the contingencies that are currently influencing behavior. In Chapter 4 you conduct a sequence analysis, which permits you to record antecedents and consequences of behavior. Chapters 11 and 12 also will guide you through an analysis of current contingencies, as you design programs of behavior change for yourself or a client.

8. Select Procedures It is the application of behavioral procedures that accomplishes the desired changes. Behavior analysis has identified and continues to identify and evaluate a broad array of procedures to increase, decrease, develop, or maintain behavior and to widen or limit the conditions under which it occurs. Each procedure has its own attributes, advantages, and disadvantages, and for each there are optimal methods of application. Textbooks on behavior analysis (for example, Reese, 1978; Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977) focus heavily on behavioral procedures, and the

behavioral journals to which we frequently refer in this manual report and evaluate new procedures as they are developed. Although it is not the intent of this manual to serve as a source book for basic procedures, some review is provided. You will note the inclusion of portions of the tables of behavioral procedures from Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer (1977) for your ready refer-

ence. (See Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 9.) To help you refine your skills in this area, you will participate in a workshop on procedural selection in the other Chapter 5 and have some experience in selecting procedures during the workshop in Chapter 2 and in

in the workshops on operant procedures (Chapters 8 and 9). Naturally, selecting a procedure will be a key factor testing proceprograms you design for your self-management or client projects. By actually implementing and was. selection your dures in those projects, you will be able to assess how appropriate

9. Program Contingencies Once you decide what procedures to apply, you decide what specific contingencies are appropriate and exactly what antecedent and consequent events will be arranged: when, how much, a how often, and so forth. An example: ‘Following each class period, a child’s teacher will check the if week, the of end the At card, indicating whether or not she complied with instructions. select from a proportion of positive ratings meets a preset standard, her parents will permit her to reinforcing included has contingencies ‘menu’ of reinforcing activities.” The programming of immediacy, activities that are individually suited to this child and has incorporated principles of plan. consistency, optimal quality, and others within the programming When one talks about designing a program to change behavior, it is usually the beapplied the of functions major the of contingencies that is the point of reference. In fact,

-

That is havior analyst are programming contingencies and evaluating their effects upon behavior. why this aspect of the model is practiced so regularly throughout the manual.

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and 12). In Chapter You will have many opportunities to program contingencies (Chapters 2,5, 6,7, 8, 9,11, includes several . 4 Chapter cases. 2 you will begin to plan programs by considering contingencies for illustrative the behavior influencing be may that es contingenci about exercises that will enable you to form some hypotheses l clients hypothetica for s arrangement contingency designing practice will you 5 of people you observe. In Chapter contingency The client. actual an or yourself for reinforcers identifying towards steps initial some and may take arrangements on which you will focus in Chapter 7 will be those that promise to promote maintenance and for your own generalization of beneficial changes in behavior. You'll practice with simulated case studies and plan the evaluate can you that so arranged be es will contingenci how plan to need projects. For Chapter 6, you'll instructing of purposes for time s, this contingencie arrange again you'll 8, Chapter In programs. s of effectivenes your peers. Practice with those contingency arrangements that should lead to reductions in rates of behavior is provided in Chapter 9. Your most intimate involvement in programming contingencies will be when you plan, conduct, and evaluate your self-management or client project. That is when you will discover how much sophistication is required. You will also undoubtedly find out how many unanticipated events influence the progress of the program. We hope that these experiences will not only provide you with an appreciation for those behavioral programs that sound so deceptively simple when you read about them in the literature, but will also underscore for you the need to continue studying and improving your own knowledge and skills in the field.

= 10. Negotiate a Contract will be responsibilities what exactly concerned everyone to explicit makes contract A behavioral and parents, her teacher, her child, a Suppose followed. be will rules what and whom by assumed the school psychologist negotiate a contract. The responsibilities of each, the contingency arrangements, the rules for modifying the contract, and other terms are specified. Contracts are one method that may be used to support ethically responsible programming. You will participate in a workshop on negotiating contracts in Chapter 2, and you may also practice contracting skills in the projects you conduct (Chapters 11 and 12) and perhaps in some of the procedural chapters.

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11. Establish a Favorable Situation Earlier it was indicated that the social and physical environment must support the program to change behavior. A favorable situation is one that encourages the behavior we want to strengthen and discourages or prevents competing behavior. For example, people who want to write more efficiently would do well to clear their desks of all distractions and replace them with an ample supply of pens, pencils, paper, and reference materials. You will need to consider the situation in which behavior change is to take place and to plan any necessary modifications to make it more favorable. You'll have the opportunity to practice such planning in several chapters (Chapters 5, 7, 8,9, 11, and 12). The setting for teaching or therapy will need to be carefully selected during the workshops in Chapters 5, 8, 9, 11, and 12, whereas, during the workshop in Chapter 7, you'll focus on selecting a favorable situation for promoting generalization and maintenance.

12. Select Evaluation Procedures We have continually emphasized the accountability of applied behavior analysis — the fact that its programs are evaluated and its findings are communicated to consumers. The field has continued to refine its technology of program evaluation through various assessment procedures and within-subject experimental designs. Heavily emphasized are methods for evaluating change in the behavior patterns of individuals. In this manual you are guided through the steps required for evaluating the effectiveness of hypothetical (Chapter 6) and actual programs (Chapters 6, 11, and 12). You are also given, in Chapter 6, the opportunity to critique research reports in order to refine your ability to analyze the quality of the evaluation system used.

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C. Carrying Out the Program When a program has been carefully designed, carrying it out is fairly straightforward. Of course, there may be all sorts of unanticipated events that affect progress. But be reassured. The model permits revision, and the data will tell you when, and possibly how, to adjust the program. And when things are progressing well, the data will inform you of that as well, thereby reinforcing your careful planning. Throughout this manual you are given the opportunity to carry out the components of a behavior analysis program. By conducting an actual program with yourself or a client, you will experience the full model presented here. Chapters 11 and 12 integrate the range of experiences. We suggest that you skim those chapters at this time, noting how the components of the project match those of the model.

7. Permit Adaptation For the data to reflect behavior as accurately as possible, an adaptation phase should be planned. Clients often need a period of time to adapt or adjust to the presence of an observer, to a particular system of measurement, or even to recording their own behavior. Without an adaptation phase, baseline data may be atypical and misleading. Chapter 12 contains a field exercise to enable you to provide for and assess adaptation. You should plan adaptation phases in your self-management or client projects if there is any reason to believe that the introduction or measurement systems, or other technical aspects of the program, will produce temporary variations in the target behavior or any other behaviors being measure.

2. Record Baseline As repeated measures of your blood pressure, temperature, or pulse rate provide a standard against which physiological changes can be assessed, the behavioral baseline serves as a standard against which changing patterns of behavior can be assessed. We need baseline measures to ascertain the current level of behavior so that the program will not initially be too demanding, and we need them to evaluate progress throughout the program. Chapters 4, 6, and 7 will guide you in considering the conditions under which baselines should be assessed. Your practice in collecting baseline data will begin during Chapter 4. You will also collect baseline data for your self-management and client projects (Chapters 11 and 12).

3. Introduce Procedures When enough baseline data points have been recorded and graphed to depict a typical pattern of performance, the behavioral procedures are introduced. Contingencies are managed according to plan. 4. Build from Repertoire A critical element of the behavior analysis model is the focus on the individual's current repertoire of behavior. Procedures that increase or decrease behavior cannot be applied if the behavior never occurs. A program that stipulated reinforcing your operation of an airplane would make little sense if you had no familiarity with its instruments and how they functioned. Preliminary assessment and baseline establish the extent and the level of prerequisite skills, so you start with the current repertoire and move through the program as rapidly as progress permits. Building on current strengths and skills is emphasized in Chapters 8, 11, and 12.

5. Are the Changes Positive? Data are collected for a period of time sufficient to indicate whether or not the anticipated changes are occurring. If they are, the procedures would be maintained until the objectives were

rily discontinued). But met (or should the experimental design require it, they might be tempora then after the proceall, at g changin not or ng if the data indicate that the situation is worseni tried. be must res procedu dures have been given a fair try, alternative 6. Modify Procedures may need to be If the behavior does not change in the desired direction, then the procedure settings, and group , activities which in modified. In any given case, it may take several attempts, As the model indiachieved. are results l arrangements are systematically varied before successfu al loop of applyoperation the and not, or cates, it is the data that inform us if change is positive change is indipositive until s continue ing procedures, assessing for progress, and trying again, s.) objective and goals the reassess cated. (After repeated failed attempts, one might also you'll need to The skills involved in applying procedures and assessing for positive change are subtle, and and text in tables The help. of be should make an effort to develop them. The sources cited in our reference lists substino asserted, previously have we as is, There skills. this manual should also prompt you to improve those 10, 9, 8, 5, Chapters in elements the of some practice to opportunity the have You'll tute for guided practice. 11, and 12.

7. Apply Within-subject Design Evaluation continues throughout all phases of the program. By continually plotting and examining the data, you will find that anticipated and any unanticipated trends become readily apparent. Assuming that the occurrence of planned and unplanned events is scrupulously noted, you may begin to hypothesize their relation to the patterns of behavior observed. Careful recording of events and behavior may also suggest additional or perhaps more sensitive measures of behaviors of concern. Additionally, feedback from consumers, for example, their periodic ‘‘satisfaction” ratings, may provide some valuable information about the progress of the program. Beyond these general and continuing evaluations, there is the far more precise analysis of behavior, which tests whether or not the change is actually a function of the program rather than some artifact. Within-subject designs permit you to make this judgment. We are convinced that if a light repeatedly turns on or off when a switch is manipulated, the two events are related and that manipulating the switch is responsible for the change in illumination. To be convinced that a particular behavioral procedure rather than some artifact is responsible for the change, the presumed relation is put to the test. The procedures may be presented or withdrawn, either in rapid or in extended alternation. Or they may be presented contingent on one behavior, then on another, and so on, showing that reliable change occurs only when the procedure is in effect. Or the procedure may be applied contingent on the same behavior in different settings, demonstrating the systematic change in the behavior when and only when the procedure is applied in each novel setting; or the procedure may be applied in sequence to the behavior of different people. Again, we are convinced that the effect is attributable to the procedure if it occurs only when the procedure is applied and if it can be replicated across different behaviors, settings, or subjects. This sort of evaluation is critical for the responsible practice of behavior analysis, for it demonstrates that it is the programmed procedures that are responsible for the observed success, not some other event that happened to coincide with the program. In several places in this manual you are guided through the steps involved in implementing the within-subject experimental design phase of the program. Chapter 6 is devoted to this topic. Besides learning how to analyze evaluations reported in the literature, you will design programs to evaluate a hypothetical case and a project with a client. The experience of actually applying an evaluation design will arrive when you conduct your own selfmanagement or client project in Chapters 11 or 12. The data that you collect throughout the program will inform you how effectively the procedures are working and whether or not they need to be revised. The experimental design will inform you whether or not it is the procedures that are responsible for the observed changes.

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8. Carry Out Maintenance Procedures There are several reasons why maintenance and generalization require special attention. First,

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recently acquired appropriate behavior may easily be overlooked in a different environment, thereby causing the new behavior to extinguish. Or the person may discriminate those conditions ~ under which given contingencies are in effect from other conditions. Then the change in behavior may be limited to times when these conditions are present. Thus it is necessary to take specific steps if behavior is to occur under conditions that may not have prevailed during the program and if it is to endure. In Chapter 7, we review several procedures that are designed to promote maintenance of a behavior. You will also review published research to see how the expert provides for and assesses generality and maintenance. The workshops in Chapters 2 and 7 will involve you in programming maintenance and generalization for simulated and actual cases. Of course, in the self-management and client projects (Chapters 11 and 12), it is expected that both generalization and maintenance procedures will be carried out.

D. After the Program Is Completed 1. Take Follow-up Measures Promoting change in behavior is one thing. Being able to demonstrate that the change is durable in the absence of any contrived contingencies is quite another. In the event that the change is not enduring, it is then necessary to return to an earlier step to revise or reinstate maintenance, or perhaps even the initial intervention procedures until the desired change is recovered. The only way to determine the durability of an effect is to take periodic measures after the program is completed. In Chapter 7, we describe a study to reduce safety hazards. A feedback system was successful in reducing the number of hazards in a factory, but we were concerned that the number of hazards might creep back up when the research team left the premises. Follow-up data collected after three days, two weeks, six weeks, and four months allayed those fears. Chapter 7 emphasizes the importance of collecting follow-up data, and the workshop will allow you to plan methods for promoting durable change in simulated and actual cases. Time permitting, you will be expected to provide follow-up data for the self-management or client programs that you conduct.

2 and 3. Is Change Enduring? Your follow-up data will tell you if the behavior change has endured or not. If, after a sufficient duration, the data indicate effective maintenance, you would progress to the last step in the

model, communicating the results. If not, you would revise or reinstate maintenance procedures, perhaps for a more extensive time period. Should those measures prove ineffective, it might even be necessary to reinstitute the full program, perhaps with revisions.

4. Communicate Results The responsibility for conducting a program does not end with the results. The client and the other people concerned must be informed of the procedures that achieved the results and of those that will be necessary to maintain them. When a program is innovative with respect to clients, behavior, setting, procedure, or kind of evaluation — or when it fails to replicate earlier studies — it should also be reported to members of the scientific community. The ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, is an important skill for the applied behavior analyst. In fact, in a survey conducted by Sulzer-Azaroff, Thaw, and Thomas, (1975), effective oral and written communication was judged to be essential or highly desirable by virtually all respondents. Because the ability to communicate effectively involves

a complex set of skills, two chapters (13 and 14) have

been designed to guide you through the preparation of written and oral reports. We hope that these chapters will

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by your peers, by help you communicate clearly and effectively and in a manner that can be readily understood professionals, and by consumers of your services.

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11. SUMMARY Thus far we have introduced a general model for applying behavior analysis. The workshops and field activities in Part | focus on each step of the model in turn; and they provide the opportunity to develop the skills that are essential in designing, conducting, and evaluating a behavioral program. The underlying theme, accountability, is stressed throughout. The exercises in Part | employ several different formats, and the examples cover a variety of clients, settings, goals, and procedures. This diversity illustrates different teaching formats and provides some exposure to different areas of the field, but it lacks the continuity that comes from seeing a program through from start to finish. So we hope that each of you will undertake ° at least one of the many sorts of projects described in Part I1. These projects will provide a unifying experience for the course — and an acid test of the model. Because most projects take several weeks and because many people have trouble deciding what they want to do, we suggest that you look at Chapter 11 (self-management) and Chapter 12 (other projects) very early in the course. Don’t be alarmed at the length of these chapters. Much of the material is integrated with the chapters in Part |, and not all of the exercises will be appropriate in any given case. You should write a preliminary proposal for a project within the first three or four weeks of the course and then meet with your instructor to decide which of the many activities will be necessary to ensure the success of your particular project. The high point of the course — for you, for your colleagues, and for your instructor — will be the presentation of your project (Chapter 14). The Epilogue (Chapter 15) is essentially a definition of an applied behavior analyst. It contains a list of competencies that experts in the field have identified as essential or desirable for anyone practicing behavior analysis (Table 15.1). As the list includes criteria for assessing competence, it can be considered a statement of the goals for training behavior analysts. It would be

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impossible to attain all of these competencies in a single course, but you will see that most of them appear as goals in this manual. Table 15.1 includes a checklist so that you can monitor your progress in attaining the competencies of applied behavior analysis. You may be able to check several now, in which case your baseline is well above zero. You may want to keep a running graph, plotting the cumulative number of competencies attained (the criteria checked) against time. At the end of your course, you will see how far you’ve come and which areas need more work if you intend to become a professional in this field. Turn in a copy of the checklist to your instructor and a copy of the graph if you have made one. A course is itself an example of applied behavior analysis, and instructors need feedback, too. Your data will reinforce effective planning and teaching and will indicate what aspects of the course should be revised another year.

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* Workshops and Field Activities

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@ Ethics and Accountability: Written Agreements

Required

Optional

Date Due

To the Instructor |. Introduction A. Accountability in Education and Therapy B. Writing Behavioral Contracts 1. Preliminary steps 2. Stating contingencies 3. Reviewing and revising contracts and planning for maintenance C. Consumer Satisfaction

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11. Workshop:

Negotiating Contracts with Clients

Preparation

A. Case Study B. Selecting Goals C. Writing a Contract Field Activity: Analyzing a Journal Article for Compliance with Ethical Standards of Practice

To the Instructor and procedures The purpose of this workshop is to provide participants with experience in selecting goals having them by accomplished is This practice. responsible ethically for that meet established guidelines with the case concerned people other and psychologist, a client, the of roles the play and study select a case will do. people these of each what as they negotiate goals and procedures and write contracts that specify concern first the be should accountability that believe we This is the first activity in the manual because allow an should participants but required, is knowledge technical No settings. of those who work in applied before the workshop hour’s preparation as they will need to read the introduction and select a case study begins. reports upon ethical The field activity is designed to focus the attention of those who read research you may wish to alternatively, or, read, to article own their select either aspects of the studies. Participants may serve as activity this that select one or a set of provocative articles for them to analyze. We have found the basis for a fascinating group discussion.

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1. INTRODUCTION A. Accountability in Education and Therapy Nearly all members of the service professions agree that therapists and educators should be responsible, or accountable, to their clients. They don’t, however, always agree upon what ac-» countability means. To establish uniformity, some professional organizations have published ethical standards and guidelines that govern the practice of their members. The American Psychological Association, for example, has published several documents, including Ethical Stan-

dards of Psychologists (1979) and Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with Human Participants (1973). Both of these documents, which should be included in any psychology library, merit close inspection. We have included the ten ethical principles for research in Table 2.1 and, in Table 2.2, a set of guidelines, “Ethical Issues for Human Services,’ prepared by a committee of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy.

Despite such formal statements of ethical standards and despite the efforts of professional organizations to regulate the practice of their members, there have been many abuses of human rights, particularly in the treatment of institutionalized people. Some of these abuses have led to legal action and to court decisions that have broad ramifications for providers of human services, both as members of society and as members of a profession dedicated to serving society. A case that has helped to establish legal standards for the care and treatment of institutionalized people is Wyatt v. Stickney (1972). In Wyatt v. Stickney, the State of Alabama was charged with failure to provide adequate treatment for people in state institutions for the mentally disabled and mentally retarded. The court established three principles, namely, that the institutions must provide (1) a humane physical and psychological environment, (2) qualified staff in numbers sufficient to administer adequate treatment, and (3) individualized treatment plans for each resident. These three important principles are beyond the scope of a single workshop, and we shall not discuss what constitutes a humane environment or the numbers and qualifications of institutional staff. We shall concentrate on the third, quite revolutionary, principle that people are entitled to individualized treatment plans. The provisions for individualized treatment plans established by Wyatt v. Stickney are shown in Table 2.3. They include a statement of the patient’s problems and needs and the least restrictive conditions necessary to achieve the purposes of commitment; a description of the intermediate and long-range goals of treatment and a projected timetable for their attainment; a statement and justification of the treatment plan, including the responsibilities of staff; continuous review and, if necessary, modification of the treatment plan; and criteria for release to less restrictive conditions and for discharge. The model of applied behavior analysis described in this manual incorporates ethical provisions that are quite similar to those set down in the Wyatt v. Stickney decision and that extend beyond the treatment of institutionalized persons to the use of behavioral procedures in any con-

ee These provisions (which are discussed in Reese, 1978, Chapter 8) are summarized in Table A. During the course of this workshop, we shall emphasize (1) informed consent from the client and other people involved in the program to the goals, procedures, costs, and duration of treatment; (2) continuing evaluation of treatment; and (3) transfer of the program to the client's natural environment and — to whatever extent is possible — to self-management so that the person can function independently. 1

:

:

3

For excellent discussions of Wyatt v. Stickney and other legal decisions, see Budd and Baer (1976) and Martin (1974).

16

Table 2.1. Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with Human Participants

The decision to undertake research should rest upon a considered judgment by the individual psychologist about how best to contribute to psychological science and to human welfare. The responsible psychologist weighs alter_ native directions in which personal energies and resources might be invested. Having made the decision to conduct research, psychologists must carry out their investigations with respect for the people who participate and with concern for their dignity and welfare. The principles that follow make explicit the investigator’s ethical responsibilities toward participants over the course of research, from the initial decision to pursue a study to the steps necessary to protect the confidentiality of research data. These principles should be interpreted in terms of the context provided in the complete document offered as a supplement to these principles. 1. In planning a study the investigator has the personal responsibility to make a careful evaluation of its ethical acceptability, taking into account

decision to limit this freedom increases the investigator’s responsibility to protect the participant's dignity and welfare.

these principles for research with human beings. To.

Ethically acceptable research begins with the

the extent that this appraisal, weighing scientific

establishment of a clear and fair agreement be-

and humane values, suggests a deviation from any principle, the investigator incurs an increasingly serious obligation to seek ethical advice and to ob-

tween the investigator and the research participant that clarifies the responsibilities of each. The investigator has the obligation to honor all promises and commitments included in that agreement. 7. The ethical investigator protects participants from danger. physical and mental discomfort, harm, and inIf the risk of such consequences exists, the

sorta lta stringent safeguards to protect the : ord orate Sri AS Sts ee - Responsibility for the establishment and ~ abidyion nance of acceptable ethical practice in research

vestigator is required to inform the participant of that fact, secure consent before proceeding, and eles possible eveaeutce toaneaie Mictease:

always pee with the individual ie oa alah The investigator is also responsible for the ethical treatment of research participants by collaborators,

A research procedure may not be used if it is likely

ees pe ladle Ei edae all of whom, , pate poise pa ef : il a od . Ethical practice requires the investigator to inform

to cause serious and lasting harm to participants. 8. After the data are collected, ethical practice se-

quires the investigator to provide the participant with a full clarification of the nature of the study and to remove any misconceptions that may have arisen. Where scientific or humane values justify delaying or withholding information, the investigator acquires a special responsibility to assure that there are no damaging consequences for the

the perp of all features of the research that reasonably might be expected #2 influence willingness to participate and 2 explain all other wae titi of the research about which the participant ‘o sesiah oe Failure co make full disclosure gives added emphasis to the Wivestsatpr. s responsibility to ike tect the welfare and dignity of the research partici-

participant.

te.

pane.

9. Where research procedures may result in undesirable consequences for the participant, the investigator has the responsibility to detect and remove or

. Openness and honesty are essential characteristics of the relationship between investigator and research participant. When the methodological re-

correct these consequences, including, where rele-

quirements of a study necessitate concealment or

vant, long-term aftereffects.

deception, the investigator Is required to ensure

for the participant's understanding of the ofreasons the relathis action and to restore the quality

10. Information obtained about the research participants during the course of an investigation is confidential. When the possibility exists that others may obtain access to such information, ethical research practice requires that this possibility, together with the plans for protecting confidentiality, be explained to the participants as a part of the procedure for obtaining informed consent.

tionship with the investigator. _ Ethical research practice requires the investigator to respect the individual’s freedom to decline to participate in research or to discontinue participation at any time. The obligation to protect this freedom requires special vigilance when the investigator is in a position of power over the participant. The

Ne

Source:

American

Psychological Association, 1973.

17

Me

Table 2.2. Ethical Issues for Human Services appointed a comIn 1975, the Board of Directors of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy committee conThe . organization the for practice ethical on statement a of t mittee to consider the developmen and Richard B. Stuart sisted of Nathan H. Azrin, (Anna Mental Health and Developmental Center, Anna, Illinois)

(University of Utah, Salt Lake City), co-chairpersons; Todd R. Risley (University of Kansas, Lawrence); and-.

Directors adopted Stephanie B. Stolz (National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland). The Board of th this statement at its May 22, 1977 meeting. to focus on critical Rather than recommending a list of prescriptions and proscriptions, the committee agreed ethical issues of central importance to human services. by the person On each of the issues described below, ideal interventions would have maximum involvement person, the that on pressures societal of n consideratio possible fullest the and changed, be to is whose behavior sometherapist, and the therapist’s employer. The committee recognizes that the practicalities of actual settings with ethical consistent be can exceptions when occasions are certainly there that and exceptions, require times practice. Even though some exceptions may eventually be necessary, the committee feels that each of these issues ‘ should be explicitly considered. The questions related to each issue have deliberately been cast in a general manner that applies to all types of interventions, and not solely or specifically to the practice of behavior therapy. The committee felt strongly that issues directed specifically to behavior therapists might imply erroneously that behavior therapy was in some way more in need of ethical concern than non-behaviorally-oriented therapies. In the list of issues, the term “client” is used to describe the person whose behavior is to be changed; “therapist” is used to describe the professional in charge of the intervention; ‘‘treatment’”’ and “‘problem,”’ although used in the singular, refer to any and all treatments and problems being formulated with this checklist. The issues are formulated so as to be relevant across as many settings and populations as possible. Thus, they need to be qualified when someone other than the person whose behavior is to be changed is paying the therapist, or when that person’s competence or the voluntary nature of that person's consent is questioned. For example, if the therapist has found that the client does not understand the goals or methods being considered, the therapist should substitute the client's guardian or other responsible person for ‘‘client,’’ when reviewing the issues below. A. Have the goals of treatment been adequately considered? 1. To insure that the goals are explicit, are they written? 2. Has the client’s understanding of the goals been assured by having the client restate them orally or in writing? 3. Have the therapist and client agreed on the goals of therapy? 4. Will serving the client’s interests be contrary to the interests of other persons?

5. Will serving the client’s immediate interests be contrary to the client’s long term interest?

C. Is the client’s participation voluntary? 1. Have possible sources of coercion on the client’s participation been considered? 2. If treatment is legally mandated, has the available range of treatments and therapists been offered? 3. Can the client withdraw from treatment without a penalty or financial loss that exceeds actual clinical costs? D. When another person or an agency is empowered to arrange for therapy, have the interests of the sub-

ordinated client been sufficiently considered? 1. Has the subordinated client been informed of the

; B. Has the choice of treatment methods been ade-

treatment objectives and participated in the choice of treatment procedures?

quately considered?

2. Where the subordinated client’s competence to

1. Does the published literature show the procedure to be the best one available for that problem?

decide is limited, have the client as well as the guardian participated in the treatment discussions

2. If no literature exists regarding the treatment method, is the method consistent with generally

to the extent that the client’s abilities permit?

accepted practice? 3. Has the client been told of alternative procedures that might be preferred by the client on the basis of significant differences in discomfort, treatment

ee cost, or degree of demonstrated effective-

a . If the interests of the subordinated person and the superordinate persons or agency conflict, have attempts been made to reduce the conflict by dealing with both interests?

E. Has the adequacy of treatment been evaluated?

‘ 4. \fa treatment procedure is publicly, legally, or professionally controversial, has formal professional consultation been obtained, has the reaction of the affected segment of the public been adequately considered, and have the alternative treatment methods been more closely reexamined and reconsidered?

18

1. Have quantitative measures of the problem an its progress been obtained? . a 2. Have the measures of the problem and its progress been made available to the client during treatment?

e

.

F. Has the confidentiality of the treatment relationship been protected? ‘1. Has the client been told who has access to the records? 2. Are records available only to authorized persons? : G: Does the therapist refer the clients to other therapists when necessary? 1. If treatment is unsuccessful, is the client referred to other therapists? 2. Has the client been told that if dissatisfied with the treatment, referral will be made?

H. Is the therapist qualified to provide treatment? 1. Has the therapist had training or experience in treating problems like the client's? 2. |f deficits exist in the therapist’s qualifications, has the client been informed? 3. If the therapist is not adequately qualified, is the client referred to other therapists, or has supervision by a qualified therapist been provided? Is the client informed of the supervisory relation? A. lf the treatment is administered by mediators, have the mediators been adequately supervised by a qualified therapist?

Source: Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, 1977, pp. 763-764.

The continuing evaluation of treatment is particularly important because most behaviorists adopt the position that education and therapy are, by definition, successful. Education isn’t education unless the student learns. Therapy isn’t therapy unless the client gets better. Treatment isn’t treatment if it isn’t. This means that accountability requires objective evaluation of treatment. \t means that educational and therapeutic procedures derive from empirical research; and it means that when the procedures are applied, objective criteria are used to evaluate their effectiveness. In other words, accountability requires data in addition to other criteria of ethical practice. We strongly recommend written agreements that specify goals and procedures and also specify the responsibilities of all parties concerned. Teaching participants to write agreements, or contracts, is the purpose of this workshop. A good example of a professional client-therapist contract has been prepared by Richard B. Stuart and is available from Research Press. This contract form is reproduced in Table 2.5.? Other, often simpler, contracts can be negotiated by parents and children, teachers and students, counselors and campers, husbands and wives, and by institutional staff members and residents or patients. (Contracts are also proving useful in self-management projects. See Chapter 11.) Table 2.6 is a contract negotiated by a high school senior, his mother, the school counselor, was and the student’s math teacher. David, who was already a year behind most of his classmates, of failing math for the second time; and it seemed unlikely that he could graduate in June. Part other in grades His course. the for homework the did never almost he the problem was that Most courses were borderline passing, and it was agreed that he should put more effort into math. earn would David privilege or reward the concerned contract particular of the negotiating of this after-school if he did do his math assignments and earned a passing grade in the course. He had an full time. work and school leave to wanted he that said often had he and job in a machine shop, reinforcer available. The job itself, as well as the money it paid, seemed to be the most effective did his math Because the last period of the day was a study hall, it was agreed that if David David passed all his assignments, he could skip the last period and go to his job one hour early. large machines. The courses, was graduated, and went to work in a nearby factory that produces opportunities for advancefollowing fall, he decided to take night courses in math to improve his ment on the job.

2Stuart’s contract is discussed in Reese (1978, pp. 254-255). See Reese, pp. 73-79 and 233-241 Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977, pp. 89-92 and 379-381.

19

for other contracts. See also

Table 2.3. Individualized Treatment Plans for Institutionalized Patients Each individualized treatment plan shall contain:

_ A statement of the nature of the specific problems and specific needs of the patient; of commitment; _ Astatement of the least restrictive treatment conditions necessary to achieve the purposes their attainment; for A description of intermediate and long-range treatment goals, with a projected timetable goals; long-range _ Astatement and rationale for the plan of treatment for achieving these intermediate and in order patient the oaQao»9® . Aspecification of staff responsibility and a description of proposed staff involvement with : to attain these treatment goals; f. Criteria for release to less restrictive treatment conditions, and criteria for discharge; g. A notation of any therapeutic tasks and labor to be performed by the patient in accordance with Standard 18. Source: Wyatt v. Stickney, 344 F. Supp. 373 (M.D. Ala. 1972) at 384.

Table 2.4. Dimensions of Accountability

.

1. Therapist Competence 2. Informed Consent a. goals b. procedures (including negative effects) c. cost and duration of treatment d. measures to evaluate treatment . Continuing Evaluation of Treatment

. Right to Terminate . Right to Privacy . Transfer to Natural Environment and Self-Management . Follow-up . Fees: Contingent on Expenses and Success . Written Agreement (Contract) W OF OANO Source: Reese, 1978, p. 250.

Table 2.7 is acontract similar to those negotiated by residents and staff at a state institution for the retarded. The residents, or their advocates, negotiate a written agreement with the appropriate people on the staff. The agreements specify long- and short-term goals, the responsibilities of the residents, and the privileges they will earn by meeting those responsibilities. In this case, Jim can earn points at his job, and the number of points depends on the quality of his performance. He can also earn points in the residence building and bonus points if he doesn’t get into any fights or arguments. This particular contract includes penalties for misbehavior: The procedure designed to reduce fighting, arguing, or running away is “Response Cost” or loss of points. Jim can trade in his points for privileges such as extra treats, movies, and games at the recreation center and extra visits home. There are at least three excellent books on writing contracts, all of which have been widely tested in the field. The earliest, by Homme and his colleagues (1970), describes contracting in the classroom. Of the recent manuals, Sign Here, by Dardig and Heward (1976) was written for children and their parents; and Writing Behavioral Contracts, by DiRisi and Butz (1975) is a casesimulation manual that covers several areas.

20

Table 2.5. Client-Therapist Contract (prepared by Richard B. Stuart) ne

ee

ee

Ey

ee

ee

Name of Client: Address:

et lee9,en

Name of therapist: Title: Organization: Highest academic degree:

License:

Phone:

. |, the above named therapist, certify that | am (circle one) duly licensed to offer the services described below or under the supervision of

(Name, address)

who is so licensed.

. | have assessed the client’s behavior change objective(s) in the following manner:

the above . | propose to use the following intervention technique(s) in my effort to assist the client to achieve objective(s):

a. This (these) technique(s) have been fully described in the following standard professional reference: may be b. The most recent comprehensive account of the clinical results achieved with this (these) technique(s) found in the following source(s):

effects for the client . It is expected that this (these) intervention technique(s) will have the following beneficial by the dates specified: undesirable side _ It is also noted that this (these) intervention technique(s)may be associated with the following effect(S\ie ee __ Lneeeeee be monitored . Both the progress toward achieving the specified objectives and the potential side effects will continuously in the following manner(s):

ee

Signature of Therapist

Date

change of my be_ |, the above named client, assert that | have discussed the above named objectives for the objectives. those of achievement the toward work to consent | that havior and ) with the therapist and that | _ | further assert that | have discussed the above named intervention technique(s s. technique these apply consent to the effectiveness of the use of _ | further assert that | shall provide the above named data in order to determine the intervention technique(s). on for his or her efforts in my _ | further assert that | shall provide the therapist with the following compensati eee e ee ed te Fee e Pine behalf: the both and objectives therapeutic the knowing OF my >> pn. _ | further assert that | have freely entered into this contract (s). positive and negative potential effects of the intervention technique participation in treatment at any time, _ | further assert that | have been assured of my right to terminate my on. explanati an offer to need the for any reason, and without information which can in any way identify _| further specifically limit the above named therapist's use of any n. permissio written specific, my me to others unless | have offered

Signature of Witness

Signature of Client

Date EEE ee Ill. n, Copyright 1975, Research Press, Champaig

21

Table 2.6. Contract with a High School Student 8

a i

Mrs. Thompson

Mr. Callahan

Math Teacher:

Mrs. Benoit

Counselor:

00

Mother:

David Thompson

Client:

Effective dates:

to

Feb. 27

Feb. 28

GOALS

_ David will graduate from high school Bond term: OE

David will complete his homework assignments in math and earn a grade of C (or better)

Short-term:

ee

=

epuiin the'course! Responsibility

Privileges

(Who, What, When, How well)

(Who, What, When, How much)

ale

2

3:

ee

David will turn in his completed math

David will be excused from the last

assignment to Mr, Callahan at the

period of the day (study hall) so

beginning of class.

he can go to work ] hour early.

Mr. Callahan will correct David’s

Mrs. Benoit will thank Mr. Callahan

homework and inform Mrs. Benoit of

and she will keep all graphs of

his grade by 1 PM each day.

David’s progress

(If the homework does not earn a grade of at least C, this contract

will be revised next week.) BONUS If all assignments are turned in for the week, and all are graded C or better, David can leave for work 2 hr. early on Friday. PENALTY none

Who will monitor the behavior: What records will be kept?

Mr. Callahan and Mrs. Benoit Homework assignments: number turned in and grade

Who will be responsible for the delivery of reinforcers, privileges?

signed:

David Thompson

Mrs, Benoit

date

Feb. 17

Thomas W. Callahan

date

QI:

date

EeD es

Marilyn S. Thompson

date

Feb. 18

client

Jeanne C. Benoit counselor

This contract will be reviewed (date)

22

Feb, 28

Table 2.7. Contract in a State Institution

Client: Advocate:

Mrs. Recor

Work Supervisor:

Jim

Mr. Turner

Building Supervisor:

Mike Monahan

Dr. Lucas

Psychologist:

Effective Dates:

Apr. 24

ApralOmeto

Long-term goals: Placement in supervised community residence one housekeeping job in residence Short-term goals: Hold down full-time job within institution; complete other residents; keep financial records. and staff with arguments and fights of building each day; reduce number Responsibilities

Positive Ratings

Points/Day

Job: Jim will arrive at work on time; Jim will arrive at work on time; Give his job-evaluation form to Mrs. Recor; Earn positive ratings for attendance, punctuality, and job performance as specified on evaluation form and rated by Mrs. Recor.

90-100% 80-89 70-79

10 5 Zz

Residence Building Jim will give his job-evaluation form to Mr. Turner by 5:30 p.m. each work day; Perform housekeeping job as specified; Keep daily records of points earned and spent, and check them with Mr. Turner.

1 0-5

2

Bonus No reported fights or arguments with residents or staff

10

(any disagreement to be settled by Dr. Lucas) Perfect day: 10 job pts; 8 building pts; no fights or arguments

20

Penalty Fighting or verbal abuse or running away: Argument continuing after a warning: (Points to be exchanged for privileges at the standard rate.)

loss of 5 pts and evening's social activities loss of 1 pt, and evening's social activities

Work Supervisor

Client

Building Supervisor

Advocate

Psychologist

This contract will be reviewed:

23

Abies)

1!

B. Writing Behavioral Contracts 1. Preliminary Steps When writing a behavioral contract, the first step is to decide who should be party to the contract. Generally speaking, everyone who will participate in designing or carrying outa program should help negotiate the contract. The contract shown in Table 2.7 is one negotiated by a resident of a state institution and members of the staff. Because the client, Jim, is not considered to be fully responsible for his own welfare and because his parents are not alive, a student named Mike has acted as Jim’s advocate. Other parties to this contract are the work supervisor, the building supervisor, and a staff psychologist. Next, the goals should be agreed upon, and what the client will actually do should be stated as precisely as possible. In their manual for families, Dardig and Heward (1976) suggest that all members of the family make lists of what they already do to help make things run smoothly at home. Only then do they make lists of other things they might do! That is surely a positive approach and a good way to build upon existing efforts to cooperate. It also gets negotiation off to a good start if potential reinforcers — rewards or privileges — are selected during the preliminary stages. 2. Stating the Contingencies Behavioral contracts are also called contingency contracts because they specify exactly what rewards or privileges will depend upon exactly what tasks or responsibilities. These dependencies are the critical features of a contract, and it often requires skillful negotiation to determine what they should be. The only other essential features are the dates the contract will be in effect, provisions for monitoring the behavior and delivering the rewards and also the signatures of all concerned. However, we like the format shown in Tables 2.6 and 2.7 which includes a statement of long- and short-term goals as well as a bonus clause. In some cases, as in Table 2.7, a penalty clause is added. Effective contracts are fa/r to all parties. They should also be constructive, calling for accomplishment rather than sheer obedience; and they are positive rather than negative or threatening. They are honest, in that nothing is promised that cannot be delivered; and, above all, they are clear. Clarity means specifying who will do what, when, and where. It means specifying what rewards or privileges will be available, when they will be available, and in what amount. Finally, clarity means specifying the dependencies. An effective contract also specifies who will monitor what behavior and when, who will be responsible for the delivery of rewards, and who will keep what records. The contract in Table 2.7 divides the responsibility for keeping records among several parties. Table 2.8 (p. 30) is a checklist for writing and evaluating contracts. 3. Reviewing and Revising Contracts and Planning for Maintenance Contracts should be reviewed at frequent intervals, especially in the beginning and especially when you are moving toward a long-term goal. You may gradually want to raise the criterion of performance or gradually transfer to naturally occurring reinforcers or decrease the frequency of reinforcement. Also, in initial contracts, the counselor, parents, or teacher may have to assume nearly as many of the responsibilities as the client. As the goals are met, it may be possible to transfer increasingly more responsibility to the client. Professional help may be necessary to design and initiate a program, and extra support may be required from friends and relatives, but eventually one wants the gains to be maintained in the natural environment. Ideally, this is accomplished when clients design and conduct their own programs. Where this is not possible, many clients can begin to take over some of the responsibilities that were initially performed by others. The contract in Table 2.7, for example, shows that Jim is now keeping the records of the points he earns and spends. Initially, this was Mr. Turner's responsibility (and he still checks Jim’s records), but he is gradually turning it over to Jim. Incidentally, having Jim keep track of these financial transactions while he is in the institution is progress toward the long-term goal of placement in a supervised community residence.

24

:

€

C. Consumer Satisfaction When clients and the other people personally concerned about a given problem share in the selection of goals and procedures, we tend to assume that they, the consumers, are satisfied with the program proposed. And if the program succeeds as planned, we further assume that they are satisfied with the outcome. These assumptions seem particularly justified when the client and others concerned have negotiated written agreements. Nonetheless, consumer satisfaction is an important goal, and Wolf (1978) is among those who suggest that we collect evaluations from consumers. One way to do this is to ask the client and other consumers what outcomes will satisfy them and then to devise a rating scale that can be administered during and after the program. A questionnaire might solicit information about aspects of the program that the consumer particularly liked or disliked, unanticipated problems and benefits, the degree of “satisfaction” at various stages during and after the program, whether or not the consumer would recommend a similar program to others, and so forth. You will be asked to complete a consumer-satisfaction form after you participate in this workshop and the one on anxiety reduction (Chapter 10). If you conduct a project with a client or a workshop for your peers, you will be asked to devise a questionnaire to assess the satisfaction of the consumers of your program. Sample forms are included here and in Chapters 10 and 12. (See Tables 10.2, 12.6, 12.7, and 12.11.)

Il. WORKSHOP:

NEGOTIATING

CONTRACTS WITH CLIENTS

Preparation Human Services.”” 1. Read Introduction, including “Ethics for Human Research” and “Ethical Issues for select goals and write a to like would you which for one choose and 2. Read the case studies in the Appendix, workshops.) several in them to referring be will you because cases the all read to contract. (Be sure

Goals

Having mastered appropriate written material or discussed the ethical responsibilities of psychologists and members of other service professions, participants should be able to do the following: st, the client, and one or more other a Analyze a case study from the perspectives of a behavioral psychologi people concerned with the case. responsible practice. 2. Select one or more goals that meet specified criteria for ethically the goal or goals and provide for the gains achieve might that 3. Negotiate a series of fair and feasible contracts needed. longer. no are services ist’s psycholog to be maintained when the

Instructions

A. Case Study or four of you have been working with the same 1. Select a case study from those in the Appendix. (If three brief description of the client for your case study and a write client and wish to write a contract for that client, .) proceed through the workshop who are interested in the same case study. NO _ Divide into groups of three to five people the behavioral counselor or psychologist; and another, the role of the of role the assume should 3. One person Other advocate. client’s the of role the play behalf, own her student or client. If the client cannot act on his or a parent, example, for situation, the in people key other of roles the members of the group should assume sibling, teacher, counselor, therapist, staff member, social worker. cate with people who are not behavioral psychol4. One purpose of this exercise is to encourage you to communi — but precise — English. plain ogists. So avoid jargon, and conduct your discussions in 2.2). (Table ’ Services’” 5. Review the guidelines, ‘Ethical Issues for Human

25

General

. Is the goal a. Constructive? b. Likely to be supported in various settings? c. Likely to be maintained in the natural environment?

. What is the likelihood of success in achieving the goal? . Does the behavior analyst have sufficient a. Knowledge of procedures? b. Competence to implement procedures? c. Interest to achieve the goal? . Can existing programs achieve the goal more efficiently? . Does the goal permit placing more and more responsibility on the client? . ls the goal accessible to direct measurement? . Would achieving the goal have any undesirable consequences for the client or for society?

Behavior Analyst's Perspective

ie How important is the goal for the a. Client? b. Significant others? . How much time and effort will be required by the behavior analyst? . Is the goal acceptable to the behavior analyst in terms of a. Personal ethical values? b. Professional ethical values? c. Legal guidelines? . What short-term benefits and costs are likely to accrue to the a. Client? b. Significant others? c. Behavior analyst?

Client's Perspective . How important is the goal for the a. Client? b. Significant others? . How much time and effort will be required by the client? . ls the goal acceptable to the client? . What short-term benefits and costs are likely to accrue to the a. Client? b. Significant others? . What long-term benefits and costs are likely to accrue to the a. Client? b. Significant others?

. What long-term benefits and costs

Significant Others’ Perspectives . How important is the goal for the a. Client? b. Significant others? . How much time and effort will be required by others? . ls the goal acceptable to others in terms of

a. Personal ethical values? b. Legal guidelines? . What short-term benefits and costs are likely to accrue to the a. Client?

b. Significant others? . What long-term benefits and costs are likely to accrue to the

a. Client?

are likely to accrue to the

b. Significant others?

a. Client? b. Significant others? c. Behavior analyst?

Figure 2.1. Selecting Goals and Setting Priorities (Source: Sulzer-Azaroff and Ramey, 1976).

B. Selecting Goals 1 . While assuming the roles of the key people concerned, discuss possible goals for the client described in the case study you have selected. Refer to Figure 2.1 for questions to consider when selecting goals and setting priorities.

. Read the genera/ considerations and those from the perspective of the person you are representing. Be as serious and realistic as you can in playing the roles of the people involved. Use proper names when you speak to each other. For example, refer to Arthur’s mother as Mrs. Ernst or Mrs. Ramos, or use your own name. Don’t call her “mother” or ‘“Mrs. Genius.” . When you have arrived at a goal that appears to be constructive, important, and feasible, complete the worksheet on selecting goals. . Note: Negotiating goals and contracts is not easy. It can be a frustrating task, especially if you are used to imposing rules or having them arbitrarily imposed upon you. Don’t get embroiled in arguments or worry too much about every detail. Everyone has to give a little. Also, you'll have another chance to practice these skills

when you participate in a simulated interdisciplinary planning group (Chapter 5). . Do not take more than 25 minutes for this part of the workshop.

26

4

Date

Due

WORK SHEET: SELECTING GOALS Case Study: proWrite in the roles of participants other than the client and counselor. As the discussion the with agree you not or whether right the at indicate ceeds, fill out your work sheet, and one instructor the to in turn workshop, the of end the statement arrived at by the group. At completed and signed copy for your group.

Long-term goal(s):

1

ee

Short-term goal

1. Are there any subgoals or prerequisite skills that should be achieved first? ______. If yes, specify:

Others

_ Choose one of these subgoals or the original short-term goal

. Is the goal constructive? Will it be supported at

Will it be maintained at

school,

school,

. Is the goal likely to be achieved?

_ Who else’s help will be needed?

—————_______—____ Is this acceptable?

. How can the performance be measured? ge pe

Is this acceptable?

e Se eed e ee

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

27

BEBE.

Date

a

UG

7. Who will monitor the performance?

Is this acceptable?

Signatures:

Counselor

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

28

se eee aa

C. Writing a Contract 1. When you have agreed upon the goal or goals for your client, look over the checklist for contracts (Table 2.8), which you will fill out after you have written a contract. 2. Turn to the Contract Form, and write in one or two goals that all have agreed are constructive and possible to achieve. 3. Assuming the roles of the counselor, client (or advocate), and two other important people, negotiate a contract that is fair and feasible. (You may want to refer to Table 2.6, which has the same general format as the contract you will write.) a. Specify what the client will do, including the context (when, where) and the criteria (how well). b. Specify the reinforcers or privileges the client will earn for the desired behavior, and c. Specify the contingencies (see Chapter 1, p. 7): how much of the reinforcer depends upon what behavior, when the reinforcer will be delivered, and so on. 4. Decide upon a bonus for compliance and (optional) a penalty for noncompliance. delivery 5. Decide who will monitor the behavior, what records will be kept, and who will be responsible for the of reinforcers. the other 6. Look over your contract, and write in the short-term costs of achieving the goal for the client and for reinforcers? the afford you Can demanding? you people concerned. How much time or effort are 7. Decide whether or not the short-term and long-term benefits outweigh the costs. negotiating the con8. Although it is possible that the short-term benefits may not outweigh the costs, everyone the goal or the revise not, do they If tract should agree that the other items on the work sheet are acceptable. responsibilities until agreement is reached. write in the name of 9. Decide whether or not an existing program can achieve the goal more efficiently. If.so, of the person who name the and program) Brother Big a scouting, therapy, physical the program (for example, might serve as a liaison to that program. any necessary changes. 10. When you have completed this first contract, compare it to the checklist, and make you would make in changes the indicate and page, next the to proceed contract, first this 11. After negotiating future contracts. Consider the following: a. Raising the criteria of performance or developing related skills; then the amount of reinforcement b. Changes to promote generalization and maintenance (for example, decreasing and transferring more responsior increasing the delay, performing newly acquired skills in different settings, bility to the client).

ts in the Select a member of your group to describe your contract to the other participan workshop.

29

Table 2.8. Checklist: Contracts The Contract:

; obedience per se? than rather hment accomplis reward and for Does the contract call behavior? desired the to ions approximat Does it ask for small Does it provide for immediate reinforcement? (See 5.) may OrNDoes it provide for small amounts of the reinforcer to be delivered frequently? (Later contracts CET decrease the frequency and increase the delay while providing a larger reinforcer.)

E Is the behavior clearly specified?

Is the behavior to be rewarded after it occurs? Has the contract been mutually negotiated? ____

a. Is it fair? b. Is it positive (as opposed to threatening)? c. If there is a penalty clause, might it be punitive?

Is it clear who will monitor the behavior? Is it clear what records will be kept and when? Is it clear who is responsible for delivering the reinforcers? The Client

ie Does the client understand the terms of the contract? 2s Does the client agree that the terms are fair? Other Parties to the Contract (including the people collecting data, providing rewards.) ee

1. Do these people understand the terms of the contract?

2 aie

2. Do they understand how the behavior is to be measured? 3. Have provisions been made to verify the accuracy of the data?

Se

4. Have provisions been made to reinforce the behavior of these helpers?

After the Contract Has Been in Effect for a Few Days: 1. 2. 3. 4.

eee

5. Should the reinforcers be reevaluated?

a

6. Is punishment accidentally accompanying the behavior to be reinforced?

etd:

7. Does the data collector understand what should be counted or measured and when? Was this job rehearsed?

5s

8. Is the data collection too complex or difficult or time-consuming?

arab

———

Is Is Is Is

the the the the

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definition of the behavior adequate? Does it cover all situations that have arisen thus far? specified kind and amount of the reinforcer being delivered? reinforcer being delivered consistently? client getting the reinforcer from another source?

9. Should someone else be collecting the data or the job be divided?

10.

Has anew problem developed that is distracting attention from the conditions of the contract?

Several items taken from Homme et al. (1970) and DiRisi and Butz (1975).

30

:

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@

|

Satgnieeer ene

CONTRACT

FORM

Case Study

_

eeee = Due. fe

Name

General Goal(s) Long-term: Short-term:

Responsibility (Who, What, When, How well)

Privileges (Who, What, When, How much)

Bonus

Penalty Who will monitor the behavior?

What records will be kept?

Who will be responsible for delivery of reinforcers, privileges?

4

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

31

Date soiree 6

Ue

What are the short-term costs of achieving the goal for Client:

Others: Do the short-term benefits outweigh the costs? Do the long-term benefits outweigh the costs?

Yes

No

_______ Yes

No

Can existing programs achieve the goal more efficiently?

Yegr

Noe

If yes, specify the program: Liaison: Signed

Client

Date

Date

Date

Date

Counselor This contract will be reviewed (date) ___

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

32

¢

e

Pidtepee

to

DUC.

Name

Programming Assuming all goes well with the contract you have just negotiated, indicate the changes you might make in the second or third contract:

Responsibility

Privileges

a

Bonus

Penalty Who will monitor? What records?

Generalization and Maintenance

As all continues to go well, what further changes might you make to promote generalization to the natural environment and maintenance of gains when the counselor’s services are no longer needed?

Responsibility

Privileges

Bonus

Penalty Who will monitor?

What records?

4

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

33

ators

Name

tent at Seu

CONSUMER SATISFACTION

FEEDBACK:

p. Please complete this form and return it at the end of the worksho

difficulty, and its educational Rate each part of the workshop with respect to its interest, its value (how much you learned).

or required no effort Use a 7-point scale where (1) means that the activity was totally boring ly difficult or of extreme or or taught you nothing and (7) means the activity was fascinating great educational value. Difficulty

Interest

Educational Value

Introduction Content

Examples and illustrations Adequacy of coverage Workshop Instructions

Een

Case histories

Role playing Selecting goals Writing contracts

Fa eae ate

Discussion

Would you recommend this workshop to others? Additional concerning workshop, negotiating

comments for leader(s) of workshop. Please add any constructive comments such matters as how well the workshop leader seemed prepared to conduct the how helpful the leader was if you had trouble following our instructions or difficult parts of a contract, or suggestions for revising the workshop.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

34

€

e |

Il, FIELD ACTIVITY: ANALYZING A JOURNAL ARTICLE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL STANDARDS OF PRACTICE With few exceptions, such as training animals, applied behavior analysis involves the modification

of the behavior of human beings. The field resembles other areas of human services in that it is concerned with improving behavior that is socially important. It also resembles basic research in that it requires objective evaluation of empirical data. Because the method has aspects of both treatment and research, the application of behavior analysis should conform to the ethical standards of both. For this reason, this chapter includes both the Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with Human Participants by the American Psychological Association (1973) and the Ethical Issues for Human Services identified by the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (1977). (See Tables 2.1 and 2.2.) An early step in learning how to apply behavior analysis as an ethically responsible practitioner is to be able to evaluate the work of others. Published reports of applied behavior analysis or behavior modification should indicate how ethical safeguards have been implemented. As a student, you should be able to assess critically these reports and determine the extent to which ethical standards of practice have been followed. Goals

By the end of this field activity, you should be able to do the following: | 1. 2. 3. 4.

Locate a report of behavioral research that has important ethical implications.

Read the report. Assess the ethical aspects of the study from several perspectives. Suggest procedures for fulfilling any ethical provisions that were omitted or for correcting those that you judge inappropriate.

35

Date eee

ee

ee UC

Namie

The following journals publish reports of applied behavior analysis (or behavior modification or behavior therapy): Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis Behavior Therapy Behaviour Research and Therapy Behavior Modification Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Education and Treatment of Children With the assistance of your instructor or supervisor, choose a recent issue of one of those journals or another that publishes research in behavior analysis. (Alternatively, your instructor may assign a specific study for you to read.) Identify an article that is both of interest to you and appears to have important ethical implications.

A. Reference 1. List the authors: (List last names, initials of first, middle names.)

2. Write the title of the study:

3. Journal

Year

Fe

Volume number

Pages: From

B. Description of the study. Read the article, then briefly: 1. State the behavioral problem addressed:

2. Indicate the goals and/or objectives of the study:

3. Tell what behaviors were measured:

4. Describe the procedures that were applied:

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

37

Due

Date

Name

5. Describe the short-term results:

the results of that assess6. If there was any long-term follow-up assessment, describe ment:

treated behaviors were 7. If any untreated behaviors were measured or if any of the describe the results of people, measured outside of the treatment setting or with other the assessment of those behaviors:

C. Compliance with Ethical Standards/Practice

Comment on ways that these factors might have been better addressed in the study. 1. Selection of goals Referring to section A of the AABT statement on Ethical Issues for Human Services (Table 2.2): a. Describe how the client participated in the selection of the goals:

b. Describe the probable benefits of achieving the goals for the client and others:

2. Selection of procedures: To what extent were alternative procedures examined and their effects and possible side effects explained?

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

38

3. Openness and Honesty Consider the ethics of the treatment applied. Comment on the following factors, indicating when the safeguard was explicitly or implicitly implemented or when an alternative method should have been used. (In case a particular factor is not applicable, write WV.A. in the space provided.) a. Clarification of responsibilities of therapist, client, and others:

b. If a contract was negotiated, describe its major provisions:

c. If no contract was negotiated, on a separate sheet of paper sketch out a contract that would meet the ethical concerns of participants in relation to the nature of the treatment applied. Attach the proposed contract. . Evaluation of treatment

a. Describe the measures used to monitor progress:

b. Was the progress record made available to the client?

. Confidentiality What steps were taken to assure confidentiality?

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

4

39

@ Behavioral Objectives

and Task Analyses

Required

Optional

Date Due

To the Instructor |. Introduction

11. Workshop or Field Activity: Translating goals into Objectives 111. Workshop or Field Activity: Analyzing Tasks

a

2th

eee

IV. Workshop: Self-management: Goals and Objectives A. Introduction B. Goals C. Preparation D. Instructions

To the Instructor This chapter should enable your students to begin to plan precise intervention strategies geared to the repertoires and skills of the clients they are to assist and directed toward the achievement of identified goals. Many of the participants in your group will probably have had experience in analyzing complex tasks and in writing behavioral objectives, especially those who have mastered the content of behaviorally oriented educational psychology or instructional technology courses. But precision in stating tasks and objectives is critical for the success of behavioral programs. Thus, it is essential that a// participants have mastered those skills prior to beginning the workshop; Self-management: Goals and Objectives, and particularly before they begin planning projects with clients. We, therefore, suggest that the first two activities in this chapter (If and II!) be assigned to those students who have not yet demonstrated mastery of those skills and that they be optional for the others. Field Activity I! should be evaluated by students themselves. The two field activities may be conducted either in a small group setting or independently outside of class. The first should take no more than a half hour, whereas the second will take approximately 90 minutes. Specific suggestions for organizing and conducting the workshop are provided further on in that section.

4

41

|. INTRODUCTION: OBJECTIVES will occur and Objectives differ from goals in that they are precise statements of what behavior measured and be will behavior the the context in which it will occur. Objectives also state how direction to clear provide s objective l standards or criteria for acceptable performance. Behaviora

of the client’s both trainers and clients and remove sources of ambiguity. When the statement take place and to is action the action is paired with a specification of the conditions under which to assess possible the exact level or criterion for accomplishment of the objective, it becomes progress and ultimate success unambiguously. It would be one thing to indicate as a goal that ‘a student should be a better student, motivated to achieve” and another to tell exactly what is meant by being a better student and what is meant by being “motivated.” Precision requires a focus on what the student is to do: write his assignments, read pages, write or te// answers to questions, vo/unteer to do extra work, attend class on time each day, and so on. Writing, telling, and other action verbs can be counted each time they are observed — an essential for gauging progress. But would the student be showing “motivation” if he only did those things with a gun to his head? Or if he only did them in his favorite class, ““The History of the Comic Book’? Obviously not. So the conditions under which the actions are to occur must be indicated: “In math, language arts, .. .”” “Each assignment . . ."” ‘Given a set of source materials . . .”” and others. Suppose the student performed each action under the indicated conditions only once? Would that imply success? No, naturally not. How often, then, would satisfy you? Every day for six weeks in a row? Four days out of five? What about level of accuracy or rate within sessions? How about the form of the response—“‘neatly enough to permit it to be read without difficulty’’? These all could be important. Objectives may include motor skills, social and emotional behaviors, and various others, including those that popularly would be called ‘thought processes” (cognitive behaviors). Some examples of motor objectives follow. Jan will be able, without assistance, to put on and button a blouse with at least four buttons, within five minutes,

for five days in a row. Arthur will execute a particular play during soccer practice by meeting 90 percent of the criteria for acceptable performance at least three times during at least two different practice sessions.

Examples of social objectives might include these. Ernest will listen without interrupting more than twice during three of four role-play situations. Eleanore will say, “Come play” in “‘total communication form” understandable to the teacher or peers at least three times in a row for three days.

Even those behaviors that are usually labeled ‘‘emotional’’ may be stated as behavioral objectives: Ernest will practice relaxation exercises 90 percent of the times he finds he is unable to complete an assignment or is teased (instead of becoming angry) for at least two weeks. Cognitive behaviors may be targeted for change just like other behaviors, assuming that they can be described objectively and are capable of being reliably measured. Although a good deal of effort has been directed at identifying and specifying the operations involved in cognitive pro-

cesses (for example, Guilford, 1962), it is still often difficult to do so. One of the earliest attempts to objectively categorize cognitive processes was published by Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, and Krathwohl (1956). This classification hierarchy became known as Bloom’s taxonomy. Table 3.1 is based upon Bloom's taxonomy. Our examples, which are drawn from the field of behavior analysis, illustrate the various levels of sophistication that can be spanned by cognitive objectives.

42

Table 3.1. Summary of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Cognitive Domain) Note: We have drawn our examples from the field of behavior analysis.

Knowledge (rote memory): Stating previously learned definitions, facts, and rules verbatim. State the date and place of the first psychological laboratory. Name three methods of observational recording and define one of them. Identify (from a display) the pulse former, variable resistor, latching relay (identical equipment seen before). State Hernstein’s Matching Law. Check which of the following are nonparametric tests. (Names of familiar tests.) Tell the major steps in the applied behavior analysis model. Give four rules for using reinforcement with maximal efficiency. List three important behaviors for a successful job interview. (Each of these is an example of a knowledge level objective after the learner has been exposed to the specific

answers.) Comprehension: Restating or identifying restatements of information; paraphrasing, summarizing, translating; answering questions about information presented in a graph (no calculation necessary); giving an original example.

Go to the vivarium and identify cages containing king, carneaux, and homing pigeons. Give an original example (that has not appeared in class or readings) of the following; shaping, response cost, automatic recording. State the procedure used in the following examples. (Examples given.) Tell why it is important to obtain a reliability assessment in behavioral recording. Explain the reason for always targeting some behavior for reinforcement even when the goal is to reduce problem behavior. (Each of these is an example of comprehension level objectives when the learner has not been exposed to the specific answers.)

Application: Use of learned materials in new and concrete situations. Integration of concepts, principals, laws, and theories under concrete conditions. Given the following goal and situation, select an appropriate recording technique. ‘Given the following goal and situation, select an appropriate experimental design. Given the following data, calculate the mean and standard deviation.

Given a set of reinforcing conditions demonstrated as very effective with this client, prepare a set of instructions for her caregivers. Here is a set of behavioral measures recorded independently by two observers. Calculate an agreement coefficient.

Analysis: \dentifying, analyzing, restructuring the component parts of a whole, and stating organizational principles involved. Following a narrative recording of (behavior and situation specified), draw up a sequence analysis. Evaluate the following case study in terms of its relation to the general procedure for applied behavior analysis described in Figure 1.1 of text. Pinpoint the operant components in a Rogerian therapy session.

Break down each of the following definitions of concept into critical and irrelevant features.

43

Table 3.1 (cont.)

) product. (Products of different students differ. Synthesis: Combining elements to make a unique following case study. Design a treatment program for the client in the a telegraph turns off one light and turns on another when that relay a ing operat for m Draw a wiring diagra key is pressed. an Psychoarticle, using the format required by the Americ Write up the results of your project as a journal logical Association. ability to discriminate among at least four simple Construct the stimulus materials to assess the client’s geometric forms. current published findings and the hypotheses you Prepare an experimental research proposal based on conceived during your practicum experience. your. r, including promising therapeutic techniques, Prepare a paper on the topic of self-injurious behavio h. researc future for ons endati recomm your and conclusions as to why they are effective, specified criteria or comparing two products for some Evaluation: Stating whether or not a given product meets or procedure. (There is no single “‘correct’’ answer, purpose. Stating the strengths and weaknesses of a product ts.) viewpoin l and the students will express individua of the experimental design. Criticize the following study with respect to the appropriateness and defend your choice of one of them behavior, ng suppressi for es Compare three nonpunitive procedur for the following (specified) situation. guidelines proposed by the AssociaAnalyze the following research report for compliance with the ethical Therapy. Behavior tion for Advancement of and defend your choice of the Select one of the three units of EMG biofeedback equipment on the table, one most suitable for this course.

Bloom’s taxonomy is but one of many examples of the classification of cognitive behavior. Other classification systems may be preferable for different situations. Sometimes experts find themselves unable to agree as to the categorization of particular objectives and test items accord-

ing to Bloom’s taxonomy (Sullivan, 1969; Williams, 1977). However, Bloom's taxonomy remains widely used as a Classification system, and it does prompt designers of cognitive learning tasks to write objectives that go beyond memorization. Similarly, the ta~onomy should help you to design an instructional program that consists of varied tasks and includes analysis and synthesis as well as knowledge items. If you include the conditions under which the students perform each task and a standard of performance, then you will be well on the way to writing functional, cognitive objectives. For all kinds of objectives, carefully state what the person is to do, under what conditions, and to what standard of performance. This permits you to focus on the goal and to objectively assess progress toward it. You will want to be able to determine if objectives are adequately stated for your own clients or students or if they need refinement or revision. You will also want to be able to take ambiguously stated goals and make them precise. Or you may start from scratch—do the diagnostic work, assess the client’s current level of functioning, and participate in the selection of goals and specification of objectives. Activity || is designed to permit you to do just this.

44

q

Name

Il. WORKSHOP OR FIELD ACTIVITY: TRANSLATING GOALS INTO OBJECTIVES Goals: Given that textual material on the specification of instructional or behavioral objectives has been mastered', on completion of this activity, the participant should be able to: Identify complete Finish incomplete Specify objectives Specify objectives

behavioral objectives. objectives. for the client of a sample case. for oneself and/or for a student or client.

Instructions This activity teaches you to translate general goals into behavioral objectives by helping you to progress in steps from discriminating acceptably from unacceptably stated objectives to specifying a set of objectives for an actual person. You should evaluate your own answers.

A. Discriminating Acceptably from Unacceptably Stated Objectives 1. Look at the following list of objectives. Are the words, which describe what the hypothetical client is to do expressed in an objectively measurable manner? If so, underline the action verb phrase. If not, restate the action verb phrase as in example (a). EXAMPLE a. Arthur will maintain his high interest in reading. Restatement

a. Arthur will continue to read and orally report on at least one book of his own selection every two weeks for the remainder of the school year. SAMPLE b. Roger will bring his ship model to school and complete one step described in the instructions each week to the shop teacher’s satisfaction until it is finished. Now you continue. c. Sam will complete nine of a set of ten motor instructions, within two minutes, for five trials in a row.

d. Arthur will select a self-instructional program in either a foreign language or a spe-

cial branch of science and complete at least one unit a week at a 90 percent level or above for the remainder of the school year.

1See suggested references at the end of this activity.

4

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

45

Dates

==

=

Se Diere ee

Name. eee

e. Fred will cooperate more with his counselor.

hall on . Fred will correctly complete his written assignments in French class or study of out times nine friend, a with talk to the day they are given before taking a break

B. Completing Incomplete Objectives 1. Complete objectives contain action verbs plus a statement of the conditions under which the action is (or is not) to take place and the criteria or standards of performance — the rules for delivering consequences and for judging when the objective is

achieved. 2. Refer to objective A,1,g in this activity (Fred’s assignments in French). a. Indicate the action verb phrase.

b. Indicate the set of conditions under which the action should take place.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

46

€

c)

Datoweeees se

Dues

Name

c. Indicate the criteria necessary for client to receive programmed consequences by indicating such relevant dimensions as intensity (how powerfully or forcefully it

happens), topography (shape, accuracy), effect (what happens to the environment or others in it), and a judgment of when the objective has been achieved (for example, number of days, trials in a row).

3. Select another objective from Part A, and indicate each of the essential parts it contains. Select one that was originally correct or one that you had restated. Phrase

Name of Essential Part

:

C. Now construct two objectives based on the case studies included in the Appendix. Label the essential parts of each.

ie

D. Consider some of your own self-management goals. Construct a set of three to five behavioral objectives for yourself. Identify the essential parts of each objective.

1:

A

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

47

(Optional) Construct three potential behavioral objectives for a student or client known to you.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

48

€

SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES ON BEHAVIORAL OR INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES Gagne, R.M. Essentials of learning for instruction. Hinsdale, |L: Dryden Press, 1974. Chapter 4, pp. 72-77 (learning objectives and the stating of learning objectives). Mager, R.F. Preparing instructional ubjectives. Palo Alto, CA.: Fearon Publishers, 1962. Mager, R.F. Goal analysis. Belmont, CA: Fearon Publishers, 1972. Plowman, P.D. Behavioral objectives. Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1971. Introduction, pp. xxii-xxviil (instructional objectives and educational goals). Sulzer-Azaroff, B; Brewer, J.M., and Ford, L. Making educational psychology work, Santa Monica, CA.: Goodyear Publishing Company, Inc. 1978. (Activities One and Two.) Sulzer-Azaroff, B., and Mayer, G.R. Applying behavior analysis procedures with children and youth. New York:

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977. Units 3, 4 (goals and objectives). Sulzer, B., and Mayer, G.R. Behavior modification proceaures for school personnel. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. (Formerly Dryden Press.) Chapter 1, pp. 4-8 (specifying behavioral goals and criterion level). Taber, J.1.; Glaser, R.; and Schaefer, H.H. Learning and programmed instruction. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1965. Chapter 1, pp. 3-5, 62-65 (instructional objectives). Vargas, J.S. Writing worthwhile behavioral objectives. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

ANSWERS A. 1. c. Complete should be underlined. d. Select ... and complete . . . should be underlined. e. Cooperate is a word that is difficult to measure objectively. What looks like cooperative behavior to one person may not to the next. Therefore, the term needs to be restated: for example, ‘offer to follow suggestions,”’ ‘orient toward, when speaking,’’ “‘say yes to counselor,” ‘’fo//ow counselor’s suggestions . . .’’ and so on. f. “... be less aggressive’ could cause a similar problem; “‘will A/t less’’; “‘say fewer curse words .. .””; “reduce the rate of taking away toys...” would be examples of action verbs. g. The action verb is complete. B. 2. a. “’... complete his written assignments... b. “’... in French class or study hall on the day they are given.”’ “.. before taking a break to talk with a friend...” c. ‘’... correctly ... nine times out of ten.” Now be sure all of the remaining objectives you prepare contain all three essential elements: (1) What the person will do (action verb); (2) the conditions under which the behavior will (or

will not) take place; (3) the criteria or standards of performance.

49

i111, WORKSHOP

OR FIELD ACTIVITY:

ANALYZING

TASKS

A. Introduction

Behavioral objectives may be stated as global, all-encompassing goals, as miniscule subcomponents, or at some level in between: ‘The client will be able to live in the community for six months without encountering any major problems.”’ ‘“‘The client will be able to rinse his toothbrush each time he brushes his teeth for five days in a row.” ‘‘The client will be able to brush his teeth, shower, comb his hair, and select an outfit judged appropriate by the houseparents each day for two weeks.” “The client will increase the number of positive statements he makes about himself.” How does one decide how broad or narrow to make an objective for a particular situation? This depends on the client, the client’s current repertoire, and the size of steps that can be successfully taken. Consider a professor of science. She may select as an objective for herself to learn to operate and maintain a new and very complicated analytical instrument. Although it would probably be unnecessary for the professor, for her students the objective may need to be broken down to a series of subtasks: to turn switches on in serial fashion; to identify the safety precautions that must be taken while using electrical equipment; to outline the steps to follow while using the instrument without referring to any source materials; to list common mistakes that would result in malfunction; to solder electrical components; to check all dials twice to assure operation; and perhaps others. Similarly, those who plan behavior analysis programs should identify objectives appropriate to the learner. The way to proceed is to consider the objective and ask, “What are the component behaviors that constitute this objective?’’ We have started that process with the example of the client who is to live in the community. Naturally, there would be other important component skills to learn besides dressing and grooming in preparing a formerly institutionalized person for in community living. These might include social skills that would enable the client to reside selfbe to individual the enabling skills, occupational home; the in others with harmony in supporting; community skills, such as being able to shop, interact with service people, engage recreational activities, and many others. And again, each of these subtasks would require further analysis into its own subcomponents. See Table 3.2 for an example of a janitorial skills task analysis prepared by Cuvo, Leaf and Borakove, 1978: see Figure 3.1 and Table 3.3 for a flowto ride a chart and the task sequences used by Marholin et al., 1979, for teaching retarded adults the bus and eat at McDonald’s. Table 3.4 is a task analysis developed by Philip Chase, indicating components of study behavior for high school and college students. conSuppose you begin to analyze the behavior involved in the behavioral objective you are some For sidering. How far do you keep on breaking down behaviors into their subcomponents? ry clients or students, it may be necessary to break down the behaviors into the most rudimenta Haughton, skills. Dennis Mithaug (1979) and others (Barnes, 1963; Gilbreth and Gilbreth, 1924; into a down broken be can behavior complex all that suggested have 1973) al., et 1979; Resnick steps or number of general component behaviors. These components or operations are the first the fundamental the most miniscule subcomponents of most complex behavior. Table 3.5 shows al hand hand motions that were identified by the Gilbreths in the 1920s. These fundament and other these Recently, work. ke assemblyli or factory all for tes prerequisi motions are general Big Six: point, behaviors have been broken down even further to make what is referred to as the to exist in all comreach, touch, grasp, release, place (Haughton, 1979). These operations appear objecplex motor behavior. Thus, when you are analyzing the tasks and subtasks of a behavioral the of t componen tive, these will often be the furthest that you can break down the behavioral subtasks.

51

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Table 3.2. Task Analysis for Cleaning the Sink

1. Take spray cleaner from container. 2. Shake spray cleaner. 3. Spray entire sink with back-and-forth sweeping motions. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9.

Replace cleaner in container. Reach over to towel dispenser. Pick up two paper towels. Put paper towels together. Wipe sink sides and edges with back-and-forth strokes. Wipe between faucets with back-and-forth strokes. Wipe faucets by lightly grasping them with towel and twisting back and forth. Wipe sink bowl with circular and back-and-forth motions.

10. 11. 12. Turn on cold water. 13. Swish water around bowl with towel.

14. 15. 16. 17.

Turn off cold water. Wipe sink bowl again with towel, using circular and back-and-forth motions. Bend over wastebasket, which is located under sink. Throw dirty towels in wastebasket.

Source: Cuvo, Leaf, and Borakove (1978, p. 347).

Table 3.3. Task Sequence for Lunch at McDonald's pia me

ee

Prior to trip:

In community:

ee

ee

ee

a

SS

a

SE

———————Eeeee

. Responds to “What do you do before you go home?”’ (eat lunch) . Responds to ‘Where do you eat?” . Responds to “When should you go there?”’ . Responds to ‘What do you want to eat?” (names at least one main course) . Responds to “How much money will it cost?’’ (to nearest $) . Responds to “What do you do before you go home?”’ . Responds to ‘Where do you eat?” . Responds to ‘‘When should you go there?” — OnNOoOoarWN 9. Responds to “‘What do you want to eat?” 10. Responds to “How much money will it cost?”

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

Locates McDonald's. Enters restaurant. Gets in line. Remains in line until it is his turn to order. States what he wants (at least one main course within budget). Makes self understood (defined by server’s response). Holds other things in hand or puts them at his table. Holds $ and wallet in hand while item is rung up. Takes appropriate $ out (to nearest $). Places $ in cashier’s hand or on counter. Waits (physically oriented toward cashier) until transaction is completed. Holds out hand to cashier to receive change.

Picks up tray. Picks up napkin. 25. Selects table (pointing or verbal response). 26. Sits at table. 27. Uses napkin at least once during meal. 28. Puts all refuse on tray at end of meal. 29. Takes tray to garbage; empties and stacks it.

1979. Source: Touchette, P.E. Personal Communication, June

53

Table 3.4. A Task Analysis of Study Behavior.” ee ee ie Given class schedule: 1. Obtain study materials: a. assignment book

e. clock f. stop watch or timer

b. note pads c. writing implements d. calendar

g. lamp h. dictionary, and so on

2. Attend classes: a. on time b. stay until end 3. Actively attend during class: a. take notes b. ask questions c. participate in discussion (or other planned activities) d. write down assignments, including due dates. 4. Identify rules concerning optimal study conditions: a. times to and not to study b. places to and not to study c. other conditions conducive and not conducive to effective studying: Conducive Not Conducive Quiet Noisy Good light Poor light Scheduled pacing and breaks (product contingent) Time contingent Appropriate materials identified and assembled Inadequate materials or materials not readily available 5. List rules for successful study behaviors: a. identify class of study behavior required for assignment: recognition, recall, integration, and so on b. skim — for example: headings first three or four paragraphs of chapter every first sentence of every paragraph

summary c. read and: code or underline key phrases

take notes look up unfamiliar terms outline and/or diagram and/or summarize d. generate questions/problems: generate original examples develop and use mnemonic devices rehearse overtly or covertly e. answer questions provided; solve problems provided; pose and answer questions/problems: relate to previously acquired concepts, and so on 6. Schedule time throughout month: ’ a. estimate time needed for each assignment . check calendar for previously planned activities . check notes for due dates . schedule days/time when will work on each assignment os Ose . leave extra days to complete assignments *Prepared by Philip M. Chase.

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Table 3.5. The Fundamental

Hand Motions.

found. 1. Search: begins when the eyes or hands begin to hunt for the object, and ends when the object has been been has object desired the when ends and object, the for hunt to begin hands or eyes the 2. Select: begins when located.

ob. Grasp: begins when the hand or fingers first make contact with the object and ends when the hand has tained control of it.

.

hand . Transport Empty: begins when the hand begins to move without load or resistance, and ends when the stops moving (moving the empty hand in reaching for an object). and ends when . Transport Loaded: begins when the hand begins to move an object or encounter resistance, another). to place one from object an the hand stops moving (moving (retention . Hold: begins when the movement of an object stops, and ends with the start of the next therblig of an object after it has been grasped, no movement of the object taking place). been completely . Release Load: begins when the object starts to leave the hand, and ends when the object has object). the of go (letting separated from the hand or fingers has been placed . Position: begins when the hand begins to turn or locate the object, and ends when the object will be properly oriented in the desired position or location (turning or locating an object in such a way that it to fit into the location for which it is intended). that will be . Preposition: is the same as position except that the object is located in the approximate position needed later. ends when the ex10. Inspect: begins when the eyes or other parts of the body begin to examine the object, and with standard complies it not or whether determine to object an (examining amination has been completed size, shape, color, or other qualities previously determined). the hand 1T: Assemble: begins as the hand starts to move the part into its place in the assembly, and ends when an integral becomes it which with object another on or into object one (placing has completed the assembly part). the hand has 2; Disassemble: begins when the hand starts to remove one part from the assembly, and ends when another object from object one (separating assembly the of remainder the from completely separated the part of which it is an integral part). the hand ceases the applica13. Use: begins when the hand starts to manipulate the tool or device, and ends when was intended). it which for purpose the for apparatus of piece or device, tool, a tion (manipulating resumed (a delay is activity when ends and activity, its stops hand the when begins Delay: 14. Unavoidable beyond the control of the operator). and ends when the standard 15. Avoidable Delay: begins when the prescribed sequence of motions is interrupted, over which he has control). and responsible is he which for operator the of delay (any resumed work method is the operation, and ends 16. Plan: begins at the point where the operator begins to work out the next step of precedes the physical which reaction mental when the procedure to be followed has been determined (a movement; that is, deciding how to proceed with the job).

and ends when work is resumed (a V7; Rest for Overcoming Fatigue: begins when the operator stops working, from the fatigue incurred by his recover to worker the or allowance provided to permit fatigue or delay factor work).

a e Ea Source:

Mithaug, 1979, pp. 165-166.

55

Mithaug (1979) also indicated the need to identify other aspects of a task as well as the behavior. First, systematically identify all materials and conditions of the task. Second, arrange and rearrange the materials, conditions, and component behaviors into a sequence that results in completion of the original behavioral objective with maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

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Anderson and Faust (1973) suggest that you privately ‘‘walk-through”’ each step that is necessary to complete the objective. If you write down each of these steps and make sure that you included

all subtasks, you will have completely task-analyzed your behavioral objective. Once you have identified a complete sequence of tasks, you will then be ready to individualize your task analysis for a particular client. The component of individualized programprogram or important for the following workshop (you will learn the rest later) is to identify the is that ming steps in the task analysis that the client can already perform. When this is accomplished, the rest of the tasks are then written as behavioral objectives and systematically taught to the client. This brings us to a very important point: In some cases it may not be efficient to task-analyze a complex behavior completely. If clients obviously have components of the behavior in their repertoires, then it would be ludicrous to write down these components. As you “walk through” the behaviors involved in an objective, ask yourself, ‘‘Am | sure that the client or student can perform this component?” “‘Does he or she have the skills to enter into the program?” If the answer is “Yes, they do have the entering skills,’’ then do not bother to analyze that task any further. In sum, designing successful programs requires that you select a behavioral objective and identify its subcomponents and also identify the components that you can reasonably conclude the client has already acquired. You would then plan to assess those behaviors in order to test that assumption prior to instituting the program.? Goals

Given sufficient information about the client and nature of the skills to be taught, by the end of this activity the student should be able to , 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

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Select a behavioral objective. Decide whether the objective can be broken down into a sequence of tasks (task analysis). Carry out any necessary task analyses. Identify the components which are part of the client's repertoire. Offer a rationale for how you know these components have been previously learned. Test the correctness of that conclusion.

2

ay a ; . When a skill is analyzed into its component tasks, for the purposes of wide scale application, Cuvo argues that it should first be validated as he and his colleagues have done for teaching janitorial skills (Cuvo et al., 1978). See Table 3.2

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Instructions

1. Working with a group of your peers or on your own, select a case from the appendix. Indicate a fairly broad behavioral objective for the client.

2. Break the behavioral objective down into its next level of subcomponents. Try to include some subcomponents that are applied skills, some that are cognitive skills, and perhaps some that relate to the client's feelings, emotions, or satisfaction with the behavior. (An example: ‘“The client will smile and make a positive statement about how he looks.”’) List three to five subcomponent skills here: a.

b.

e.

. Now select one of those subcomponents, and, on a separate sheet of paper, break it down to /ts subcomponents. Attach that sheet. Should the process continue? _—

Why or why not?

Continue on a separate sheet, if necessary. _ Describe how one could determine if the subskill was part of the client’s repertoire of behaviors.

4

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

57

Daten.

= 4. > oP ais

Due

eeee 2 Name e

or client program. 5. Now identify an objective for either a self-management

. Attach it. 6. Repeat, on a separate sheet of paper, step 2 and 3 for this objective necessary to begin 7. Tell how you will determine if the person has the “entering skills’ be helpful? acquiring the subtask skills. What assistance or sources would

8. Attach a sketch of a test, checklist, or observation form that you would use to assess “entering skills.”’ 9. If feasible, conduct the assessment and describe the outcome here.

10. Has this activity caused you to alter the objective for a project you are planning? If so, write the new objective here.

11. Note your comments, problems, or suggestions here.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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IV. WORKSHOP: SELF-MANAGEMENT:

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

To the Instructor This workshop or small group activity is designed to assist participants to select self-management goals and objectives. Participants survey their own behavioral repertoires and look at their own behavior from the perspective of an objective observer. If the majority of your students appear to be encountering difficulty in identifying an appropriate self-management objective, we suggest this activity be carried out with the entire group. Alternatively, should only a few be confused about what behavioral objective to select for themselves, a leader can be identified, and the small group can conduct this activity on its own. For a few students, simply reading through the workshop instructions may permit them adequately to focus ona self-management objective that would be instructive and of practical value to them. Regardless of which option is selected, a// students should complete the form entitled “Preliminary Self-Management Proposal’ (Chapter 11, III). This will enable you to consider the appropriateness of the objective and to endorse or correct it. (This activity should take from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the number of participants.)

A. Introduction

Occasionally, people encounter difficulty in identifying constructive and practical selfmanagement goals. The purpose of this activity is to help you consider the breadth of personal, social, occupational, academic, and other goals that you might wish to achieve, and to refine one or more goals for a feasible self-management project. You should also gain some experience in specifying objectives, conducting task and sequence analyses, and selecting potential measures and motivational strategies. B. Goals By the end of this workshop, you should be able to do the following: List a broad array of potential self-management goals. Identify and use a set of criteria for selecting a self-management goal. Begin the preliminary conceptualization of appropriate self-management strategies. Develop three to five behavioral objectives to be considered for a self-management project.

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Date

C. Preparation

proposal 1. Read the introduction to Chapter 11 and skim through the self-management ae form. 2. Identify as many goals as you can that fall under each of the categories listed below (for yourself or even for others with whom you are acquainted).

Personal (grooming habits,

covert activities)

Academic or Occupational (include specific skills)

Social Skills (taking turns, accepting compliments)

3. Get together with one or two friends, and plan a two- to three-minute skit that illustrates a problem that might be amenable to self-management. (Examples: procrastinating, being unassertive, talking too much, nervous habits, and so on.) D. Instructions 1. Generate a list of criteria for selecting goals for self-management projects. Consider time available, likelihood of success, help that would be necessary, short-term and longterm importance, interest, constructiveness, and so forth.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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2. Practice in sequence analysis a. Present one of the skits that was prepared ahead. b. The remaining participants should write down on a separate sheet of paper what

transpires during the skit. c. Referring to these notes, participants should construct a sequence analysis together, identifying the key behaviors and the events that preceded and followed them. The simplest way to do this is to take a sheet of paper and fold it lengthwise into thirds, labeling each column like this: Antecedents

Behavior

Consequences

. Repeat until all participants who wish to illustrate their problem have enacted their skits. . Analyze each sequence analysis, and identify three potential self-management goals for the principal in each skit. (Use extra paper if necessary.)

(1)

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

61

== ot =e

Datewe

SDE

Name

ee

a generated under item D1 above. 3. Examine these potential goals in terms of the criteri ess of each of the goals. Make a general statement regarding the appropriaten

own self-management A. List afew goals that you now feel would be appropriate for your of that goal. project. Next to each provide an argument to support the selection

~

Justification

Goal

e@ 5. Given these goals, analyze the sequence of tasks necessary to attain the goals. Sketch out the task analysis on a separate sheet, and attach it. 6. Based on your response to item 5, develop three or four potential behavioral objectives for yourself. State the general goal, and then indicate how the behavior could be defined and measured. Consider several measures for the same general behavior (for example, for ‘‘study more,’’ you might measure time spent reading and writing, the number of pages read and written, and also the time planned for study that was spent doing something else). Goal

Measure

a.

b.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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Datawes2. + s*

Due

Name

7. Select at least one potential goal, and try to reconstruct from memory a sequence analysis of the behavior you want to change. Consider both of the following: a. The situations in which the behavior is likely to occur and the consequences that might maintain it in that situation. b. The situations in which the behavior seldom or never occurs and the consequences or circumstances that discourage its occurrence. Potential goal

Antecedents

Behavior

Consequences

a. Behavior likely

b. Behavior

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unlikely

8. Given these sequence analyses and other knowledge you have about your behavior: a. List some potential reinforcing and aversive consequences that you might use in a self-management project.

Possible Reinforcers

4

Possible Aversive Consequences

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

63

Datei)

se

Ue

Name

of the behavior. What might you b. List some ways you might control the antecedents det to reduce the likelihood of behavior you want to remove from the environmen ence of behavior you want to crease, or add to the environment to favor the occurr increase?

Change in Antecedents

Behavior

your present 9. Share with the group one or two of your possible objectives. Discuss or aversive ing reinforc the and behavior the of nts antecede plans for controlling the ons here: suggesti and s comment your Note ing. consider are consequences that you

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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@ Observing, Defining, and Recording Behavior!

Required

Optional

Date Due?

To the Instructor |. Introduction A. Rationale B. Behavioral Definitions C. Recording Procedures

11. Workshop: Defining and Recording Behavior . Goals Materials Preparation . Instructions 1. Defining Behavior; role playing; frequency (event) recording 2. Interobserver Agreement 3. Recording Behavior: time sampling, interval recording

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Il. Field Activities A. Narrative recording and sequence analysis B. Frequency (Event) recording from television

igh,

or videotape

Introduction to a field setting . Interval recording in a classroom setting Time sampling in a school, institution, or ie) Ey animal colony F. Recording in conjunction with projects; proposal for observing in an applied setting

1The material in this chapter has been adapted from Reese (1979) and is used with permission. and which 2Your instructor will advise you which sections are required, which are optional or by contract for a course grade, dates they are due.

4

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To the Instructor

as data collected in applied settings usually deAs behavior analysis depends so heavily upon data and site to virtually any work in the field. pend upon observational recording, this chapter is a prerequi a behavioral definition; but the only way Written material can teach us to verbalize the components of measure the agreement between inthen and to test the adequacy of a definition is to use it in recording written material can teach us to , Similarly . occurred dependent observers that the behavior, as defined, different conditions, but the under ate appropri be to likely are es verbalize which recording procedur various recording procedures is actually only way to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of the to use them. for participants to test the adeOne purpose of the workshop, then, is to provide an opportunity between observers who use these t agreemen the ng calculati by ns quacy of their own behavioral definitio for participants to use the ity opportun an provide to is purpose other The . recording definitions while interval recording and and y three most common procedures for recording ongoing behavior: frequenc instructions for detailed provides s” Activitie momentary time sampling.* The section entitled “Field settings. applied in using these and other procedures al recording. Film It is difficult to find material that is suitable for training observers in observation interobserver where and videotape are good in that you can back up and “freeze’’ or replay footage for an extended person one on stay not does usually agreement is low; they are poor in that the camera for training specifically made been has 1979) (Reese, film one only period of time. To our knowledge, as well as accuracy, that so analysis rame frame-by-f a to subjected been has footage the and observers; interobserver agreement, can be calculated.4 If you will be making your own videotape for this workshop, either use a long shot or keep the Also, camera on one person; and prepare to record at least 20 minutes for 5 minuntes of useful footage. if possible, film children under the age of eight as they are much less apt to be self-conscious or to attend

to the camera than are older children or adults. As an alternative to film or videotape, we have designed the workshop around a scenario to be enacted by two members of the group. This alternative does not allow you to back up and “replay” a scene (nor can you do this when recording in a field setting); but enthusiastic volunteers make it an enjoyable workshop. Several possible scenarios are suggested in the instructions. If you select this option, solicit volunteers several days before the workshop so that they can plan the scenario in advance. Also, the data sheet in Table 4.4a is designed for a scenario in which one volunteer teaches imitative speech to another volunteer who plays a child whose language development is severely impaired. If a different scene is to be played, use the alternative data sheet, Table 4.4b. Either leave the cells in the table blank and let people enter code letters as the behavior occurs, or decide ahead of time

©

what behavior to record and make up a new data sheet modeled after Table 4.4a. Several of the field activities are set in the community. Agencies and other facilities appreciate advanced warning before observers arrive, and they should be solicited for their informed approval to allow observing to take place. You will probably want all of your students who are to observe in field settings to read Table 4.8 and complete Table 4.12 before their first visit. You might also request that they complete portions of the work sheet in Section II1.C.

1. INTRODUCTION A. Rationale

There are two major reasons for recording behavior: one is to identify problems, and the other is to evaluate our success in dealing with them. Taking first things first, a parent might seek help because Johnny “‘never’’ keeps still or because Aunt Irma “always” interferes in attempts to dis3

ft

A

;

:

Terminology for observational recording systems varies across authors, thus these methods may have different names in different texts, 4 oe 7 The Reese (1979) training program includes a self-paced, programmed text that takes approximately two hours and a three-hour workshop that is built around a film of children in a special education classroom.

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cipline the children. Before putting Johnny on medication or Aunt Irma on hold, it would be a good idea to get accurate records of just how often the behavior really occurs. Our attention is selective, and we are particularly apt to notice and perhaps exaggerate those things that intrude upon our own peace and quiet. Sometimes behavior that seems to be a problem occurs only in certain situations; sometimes, alas, it is the norm for that age; and sometimes, of course, it really is a problem that requires special attention. Preliminary recording can identify genuine problems and help establish priorities. The other major reason for recording behavior is really a matter of ethics. If teachers and therapists are to be accountable to their clients, they must be able to evaluate the success of their procedures. This means that they must be able to measure the clients’ progress — or lack of progress — in some objective and reliable way. Objective measurement can be achieved with automatic recording equipment if you are interested in certain kinds of behavior: physiological activities, for example, or the noise level in a particular classroom or the number of times a certain record is played in a jukebox. But, more often than not, teachers and therapists are concerned with behavior that cannot be automatically recorded; and accountability must depend upon observational recording. Someone has to watch and keep records to determine whether or not there has been an improvement in, say, Ann’s social interactions with her peers or Amy’s ability to articulate the sounds of speech (or Johnny’s hyperactivity or Aunt Irma’s interference). There are many procedures for recording behavior, each appropriate for different situations and for different classes of behavior. We can provide some definitions and some general guidelines, but the best way to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of different recording techniques is to use them. That is the purpose of the following exercises. After practicing different recording techniques in a structured workshop, you can further develop these skills by recording from television or in the field, perhaps in conjunction with an applied project you are conducting. B. Behavioral Definitions

Before you can use any method of recording behavior, you have to know exactly what it is you want to record. You have to define the behavior, and that can be a lot more difficult than most people think. The test of a definition is the extent to which people agree when they actually use the definition during simultaneous recordings of behavior. If we design a program to teach residents in an institution to brush their teeth, we have to be very clear about what we mean by “brushing teeth,’’ or we won’t know whether or not the program is succeeding. One resident might put toothpaste on his finger and then rub his finger against his teeth very energetically for several minutes. Another might put a dry toothbrush in her mouth and hold it there. Still another might hold a toothbrush under running water, then put the brush in his mouth and suck it. A useful definition starts with the behavior that must be observed and then specifies the context in which the behavior will occur and the criteria of the performance. It sets the limits on what will be included in or excluded from the definition. For toothbrushing, we might say that a client, Joe, (1) puts a toothbrush with toothpaste on it into his mouth; (2) holding the handle of the brush, moves the brush back and forth and up and down, brushing both the inside and the outside of his teeth for one minute; and (3) withdraws the toothbrush from his mouth. In a particular case, it might not matter who puts the toothpaste on the brush or whether Joe rinses his mouth and the toothbrush without help. If it does matter, then these activities should be included in the definition. (Horner and Keilitz, 1975, have described a series of 15 steps to be followed in teaching.retarded adolescents to brush their teeth.) If you were defining ‘talking out’’ in class, you would have to decide whether or not to include laughing, whispering, or singing. If you were defining aggression, you would have to decide whether you meant physical or verbal aggression, or both, and what classes of behavior would be included. If physical aggression included throwing an object in the direction of a person, would it

67

y the response of the other person? What have to hit the person? And should the definition specif it back? What if the action takes place if the other person laughs, catches the object, and tosses on a basketball court? Is it still aggression? occur, it

in which it will (or will not) In addition to specifying the behavior and the situation mance criteria include, among> Perfor mance. the criteria of the perfor

is important to specify e, accuracy, and neatness. Frequency others, frequency, rate, duration, latency, intensity, distanc something happens. This measure times of r is important when we are concerned with the numbe

ation rate. (Rate is frequency is usually turned into rate, as in reading rate, stuttering rate, public appropriate unit of time.) other or hour or divided by time, giving the average number per minute of seat’ only once “out be could child Sometimes duration is more relevant than frequency: a

of class and still be cruising around during a class period but might leave the seat at the beginning are trying to increase the time we if ant the room when the class is over. Duration is also import to decrease the time spent want we if or we spend working or practicing a musical instrument concerned with following are we if ant daydreaming or watching television. Latency is import n; /ntensity, if we are c reactio instructions or the response to medication for pain or an allergi c skills. The criteria athleti certain concerned about voice volume; distance, if we are evaluating all of the problems, ing e answer for completing a homework assignment in arithmetic might includ some Cases, a . In figures cant with 90 percent of the answers correct and carried to two signifi calculator could hand a not r or time limit might be imposed, and a teacher might specify whethe

be used. to Once performance criteria have been established, it is usually clear what we will want e complianc including measure. Following instructions, for example, is a broad class of behavior and ks) quarterbac Or , supervisors with oral instructions (delivered by parents, teachers, work of written instructions (prepared by classroom teachers, manufacturers of equipment, or writers we sO s, instruction following of lab manuals). In some cases, the goal is to increase the frequency other the On given. number the of measure the number of instructions followed as a percentage hand, if.someone generally follows instructions but “in his or her own good time,’’ then promptness would be an important criterion of performance, and we would measure the latency of compliance with instructions. Or following instructions could be defined in terms of both of these measures: a person must comply with 90 percent of (a specified class of) instructions within a period of 10 seconds. Very different measures might be used if we were testing the adequacy of the instructions themselves. Our goal for the instructions in this manual is that they are sufficiently clear so that 100 percent of the readers will be able to follow them. C. Recording Procedures

The major procedures for recording behavior are shown in Table 4.1. They include (1) automatic recording, which requires special equipment and is seldom feasible in applied settings; (2) several methods of observational recording; and (3) subjective report, which, though often useful, has the disadvantage that it cannot be verified by an independent observer. The table describes the main features of each method, some typical applications, and the measures it provides. During this workshop, you will have the opportunity to practice three of the most commonly

used methods of observational recording: frequency (or event) recording, interval recording, and time sampling. Suggestions for practicing these and other procedures in applied settings are included among the field activities. Because the defining and recording of behavior is essential for any application of behavior analysis, we return to this subject in Chapter 11, in conjunction with self-management projects, and in Chapter 12, in conjunction with other individual projects. You may wish to incorporate the field activities into these individual projects. The selection of the appropriate recording procedure or procedures for a particular situation is obviously a critical decision. After reading about the restrictions, advantages, and disadvantages of the various procedures in Table 4.1, the flowchart in Figure 4.1 should help you make these decisions.

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Table 4.1. Methods of Recording Behavior Method

AUTOMATIC RECORDING: Behavior is monitored by electronic or electromechanical relay equipment.

Application

Measure

Physiological activities (including biofeedback training) Lever press and other manipulanda. Intensity or frequency of vocalizations. Location of individuals (sensors).

frequency, duration, intensity, interresponse time, wave length amplitude, and various transformations of these and other measures.

Depends on apparatus. Can include

(Permanent) Product of Behavior. The observer measures the effect or outcome of behavior. Products include data provided by automatic recording equipment.

Number of tasks (items) completed; number of problems correct; grades; time punched on a time clock. Weight or blood alcohol level. Does not require continuous observation or interfere with the behavior.

OBSERVATIONAL RECORDING Narrative (Continuous) Recording. A running account of behavior in progress. Information may then be ordered in a sequence analysis, enumerating the ante-

cedents of the behavior, the behavior itself, and its consequences.

Frequency (Event) Recording. The observer counts the number of times the behavior occurs during a specified period of time (minute, hour, day, week).

Used in early stages of analysis to identify potentially important variables including events that may precipitate the behavior and those that may be maintaining it.

Depends on product. Number or percentage of items completed; per-

centage correct; time of arrival, departure; records obtained with automatic recording equipment, e.g., heart rate or intensity of noise level.

Does not provide quantitative data.

A precise behavioral definition is not required.

Number of social contacts initiated, number of questions asked, number of aggressive acts.

Rate. (Frequency per unit time).

Behavior must be discrete (observer can identify beginning and end of

each instance). Rate must be low enough to count. Separate occurrences should have relatively constant durations.

Duration. The observer measures the total length of time that the behavior occurs, either (a) for single occurrences or (b) during a given time period.

a. Duration of temper tantrum, crying episode; sustained conversation. b. Time (per hour, day) spent attending to work, out of seat, engaging in cooperative behavior. Behavior should be continuous rather than intermittent, and beginning and end of each occurrence must be determinable.

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a. (Average) duration of a single occurrence (e.g., tantrum). b. (Average) amount of time (per hour or day) spent engaging in the behavior.

Table 4.1. (cont.) Method

Latency. The observer measures the time between the onset of a signal and the response to the signal.

Application

Measure

Time to ‘settle down” to work after bell or other signal given; time to start complying with a request; time to get up after alarm rings.

Time.

Must be able to identify the signal and the beginning (or end) of the criterion behavior.

Interval Recording (Partial interval) A period of time is divided into brief intervals (e.g., 10 sec., 1 min.), and the observer notes whether or not the behavior occurs at any time during the interval. (Neither frequency nor duration is measured; only the occurrence or nonoccurrence of

the behavior.) !

Often used in classrooms or institutional settings to monitor various

Percentage of intervals in which behavior occurs.

classes of “appropriate” or ‘‘inappropriate” behavior. Provides an estimate of the proportion of time various activities are in progress.

Requires continuous observation throughout interval; but several

classes of behavior can be monitored, and it is not necessary to specify beginning and end of each occurrence.

Time Sampling (momentary) At specified periods of time

(e.g., once every 10 min.) the observer notes whether or not the behavior is occurring at that moment. Alternatively, the observer might note how many individuals are engaged in a particular activity at that moment. SUBJECTIVE REPORTS The individual may count the occurrences of some class of covert behavior or time its duration or estimate its intensity, preferably in relation to environmental events.

An alternative to interval recording, useful when observer is involved in other activities and cannot engage in continuous recording. Easy and unobtrusive.

Percentage of samples in which behavior was occurring or,

Anxiety, attitudes, urges, feelings.

Usually frequency, duration, or intensity (in subjective units).

Average number or percentage of people engaged in particular activity (ies).

Cannot be independently verified, but often used in conjunction with objective measures, especially in self-management projects.

Source: Reese, 1978, p. 46. 1When behavior must persist throughout the entire interval to be scored, the system may be labeled ‘’Whole Interval Time Sampling.”

70

9

Start Have the antecedents and consequences been identified, and has the behavior been operationally defined?

Use narrative recording

Yes

Use direct

measurement of

Is there a permanent product

permanent

of the behavior that is quan-

product and

tifiable?

consider additional methods

Observing only one subject?

Observing only one class of behavior?

Is it easy to determine when the behavior begins and ends?

Is the rate of behavior either moderate or frequent?

Is each

occurrence usually more

No

Major concern with time limitations on observer?

Major concern with representative data?

than a few seconds long? Is the rate of behavior low enough to count? Use duration or interval recording

Use time sampling

Use interval recording

Is each occurrence similar in

length? Yes

ls each occurrence usually

more than a few seconds long?

More concerned about the number of times the behavior occurs?

More concerned about the amount of time spent at the behavior?

Use

Use

frequency or interval recording

duration or

interval recording

Figure 4.1. Flow chart for selecting an appropriate recording technique. (Source: Reese, 1978, p. 48. Derived from chart designed by P.N. Alevizos, M.D. Campbell, E.J. Callahan, Neuropsychiatric Research Program, UCLA, Camarillo, CA 93010, and P.L. Berck, University of Illinois, Urbana.)

71

Il. WORKSHOP: DEFINING AND RECORDING BEHAVIOR A. Goals At the end of the workshop, the participants should be able to do the following: 1. Write and test the reliability of one or more behavioral definitions. 2. Use at least three recording procedures: a. Frequency (event) recording b. Interval recording c. Time sampling 3. Calculate interobserver agreement by two different formulas. 4. Reach at least 80 percent agreement in recording at least one class of behavior.

B. Materials Large clock or watch with second hand (for interval recording) Kitchen timer with bell (for time sampling)

1. Optional An audio tape with a chime, beep, or voice announcing 10-second intervals. A voice is recommended, especially if the observers will have a 5-second break to record and rest between the 10second periods of observing. In this case, the tape would run: “‘Start’’ (10 sec.), ‘“‘Record’’ (5 sec.), “Ten” (10 sec.), ““Record’”’ (5 sec.), ‘“Twenty’’ (10 sec.), etc. A 7%2-minute tape would be needed to record a 5-minute sample of behavior. Another alternative is a timer or computer with a recycling countdown timer. Casio has several models ranging from $25 to $50. 2. Optional A videotape of a situation that is suitable for recording. Possibilities include a teaching situation, therapy, interviewing, and most activities in a preschool setting. The tape should be carefully prepared or selected in advance. Most commercially available films and tape are not suitable for recording because the camera does not stay on one person for an extended period of time.

= © . x

C. Preparation 1. Read the Instructions. 2. The workshop requires e/ther a videotape or a film suitable for recording or two members of the group to enact a scenario while the others record their behavior. Decide which format will be used, and, if the latter, select two people to enact the scenario. They should read the instructions and plan a scenario before coming to the workshop.

D. Instructions

The instructions are written for a scenario in which one person plays the role of a child whose language development is severely delayed while another person plays the role of a teacher trying to teach the child imitative speech. These instructions can be adapted for a particular videotape or for other scenarios that might be more appropriate for the workshop participants. If, for example, the scene is a preschool or elementary classroom, participants might define and record such activities as following instructions, working at an assigned task, asking questions, praise from the teacher, or various classes of social behavior. If the scene is a job interview, eye contact might be included along with various classes of verbal behavior and body language. If the scene is an argument between roomates or

friends, one might define and record such activities as positive comments, constructive sugges-

tions, criticism, nagging, raising one’s voice.

72

|

€

7)

Date pases

Due

Naini reese

as

eC

a

eee

1. Defining Behavior a. (1) /f using a sequence on videotape: Watch approximately five minutes of the tape, and then identify three or four classes of behavior that might be defined and recorded. Select one class of behavior; then divide into pairs and try to define that behavior. Different pairs may arrive at different definitions; but, in each case, the definition should be sufficiently precise so that when they record, the partners will agree whether or not the behavior is occurring. (2) /f role playing: While the ‘‘teacher”’ and the ‘‘child’’ are rehearsing their roles, the other members of the group should divide into pairs and decide upon the definition of imitative speech that they will use in their recording. Different pairs may arrive at different definitions; but, in each case, the definition should be sufficiently precise so that the partners will agree whether or not the behavior is occurring. Only when they arrive at a definition that produces high agreement will they be able to evaluate progress. b. Take no more than five minutes to decide upon your definition; then write it below: Definition of imitative speech or

ie (write in behavior)

Stick to this definition during your first recording. You may change it later if you wish. c. /f role playing: When each pair has agreed upon a definition, the ‘‘teacher”’ will instruct the “child” about the ‘‘training situation’’ and demonstrate what the child will be expected to do. This will give the observers a chance to size up the situation and get to know the “‘child.”” (/f using videotape, you will already have had an opportunity to observe the situation.) d. Use the data sheet in Table 4.2 to record a four-minute sample of the frequency of the behavior you have selected. Use the definition you have agreed upon, and tally each occurrence as in the example that follows.

4

Time (min)

Your Count

1

///

Z

////

Partner’s Count

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

73

Due Table 4.2. Frequency (Event) Recording Date

Client (subject)

Observer

Situation:

Number

Partner’s Count

Your Count

Time (min)

Agree

Disagree cele

e. Add the number of times you observed the behavior and enter the total. Dividing by four (number of minutes recorded) will give average rate per minute. f. Enter your partner’s data and compare.®

2. Interobserver Agreement (1OA) a. One way to calculate interobserver agreement on frequency data is simply to divide the smaller total by the larger total and multiply the result by 100. This gives a percentage, or index of agreement (OA) score. Calculate this percentage. Percentage of Agreement Totals only

_— smaller total

xX 100 = ——_——%

larger total

One problem with this method is that two observers might record the same total occurrences of the behavior, but one person might have observed them all in the first minute, and the other might have observed them all in the last minute. In that case, the actual agreement would be zero, but the calculated agreement would be 100 percent. b. A better way to calculate agreement is to compare the totals separately for each minute. This time, look only at the first minute, and compare your count with your partner’s. If you recorded five instances of the behavior and your partner recorded four, you can assume that you agreed on four of the instances and disagreed on one. You would enter ‘’4’’ in the Agree column and ‘‘1’’ in the Disagree column.

Compare your totals for each minute and sum the Agrees and Disagrees. The formula for calculating interobserver agreement this way is:

5The instructor may wish to compare

the scores of all members of the group, the definitions, and the level of agreement reached

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

74

€

Dues SF

number agree

Name

gn!

ger

o agreement e.g., 849 = 8

agree + disagree

ater X

, 0 = 80%

c. Calculate your interobserver agreement using this formula, and if it is less than 85 percent, examine your definition to see where it was inadequate.

number agree agree + disagree

=

—

X 100 = —____%

d. Reconsider your original definition. Did you specify the behavior, the context in which it would occur, and the criteria of performance? If not, or if your interobserver agreement was low for some other reason, revise your definition below: Revised Definition:

If there is time, you may want to test this revised definition by repeating the recording sequence. Otherwise, you can assess interobserver agreement on this definition when you use interval recording in the next exercise. 3. Recording Behavior For this exercise, continue (or replay) the videotape, or ask the actors to continue in their roles. The other participants will use interva/ recording to record three classes of behavior in the scenario and momentary time sampling to record their own behavior throughout the rest of the workshop. a. Momentary Time Sampling. This exercise is designed to convince you that even when you are concentrating on something else, it is still possible to record behavior. Also, in addition to giving you experience with a useful recording technique, it will give your instructor feedback on how well the workshop is going. Starting now, the instructor will set a timer with an audible signal at varying intervals averaging 10 minutes. When you hear the signal, note whether or not you were paying attention to this workshop, and mark the following data sheet accordingly.

a Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

75

Due

Date

Table 4.3. Momentary Time Sampling

(—) if you workshop when the signal sounded and a dash Put a check (/) if you were attending to the were

not.

Number of samples attending:

eee

Percentage of samples attending ee

b. Interval Recording® defined and recorded (1) Select three classes of behavior to record. If you have already imitative speech, we suggest you record: (1) Imitative speech (A) Attention to the lesson (P) Teacher praise

you have alIf you are observing a different scenario, continue with the behavior particular the in ready defined and select one or two others that are important setting. the (Continue to record your own attention to the workshop whenever you hear

signal.) —

write a (2) Agree as a group upon the definitions of the three classes of behavior, and code letter and the definitions in the space provided below. You will be using interval scoring, so be sure to specify whether the behavior must continue throughout the entire interval or whether a shorter period of time will qualify. Will the teacher have to praise throughout the 10-second intervals you will be using? Will the child have to attend throughout, or will a shorter period such as 5 seconds qualify? Also, specify whether or not a brief lack of attention (such as a glance away from the teacher) will nullify the score for that interval.

6

seat

Definition

Code

Behavior

'

Pps

3

Interval recording is called either partial-interval time sampling or whole-interval time sampling by Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer

(1977), depending on the scoring. Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

76

Behavior

Definition

(3) Recording. You will be recording the occurrence of these activities in 10-second intervals. If the behavior, as you have defined it, occurs during the interval, draw a line through the code letter in the appropriate box on the data sheet in Table 4.4a. (If you are recording different classes of behavior, write the code letter in the appropriate box in Table 4.4b when the behavior occurs, or use an alternative data sheet.) If the behavior occurs more than once, score it only once. In some intervals, several classes of behavior may occur; in others, none.

If the behavior continues into the next interval, score it again. If the behavior is not defined as occurring throughout the interval and if ceases early in the interval, score it anyway. You want to know if the behavior (as defined) occurred at any time during the interval.

Either refer to a large clock with a second hand, or use a tape that announces the 10-second intervals. When you are ready, record these three classes of behavior on the following data sheet. c. Data analysis (1) Sum the scores across each minute, and enter below the total number of times each class of behavior occurred during the 3-minute sample. (2) Calculate the percentage of intervals in which the behavior occurred. (Note that unless you specified that the behavior occurred throughout the interval, this method of recording does not tell you the duration of the behavior. If you were to plot the data, you would label the ordinate “percentage of intervals attending,’ not ‘time attending.’’)

(3) Calculate interobserver agreement. (If there is a trained observer in the class, you might compare your data to that person’s. Otherwise, calculate agreement with your partner or the person sitting next to you.) Table 4.5 shows how you would calculate interobserver agreement if you used the data sheet for imitative speech.

a

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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In the example (4.5), slashes through the code letters indicate one observer's scoring, and checks below the letters indicate the partner’s scoring. During the first minute, the observers agree on the totals, both having scored “imitative speech” in one interval, attention in four intervals, and “praise” in all six intervals. (Good teacher.) But their agreement on “attention” is far from perfect. In the first interval, both scored “attention” and ‘‘praise,’’ so we have entered agreements (Ag) for these categories below the interval. In the second interval, however, the first observer scored “‘attention” whereas the second did not; and in the third interval the resverse is true. We have thus entered disagreements (Dis) for ‘‘attention’’ in these two intervals. Note that if two observers record the same behavior in the same interval, this counts as an agreement. If one observer, but not the other, records the behavior, this counts as a disagreement. Intervals in which neither observer records the behavior are not counted. This is why we have not entered an agreement-disagreement score for “‘imitative speech’’ in the first two intervals. If both scored and unscored intervals are included in the calculation, the agreement will often be spuriously high. If, for example, the behavior was scored once in 100 intervals by one observer and never scored by the other observer, the index of agreement based upon all 100 intervals would be 99 percent, even though agreement on the actual occurrence of the behavior was zero percent.” To continue with the computations in Table 4.5, the number of agreements and disagreements for each category is summed for each minute and entered at the right of the data sheet. During the first minute, these observers agreed ten times and disagreed twice. As noted, both of the disagreements concern occurrences of attention. The agreements and disagreements for each category are then summed for the three-minute sample. Interobserver agreement is calculated from the formula:

# agree

10A

times 100 = ________ = ———————

%

# agree + disagree

This figure is the percentage of those times one observer recorded the behavior that the other observer also recorded the behavior during the same interval. If you take each category separately, the agreement score of 93.8 percent for praise is excellent; the score of 80 percent for imitation is quite good for a first recording; but the score of 56.2 percent for attention shows that this class of behavior should be redefined. The overall agreement of 75.7 percent for the three categories combined is low, largely because of the lack of reliability in recording attention. _ Enter your partner’s data on your data sheet. You can use check marks, as we did in Table 4.5, or you may prefer to use colored pencil. Color is easier to work with if you have entered code letters on the data sheet, as in Table 4.4b.

. Compare the scoring for each interval, tallying agreements and disagreements below the interval. _Sum across for each class of behavior, and enter the agrees and disagrees in the columns at the right. . Calculate percentage agreement for each class of behavior separately and for all classes combined. the (As can be seen from the data in Table 4.5, the overall agreement score is not necessarily agreeinterobserver research, professional In scores.) agreement average of the three separate observers ment of at least 90 percent is generally required for each class of behavior before the may begin to collect data.

71f you are muttering to yourself that this is an oversimplification, you are unscored intervals will be spuriously high if the behavior seldom occurs, an if the behavior is occurring nearly all of the time. One solution is to report vals, the other based on unscored intervals. Or you can average the indexes

quite right. Just as an agreement index that includes index based on scored intervals will be spuriously hig two indexes of agreement: one based on scored intercalculated separately for scored and unscored intervals

and Lahey (1978). (Hawkins and Dotson, 1975). Or you can use the correction formula suggested by Harris

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

81

Hl. FIELD ACTIVITIES The following exercises provide a variety of situations in which you can further develop your skills in defining and recording behavior. Alternatively, your instructor may provide a videotape of behavior in a situation that is particularly relevant to the content of your course. If you will be recording in conjunction with an independent project, you may find it helpful to read through the following exercises before designing your own recording system. Then complete the Proposal for Observing in an Applied Setting at the end of this chapter, and submit it to your instructor. (Table 4.12) In all cases, be sure the observed people’s right to privacy is protected and that informed consent has been obtained from the client, parents, or an advocate. (In the case of television, described later, it is probably safe to assume that the “clients” have waived the right to privacy.) No matter what other recording procedure you will use, it is a good idea to start with narrative recording. It helps in selecting important classes of behavior, and it points up other features of the situation that may be relevant. A. Narrative Recording Select someone whose behavior you will want to record, and observe this person in the situation in which you will do the recording. After watching for at /east five minutes, try to write down everything you see this person doing, and try to include what appear to be the antecedents and consequences of each action. Record for at least five minutes, and, if this is a major exercise, repeat the procedure until you have collected two or three samples. When you have finished, pick one sample and draw up a sequence analysis by entering the antecedents, the behavior, and its consequences in Table 4.6. Add continuation pages if you need them. (If you are a trained observer, you may want to do the initial recording in three columns.)

83

ia

Table 4.6. Sequence Analysis from Narrative Recording

ee —— Time

Observer:

Date

Subject:

——————— Setting ———_—~—————————— Behavior

Antecedents (who, what, when, where)

(include approximate number or duration)

84

Consequences (What happened next?)

€

4

B. Frequency (Event) Recording from Television (or video tape) Television provides an opportunity to record many different classes of behavior. By your choice

of a program, you can focus on family interactions, interview skills, dramatic skills, or animal behavior. Although television — like film — provides great flexibility in content, it is not specifically designed to train observers. The fact that the camera seldom stays on a particular individual for an extended period of time makes recording difficult, and you may have to interrupt your recording or collect several brief samples. You There is an advantage to public television programs that are repeated later in the week. sefor look to and situation the with familiar become to time first can watch the program the when the quences that would be suitable for recording, and then you can do the actual recording the records. program is repeated. Alternatively, you could record both times and compare 1. Preliminary program with which you are a. Find someone who has participated in the workshop, and select a television occur. (See 7V Guide.) will that action both familiar or for which you can predict at least some of the if you will be watching a example, For behavior. of classes b. Decide whose behavior you will record and what or how often the complains husband ical) (stereotyp the often how situation comedy, you might record grimaces or the husband the how often (stereotypical) wife apologizes. For motor behavior, you might record of refernumber the record might you the wife leaves the room. If you will be watching a news program, from the away look reporters or announcer the times of ences made to political candidates and the number

camera.)

(or vocal if you will be watching animals) c. Agree upon the definitions of two classes of behavior, one verbal and one motor. Write them in the space provided in Table 4778 sample of the two classes of behavior. 2. First Recording. After writing down the definitions, record a 5-minute sampling if you prefer, so long as time or recording interval use can you but We suggest frequency recording, data sheet. (See data sheets provided for other you have at /east ten intervals or samples and draw up your own

%

field activities.) 3. Data Analysis

or not you have subtracted time for commera. Calculate the rate of each class of behavior, and note whether the percentage of samples in which the cials. (If you used interval recording or time sampling, calculate

behavior occurred.)

totals for each minute (color makes it easier to disb. Calculate interobserver agreement. Enter your partner’s cell. Enter the number of agreements and distinguish the two recordings), and compare the totals in each each class of behavior separately. for t agreements at the right of the record. Calculate agreemen or if there are other reasons you wish to percent, 90 reach not 4. Revised Definitions. If your agreement did

4.7. change your definitions, enter the revised definitions into Table ons if you changed them. definiti revised the using sample, another Record g. 5. Second Recordin this sample. for nt agreeme 6. Data Analysis. Calculate the rate and your interobserver

85

tips es “ Ss 2

x

Table 4.7. Frequency Recording from Television ene

Television Program: we

Osenerst

Setting

= Stbect(s)

Pate eee

2 + = oes a

First Definitions (name the class of behavior) A. Behavior: ee

ee

a_i

S ee a ee ee e oe e ee e ee

SS

ee

ee Ui

B. Behavior: e ee ee ee ee e ee e pee

First Recording (If you are not using frequency recording, make up a data sheet.)

2

1

Behavior

frequency Rate: —————— Behavior A: time

Time (min) 3

; : Behavior B:

=

Total

5

4

Ag.

Dis.

=

Did you subtract time for commercials?

Interobserver Agreement Behavionwe.

agree

a

eee

Behavior:

2

et

pee

100 =2

agree + disagree

87

ee

pha

%

Table 4.7. (cont.)

Revised definitions: Behav Ole

ee

eee

___ ee Ee ne 2 eee Oe

BE ee a og ey el oe

ee

Behavior: 8

rt he 8

eed

a

ee

ee

a

a ee

Se

ee

eS

eS

Second Recording

Behavior

1

Time (min) 3

2

4

5

Total

Ag.

Dis.

Rate and Interobserver Agreement Bena \Ol meee

eee

Rate ————_ =___

ee

ee

Se

Behavior:

se rpm

——_

=___serpm

Agreement

%

oh OU

ee

eee

Source: Reese, 1979.

;

7

C. Introduction to a Field Setting s

The purpose of this activity is to acquaint you with a field agency, the clients it serves, and the general nature and scope of its program. Goals

On completion of this activity, you should be able to do the following: 1. Describe a field agency program and its goal for its students or clients. 2. Describe the important characteristics of the students or clients served.

3. Conduct a narrative recording.

General Instructions, Prior to Visit 1. Perhaps your instructor has located institutions or members of your group. If not, try to locate a site supervisor before making contact with the agency 2. Schedule a time to visit the site, following up any

4

community agencies that have agreed to allow visits from yourself, but be sure to check with your instructor or personnel. oral agreement with a note.

3. Ask if there are any specific instructions that are given to visitors. Some agencies have handouts. Some request that you remain as unobtrusive as possible, not interacting with clients or personnel, unless invited to, during the progress of the program. It is usually appreciated when visitors groom themselves as do regular staff, as visitors whose attire is unusual in the setting may prove distracting. See Table 4.8 for suggestions about interacting effectively with community agencies. 4. The agency personnel will also want to know the purpose of your visit. Perhaps your supervisor or instructor will provide a letter of introduction. The sample letter in this chapter was written to explain the responsibilities of students conducting projects in the field. A similar letter could be written when students go out to observe. You might also show this manual to someone on the staff. You should inform the agency if you hope to identify a client with whom you might later apply some of the applied behavior analysis skills you are currently

learning. You may also be 5. If, as we suggest, you plan to conduct a narrative recording, be sure to complete Table 4.12. In some settings, visit. first your before 93 p. on sheet work the of part complete to instructor your by asked settings, you where a one-way mirror is available, you may be asked to do your recording in a booth. In other room. the within may be asked to record from a specific location have clients or 6. Inquire about any restrictions that are placed on discussing clients or staff. (For example, or record while you parents given permission for the release of information?) In general, anything you notice other than are at a field setting must be considered privileged information, not to be discussed with anyone supervisor. training or agency personnel and your instructor see your instructor or supervisor. ~S _ Read the work sheet before your visit; and, if you have any questions, Table 4.8. Some Hints for Interacting Effectively with Members of Agencies in the Community * a

eS

EE—E—E—E

—

Ahead of Time:

_____

you Contact the agency by letter (with your instructor’s approval), and indicate the date and time when will make contact by telephone. Call the head of the agency to request an appointment at a time when the person is not likely to be occupied with clients (for example, when clients are expected to be elsewhere; not during meal times, dressing,

etc.). On the phone, assuming that your instructor has been in previous contact with the agency, briefly review the nature of your interest; who suggested the contact, and why. Ask for an appointment at the convenience of the people with whom you are to meet. Terminate the conversation by repeating the time, place, and date scheduled. Thank the person for being willing to set aside time to meet with you. Do your homework: Learn as much as you can about the agency. Read its program descriptions.

al

89

:

,

Table 48. (cont.)

During the Initial livc view: Practice positive social skills: Greet people with a smile and shake hands; after being offered a seat, sit back, but lean forward slightly; maintain good eye contact; nod and smile at appropriate times. Keep your appointment as scheduled. Try to arrive a few minutes early. If the timing of your visit seems inconvenient, offer to return at another time. Review your understanding of the goals of the agency, your own goals, and the benefits that should accrue to each of you and to the client(s). Express your hope that the agency will let you know ways in which you might potentially best serve. But listen more than you talk. Avoid interrupting. Ask questions at appropriate times. Clearly indicate your level of training; your skills and your limitations. While Working at the Agency: Always attend regularly unless you are sick. Then stay home. In case of illness or an emergency that prevents your attendance, call ahead to let people know that you will be unable to attend. Also call if you must be late. Remain as minimally intrusive as possible, but smile and be enthusiastic when you say ‘’Hello’’ and “Good-bye.’’ Try to say something positive before leaving if it will not disrupt the routine. Try to participate in the ongoing routine for the first few sessions so that your later activities are consonant with the regular program. Remember, though, that you are not working full time and that you could not possibly appreciate the day-to-day problems and responsibilities of the regular staff. Always assist in emergencies, even if it means that your own activities need to be set aside. —__ Do more than the required work — extra work pays off; but do not offer to do more than you can effectively complete. ___ Be especially attentive to practices that seem to be particularly effective. By watching experts at work you may pinpoint some important variables to investigate. Also ask for staff members’ advice, and respectfully listen to their opinions. —_____

Communicate your enthusiasm for the expert practices of the staff both to them and to their supervisors.

___

Suggestions are best given when they are requested and everyday words, and avoid jargon for the sake of jargon munication. In that case, paraphrase the term by saying Always return materials and equipment to their proper as is. When in doubt, ask.

——— —-

———

when they are based on adequate evidence. Use unless the use of technical terms facilitates comwho does what under what circumstances. places unless you have been asked to leave things

;

«

}

Schedule regular times to communicate with staff, at their convenience, to keep them abreast of your activities and to solicit their feedback and suggestions. Try to follow the suggestions or negotiate a compromise. Talk to staff to determine if your program is likely to continue when you are no longer there. If not, modify the program.

—

Regularly chat with staff; ask how things are going; be reinforcing; express your appreciation for your welcome and for the time and effort being expended to help you develop your knowledge and skills.

At the End of Your Stay —___—

——— ———

—

Offer to train other personnel to take over where you left off. In the client’s case folder, leave adequate instructions for staff who may take over your program some time in the future. Offer to give an oral presentation of the results of your efforts. (See Chapter 14.) Write up and present the agency with a report that describes what you planned to do and what was actually accomplished. (See Chapter 14.) Thank your hosts and the staff who assisted you with a letter of appreciation.

eee

*Blank spaces are provided to enable you to check your own performance. Note: These suggestions are based on the experiences of many of our students , graduates, colleagues and ourselves. They remain to be experimentally verified. Not all items apply to Activity C in this cha pter, but all are directly relevant to conducting field work with clients.

90

|

c

SAMPLE

LETTER TO AGENCY SUPERVISORS Memorandum

From

Beth Sulzer-Azaroff, Professor

To

Agency ei Supervisors ae

ey

Subject

Date

November 15, 1978

Practicum activities for students in Psychology 582, Applied Behavior Analysis Laboratory

We have made contact with agencies in the region to determine who would like to cooperate in our trainingservice program, and we thank you for expressing your interest. We thought you might appreciate further information about our expectations for our students and about your part in the program. Our Program As you are probably aware, Psychology 581-584 is a two-semester sequence of courses designed to teach students specific knowledge and skills in the field of applied behavior analysis. The course consists of readings, classroom activities, and practice in the field. As students master the concepts and content of the course and practice some of their skills under simulated conditions, they are expected to supplement these activities with parallel experiences in the field. For example, during the first semester they learn how to select goals and objectives in an ethically responsible manner. This activity is accompanied by supervised experience in selecting appropriate goals for individuals in field settings. Similarly, as they learn the techniques for collecting valid, reliable records, they practice those techniques in the field. During the current semester, we hope that all students will arrange a field placement; that they will become acquainted with the goals of the program and the clientele that it serves. We hope that during this time, a client will be identified who would like to participate in a project. By the end of the semester, our student should be able to design and propose a program to achieve a goal that has been mutually determined by the client (or advocate), by you, and by the student. During the spring semester, our student should carry out the program, recording and evaluating progress throughout. Whenever called for, adjustments in the program will be made by mutual consent. Supervision of Students a laboraThe students will be supervised by you or by someone identified by you in the field, as well as by short weekly tory supervisor here at the university. Field supervisors usually find it convenient to schedule meetings with the student. Data, problems, accomplishments and future plans are reviewed. the When preliminary arrangements have been made, the students will be asked to describe in detail each. of es responsibiliti and obligations the specifying supervisor, field the with nature of their participation This enables Many of our students have drafted an evaluation form based on those anticipated obligations. will depend, in all to recall what is expected of them and to assess their performance. The student’s grade one to five spend to students our expect we cases, most In supervisor. part, upon the evaluation of the field field and instructor the of permission with may, student the However, setting. field hours a week in their supervisor, elect to increase that time commitment. you might Should you wish additional information as to the expectations and policies of the course, student's the Naturally, handouts. other and materials, ask to see the course policy, schedules, laboratory at reached be can We time. any at you with program this discuss to pleased be supervisor and | will . 10:30-11:00 545-0083 on Mondays, 11:30-12:00; Tuesdays, 1:45-2:30; and Thursdays, agency, the clients it | sincerely hope that this cooperative experience will prove advantageous to your analysis. behavior applied of serves, and to the education of our students

91

tn Pees 4:

=

Ee

Date > See

WORK

ee

SHEET AND

INSTRUCTIONS

FOR VISIT

Instructions for Visit

1. Provide the following information about the agency staff: a. Name of the agency or school Name, address, and phone number of your contact person

b. Name, occupational title, address, and phone number of the individual who will probably be responsible for supervising you if you are placed in that field setting (if differ-

ent from above)

2. Meet with this person for a brief discussion, reviewing the purpose of your unit and obtaining the following information: a. Briefly describe the clients served:

b. Describe the purpose of the agency and its program.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

93

Date

to

ee

Name

you plan to observe. c. Describe the purpose of the particular program activities

3. Observe the program in action for at least an hour, preferably longer. are a. Just watch and listen for a while. If you were asked to remain unobtrusive and you not do and now talk approached by a student or client, briefly state that you can’t respond to any further overtures. b. Briefly summarize the ongoing activities.

c. Describe the clients or students: their physical characteristics; their social behavior; their academic, vocational, or other program-related performance, including any apparent strengths, deficits, or excesses.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

94

9

ater tC

Due

a

____

Name

d. Identify a single client or student, and write a narrative description of that person’s behavior on a separate piece of paper.® Describe, as if you were a motion picture camera, what the individual does, in what setting, with what materials, and in whose presence. Also describe the way other people and other aspects of the environment are affected by the individual's actions. (Attach this narration to these pages.) e. On the basis of this narrative recording, summarize any apparent strengths or weaknesses you observed. 4. Write down any questions that you want to ask your supervisor or instructor.

5. Visits may upset the routine and often require special time and effort from hosts to accommodate you. They are especially appreciative of personal expressions of thanks and followup notes that give them information on the specific benefits you enjoyed from their efforts. This handy checkpoint is provided as a convenient reminder for you to fol. (Check when done.) low through with a thank-you note 6. If you are keeping one, write up your visit in your project notebook. (See Table 12.12 in Chapter 12.)

8in the event that the client is planning to do a self-management program with your assistance, a narrative may also be recorded by the client.

4

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

95

9 D. Interval Recording in a Classroom Setting The following instructions assume that you will be recording from an observation booth with a one-way mirror. If you will be situated in the classroom, be as unobtrusive as possible, and do not interact with the children. In either case, obtain and abide by the instructions for observing children in the particular school. Review the instructions for Field Activity C before beginning. Observe with a partner, signing up for the observation ahead of time. You will be recording the classes of behavior listed below, and it would be well to decide upon preliminary definitions before you arrive at the school.

WORKSHEET: Date

INTERVAL RECORDING Due

Name

a. Verbal behavior, directed towards teacher (VT):

b. Verbal, directed towards another child (VC):

c. Physical behavior, directed towards another child (PC):

2. General Procedure a. Leave coats, books, and so on, in the coat room. Enter booth quietly, and remember that sounds from the booth may be overheard by the children. b. Select a child, and observe without recording for 5 minutes. (If you will be doing a narrative recording, do so now.)

a

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

97

Date

2

a

ay

Name —__________—_——

Ue

Preliminary Recording

~

min.

0-9

10-19

20-29

_ 40-49

30-39

Sum

50-59

Sum % Intervals

VT

oVE.

eC

: pe ae lekee il ee

eee

c. If you want to revise your definitions, leave the booth or room, and find a quiet place to negotiate the revisions. Otherwise, proceed to a preliminary 3-minute sample. 3. Recording a. Using the preliminary data sheet that follows write down the appropriate code letters when any of the activities you are recording occurs in any interval. (If necessary, review the workshop instructions for interval recording.) b. Leave the booth, again finding a place that will not disturb others. Sum the totals over the 3-minute sample, and compute the percentage of intervals each activity occurred. Compare your data, and revise the definitions if you wish. c. Enter the definitions you will now use in the space provided below. Verbal to Teacher:

Verbal to Child:

Physical to child:

d. Return to the booth and record a 5-minute sample. Rest a minute or so, and then record another 5-minute sample. Quietly leave the booth. e. Sum the totals over the two 5-minute samples, and compute the percentage of intervals for each activity occurred. (There will be 60 intervals.) f. Calculate interobserver agreement. If you have forgotten how, refer to Table 4.5 and the accompanying text. (This is easier if you add your partner's scores in a different color.) If it exceeds 90 percent, congratulations! (\f not, see your instructor for any further instructions.) Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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4 E. Time Sampling in a School, Institution, or Animal Colony

3

1. Introduction Although time sampling is generally used to determine the proportion of time a single individual engages in a single activity — as when you measured your attention during the workshop — it is also useful when one wants to estimate the proportion of individuals engaging in different activities. In this case, when the predetermined interval has elapsed, the observer records the number of people engaging in the activities to be monitored and converts the numbers to percentages. In the example shown in Table 4.10 and Figure 4.2, a psychologist was trying to encourage social interaction among clients in an institutional ward. He decided to monitor two activities: (1) any kind of social interaction, whether friendly or not, with another resident or with a member of the staff, and (2) solitary behavior. Solitary behavior included activities such as rocking back and forth or talking to oneself, as well as manipulating materials or sitting motionless, apparently in a trance.

.

After spending several days revising the definitions of these classes of behavior, the psychologist selected time sampling as a recording procedure. Only one sample was taken each day because the psychologist was supposed to be doing diagnostic testing in another part of the building. He took the sample on his way to lunch, which was approximately 30 minutes after the residents had had their lunch. (The psychologist figured that if the data sug-

gested anything interesting, he could get authorization for an attendant on the ward to take more frequent samples, perhaps one every half hour.) Baseline was recorded for only four days. This was partly because the data were stable and partly because the staff was about to place a television set on the ward. This would have changed the baseline situation, and there was a possibility that the opportunity to watch television with other residents might prove therapeutic and serve to increase social interaction.

After television was introduced, the psychologist counted the number of people engaging in three activities: social interaction, solitary behavior, and watching television. The first two took precedence. If two or more residents interacted while they were watching television, this was scored as social interaction. Similarly, if a resident were sitting in front of the television set but did not appear to be attending to the program, this was scored as solitary behavior. The results are shown in Table 4.10 and Figure 4.2. During baseline, approximately 43 percent of the residents were involved in social interaction during the samples, and approximately 57 percent in solitary behavior. Then, on the fifth day, the television set was produced with much fuss and fanfare. Unfortunately, there was no decrease in the percentage of residents engaged in solitary behavior. Even though the recording procedure did not identify individual patients, the graph suggests that those who watched television were the same people who had formerly engaged in some sort of social behavior.

Although there may well be situations in which television can encourage residents to interact with something in their environment and thus pave the way to true social interaction, the psychologist concluded that this was not one of those situations.

2. Preparation Select a setting such as a preschool program, an institution, or an animal enclosure; and decide upon three classes of behavior to monitor. Activities in a preschool program might include: doll play, painting, or athletic activities. Or you might be interested in three classes of social behavior, such as solitary play, parallel play, and cooperative play. Or you might select one class of social behavior directed toward the teacher, to a child of the same sex, or to a child of the opposite sex.

101

al ward engaged in social behavior, Table 4.10. Time Sampling. Percentage of 15 residents on an institution fanfare on fifth day. much with introduced solitary behavior, or in watching television. Television Social (Staff or resident)

Re Television

Solitary

Percent

No.

46.7 40 46.7

8

53.3

3 4

7 6 7, 6

9 8

60 53.3

5

2

40 Ske

9 8

60 53.3

1 2

Percent

No.

Percent

No.

Day

5

33.3

6 7

2 1

13.3 6.7

// 9

46.7 60

6 5

40

8 9 10 11 2

2 3 2. 3 4

(lets! 20 13.3 20 26.7

8

53.3

5

Sone

8

53.3

4

26.7

9

60

4

2657,

9 8

60 sees:

3 3

20 20

13

3

20

9

60

2

13.3

14

4

26.7

8

53.3

3

20

15

4

26.7

8

53.3

3

20

33:3

Source: Reese, 1979.

80

Baseline

Television

60

SA

BO

*

E 3

Ss.

oc

Ne

e--—e

“2

27

e

Solitary

7

32 40

ay

12)

e) aN

O——

Or Social

20

Days

Figure 4.2. Percentage of 15 residents on an institutional ward engaged in social interaction (with staff or other i

residents), ; solitary behavior other than watching television. 5 Television introduced i i data.) Source: Reese, 1979. Baa

102

tat

If you will be observing in an institution, you might break down broad classes of physical or social behavior, as in the examples suggested for children; or you might record the number of people interacting with staff, with other residents, or not interacting with anyone. University libraries, dining rooms, and sports facilities offer many possibilities as do shopping malls and other public areas. There is an ethical concern here if you will be observing without the consent of those observed. You will not be identifying individuals, but even so, do not record the behavior of friends or others you might recog-

nize without obtaining their consent. It is also advisable to obtain permission from the people in charge of the facility. Not only is this courteous, but it also avoids the possibility that they might misinterpret your strange behavior. (In one case, such a misunderstanding led to a summoning of the security personnel.) If you will be observing animal behavior, spend some time getting to know the fascinating things the particular species does. Do some reading and, before you select activities to monitor, try some narrative recording. If you pass a tank of tropical fish several times a day, note what individuals of the same or different species are doing. Unless you have just fed them, some species (neons and other tetras) are likely to be schooling near the middle depths of the tanks. Older guppies will probably be near the surface, the males in relentless pursuit of the females, whereas the young may be on the floor of the tank or near the heater. Most of the catfish will be resting or “vacuum cleaning,” the site depending on the species; but some will be darting to the surface for air. Some of the cichlids will be retiring behind the foliage; others, recognizing your footsteps, will surface for a handout. Put breeding pairs of species such as cichlids or anabantids in separate tanks, raise the temperature, and monitor the elaborate courtship, breeding, and care of young. (Actually, interval recording is better for courtship and breeding behavior. With time sampling you could miss too much.) If you don’t happen to pass by fish tanks, consider recording at a pet shop or farm or Zoo.

Before observing in a school or institution, obtain and study instructions for observing in that setting, and be sure that informed consent has been obtained. Complete the Proposal for Observing in an Applied Setting at the end of this chapter, and submit it to your instructor.

3. Recording a. Fill in the general information requested at the top of Table 4.11, and define the classes of behavior you will monitor. If the number of people is likely to vary as you collect your samples, you will have to record the number and per-

centage for each sample. If the number will remain constant, you can calculate the percentages only once, at the end. Decide whether the interval between samples will be fixed or variable and also the length of the (average) interval. If using a timer to mark the intervals, be sure the sound does not interfere with the behavior you will be observing. b. Record at least 10 samples, noting how many individuals are engaging in each activity at the moment the interval is up. c. Calculate the mean (or median) number of individuals engaging in each activity, and turn these numbers into percentages. d. If you record with someone else, calculate interobserver agreement. Either divide the smaller total by the larger total (X 100) or, preferably, use the formula provided in Table 4.11.

103

Table 4.11. Momentary Time Sampling : Fixed ___ or Variable ——

(Average) length of interval Subjects

Observer (s)

Situation

Date

Behavior to be monitored:

Time

Definition ee

i

A.

B.

C.

Behavior

A.

B.

C.

(No. Indiv.

Sample

tl;

Present)

(

)

No.

(Percent)

poe Eee

(

No.

(Percent)

)

(

Ze OF 4. 5; 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

No.

)

(Percent)

(

)

as

sum mea nietes eee

psoas ts FOG

%

%

Interobserver Agreement (if pair)

Behavior: A.

B.

Ca

Agree

Agree + Dis. Source: Reese, 1979.

ge ene ed Xx 1

%

0 _

%:

.

=

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F. Recording in Conjunction with Projects

1. Self-management Projects Suggestions for recording in conjunction with self-management projects are given in Chapter 11 (Table 11.3). Select procedures appropriate for your project, and do some preliminary recording of as many classes of behavior as is feasible. 2. Individual Applied Projects Preliminary recordings can be useful in at least three ways: a. To determine whether or not something that is presumed to be a problem really is one, by virtue of the frequency or duration or intensity of the behavior involved. b. To identify the client’s strengths that can be developed during the course of a program. c. To try out different recording procedures in a particular setting and thus determine the feasibility and the reliability of using each.

We have suggested that your first observation be narrative recording as this method helps one identify important classes of behavior and important features of the setting. Other methods will depend upon the behavior you select to observe and the other responsibilities you may have while recording. If you are teaching or assisting in some other way, you won't have time for interval recording unless someone gives you a break. You might handle frequency recording if the behavior occurs rather seldom. (You could count 10 requests for help or 10 temper tantrums in an hour.) But you might be limited to time sampling.

Before observing behavior in conjunction with an individual project, be sure to obtain permission from any relevant people such as the classroom teacher, and be sure that your proposal (Table 4.12) has been checked by your instructor or supervisor.

105

Table 4.12. Proposal for Observing in an Applied Setting OE

Setting in which you will observe TT Date

eee

Time

es —— Permission to observe in setting obtained from ess

Have instructions for observing in this setting been obtained? _______ Person(s) to be observed (if known)

Read?

——

Has the client (or advocate) granted permission for observational recording?

Major Purpose of Recordings

Are you trying to learn more about the client, perhaps to identify strengths and possible weaknesses ?

Are you trying to verify whether or not something that is presumed to be a problem really is one by nature of its frequency or duration? Do you want to check the feasibility of using a particular recording procedure in

this setting? Other (specify) What behavior will be recorded and by what methods?

(Don’t forget possible products of behavior, and see Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1 to check that the methods are appropriate.)

Behavior

Recording Procedure

What provisions have been made for assessing interobserver agreement?

Prepare data sheets and attach them to this proposal. (See Section II! for sample data sheets for different methods of observational recording.) Have you any questions?

Comments from Instructor:

106

= ©

» Operant Procedures I: Increasing Behavior

Required

Optional

Date Due

To the Instructor |. Introduction

Il. Workshops

A. Designing an Individual Service Plan B. Selecting Procedures for a Client C. Selecting Reinforcers

2

Ill. Field Activity A. Identifying and Assessing Reinforcers

Self-management Proposal (Chapter |! 1V)1 In conjunction with Client Behavior Change Program (Chapter 12) 1. Preliminary Proposal for Projects with Clients (Chapter 12 || E)

2. Workshop: Presentation and Analysis of Preliminary Project Proposal (Chapter 12 III A) 3. Final Proposal, Projects with Clients (Chapter 12 IV A) IV. Field and Workshop Activity: Abstract and Presentation of a Journal Article

To the Instructor Three workshops and two field activities are contained in this chapter. Depending on the time allotted to your training program, you may wish to assign a portion or all of the workshops. If you refer to the table in the preface, you will note that for a one-semester course we recommend that participants conduct a selfmanagement program or a program with a client or an alternative individual project. If that describes your situation, you will probably want to conduct Workshop A. For those participants conducting a client project, Workshop B (Selecting Procedures for a Client) should be scheduled. Workshop C (Selecting Rein-

Tinstructors may wish to assign these activities now or following Chapters 7, 8,9, or 11.

4

107

For field activities, forcers) is appropriate for those initiating either a client- or self-management project.

and Assessing those conducting a self-management project would fill out the Field Activity: Identifying a client would with work to planning Reinforcers (this chapter) and the proposal form in Chapter 11. Those

Assessing Reinforcers. Assumcomplete Workshop B (parts 1 and 2) and the Field Activity: Identifying and their self-management or prepare to ready then are they used, be to is procedure nt ing a simple reinforceme applying proceclient proposal forms in Chapters 11 and 12. Should students not be involved in actually the field (Field in work current with themselves dures, they should at least do some reading to familiarize students courses, r two-semeste our In Article). and In-class Activity: Abstract and Presentation of a Journal actual the and semester first the during studies case simulated and ment do the work related to self-manage Journal second. the of beginning the and semester first the of end the toward activities client management articles are read, analyzed, and presented several times during each of the two semesters. Each of the first three group activities should take less than an hour. We have, with careful advance preparation, been able to complete all three within a two-and-a-half-hour time block. | Should you wish to provide a model for members of the group, you might prepare a video tape ofa carefully rehearsed planning meeting and show it to the group prior to their own involvement in Workshop A. An analytic discussion might help them to focus on thecritical aspects of the planning procedure. If your group is large, we suggest that you schedule only one or two presentations in Workshop A, 7 and 8.

INTRODUCTION

An essential component of applied behavior analysis is the set of procedures it applies to the modification of behavior. Generally, these procedures involve establishing or changing conditions that have been identified as having an effect on the functioning of the individual. By referring to the principles of learning, one can often make an educated guess as to just what a promising set of procedures might be. © Whenever one undertakes to apply behavior analysis, the following approach is in order. A , 1 problem is identified and precisely defined. An objective is set. Measures are selected, and the rate of the target behavior is measured over a period of time sufficient to constitute a representative baseline against which to assess change. Then one turns to those principles of behavior that are relevant to the task at hand. A program of action is developed, procedures are selected that incorporate behavioral principles, and the procedures are adjusted to the individual characteristics of the client. As the program is implemented, continual monitoring indicates the nature and extent of the change. In addition periodic assessments are performed to demonstrate objectively that the relations between the behavior and the procedures are functional — that as procedures are applied or withheld, the behavior responds in kind. In this section we now turn to a particularly critical element of the model for applied behavior analysis: the selection and application of behavioral procedures. First you are provided with some practice in selecting from among alternative behavioral procedures, initially with simulated cases and then for actual clients. (It is assumed that you have already mastered the basic concepts of reinforcement and can recall the rules for maximizing the effectiveness of reinforcement. Table 5.1 may refresh your memory. See also Reese, 1978, Chapter 4; Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977,

Units 8,9 and 10.) Then we proceed with the procedures themselves, starting with reinforcement. Later, other activities will be directed towards more complex procedural arrangements. (See Chapters 7,8, 9, 10.) The set of workshops is directed toward helping you learn how to select among alternative

behavioral procedures. Next, you will begin to identify reinforcing events that are appropriate for specific clients: first fictional cases, then clients you know or even yourself as a client. Next, you will plan reinforcing procedures. The fie/d activity permits a much more objective, data-based

selection of reinforcers for clients (either you or others) and provides guidance in planning actual

108

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y

reinforcement procedures to be used in self-management or client behavior change programs. The final field and group activity will acquaint you with current research on methods for increasing behavior. Perhaps your instructor will then ask you to prepare a self-management (Chapter 11) or aclient (Chapter 12) proposal. Table 5.1. Operant Procedures for Increasing and Teaching Behavior Procedure

Operation

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcer presented following response

Maximizing Efficiency?

Characteristics?

1. Reinforce immediately 2. Specify conditions under which reinforcement will be delivered

1. Positive (possible positive generalization) 2. Constructive

3. Deliver sufficient quantity to maintain behavior without rapid satiation

3. Occasions positive self-staternents

4. Select reinforcer appropriate to individual 5. Use variety of reinforcers and reinforcing situations 6. Try to use high-frequency behaviors and other reinforcers found in natural environment 7. Provide opportunity for reinforcer sampling 8. Eliminate or reduce competing contingencies 9. Reinforce every response initially 10. Combine with modeling instructions, and prompts 11. Plan for intermittency, delay of

>

reinforcement and generalization once behavior has increased sufficiently Shaping

Reinforcing succes-

1. Keep your eye on goal

Positive, constructive approach;

sive approximations

2. Start with behaviors in individ-

quires careful planning

to goal

ual’s repertoire 3. Start with behaviors that most closely resemble goal behavior 4. Select step size that can be easily — but not too easily — achieved 5. Remain at a given step only long enough to incorporate it within individual’s repertoire 6. Watch for behavioral disintegration; if it appears imminent, drop back a step or two

7. Combine temporarily with modeling, prompts and other stimulus-control procedures;

then fade S2s° 8. Use effective reinforcement procedures throughout 9. Strengthen newly acquired behavior

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re-

Table 5.1. (cont.)

Maximizing Efficiency?

Procedure

Operation

Chaining

Reinforcing combinations of more than one response link or behavioral component

. Do careful task analysis . Select links in individual's repertoire wo . Start with final link . Occasion response combinations with modeling and prompts; then fade auxiliary S95 _ Use effective reinforcement procedures throughout

Differential Reinforcement for stimulus control

Reinforcing response only in

. Identify relevant stimulus properties 2 Use effective reinforcement and extinction procedures . Focus client’s attention on relevant stimulus properties . Perhaps supplement temporarily with additional S2s

the presence of S29; withholding reinforcement in the

presence of S4>

Characteristics? Positive, constructive approach; if

links already in repertoire, may be faster than shaping

1. Permits use of procedure of gs)

and S“ presentation for rapid behavior change 2. Minimizes and reduces errors,

inappropriate behavior 3. Long lasting if behavior is intermittently reinforced in presence

of SP

. Initially introduce potential S4s very different from S?

_ Initially introduce S4s only briefly and at weak intensities . Pause following an incorrect response . Provide correct practice trials following incorrect responses (after pause) . Shift control from irrelevant to

relevant stimuli

10. To inhibit response, present aversive consequences when response occurs in presence of sf

Presenting verbal instructions

Presenting

. Analyze response components

verbal prompts

. Determine whether or not response is in repertoire . Determine whether or not

response is under instructional control

. Reinforce act of following

1. Can be used to facilitate other Procedures 2. Verbal directions can also serve

as S4s and S9-s, depending upon consequences previously associated with behaviors in their presence 3. Rapid when instructional stimuli control individual’s behavior

instructions

4. Long-lasting when intermittently reinforced Providing a model

Exposing individual to model’s behavior; reinforcing imitation

=

. Select a model who is similar to observer, has prestige, is compe-

1. Can be used to facilitate many other procedures

tent in the behavior to be imitated, and is cooperative with observer

2. Model's behavior can also serve

110

as an S4 or S9- depending upon consequences delivered

Table 5.1. (cont.) Procedure

Operation

Maximizing Efficiency?

Characteristics®

2. Point out similarities, and use

3. Can be used to teach novel and

3. Model simple behaviors 4. Provide rule governing or explain-

4. Rapid when modeled stimuli control individual's behavior

other S2s to occasion imitation

ing behavior when teaching complex performance 5. Reinforce the model’s behavior

complex performances

5, Long-lasting when imitative acts are reinforced intermittently

6. Reinforce imitative behavior

Physical guidance

Physically guiding behavior; rein-

forcing behavior

1. Secure client's cooperation 2. Use minimum pressure to guide.

movement 3. Help client to relax 4. Use graduated guidance to transfer control from guided respond-

ing to more natural Ss like

1. Can be used to facilitate other procedures

2. Rapid, assuming cooperative client 3. Persists as long as guidance provided or until control transferred to other S?s

models or instructions

Fading

Presenting, then

gradually remov-

ing Ss; reinforcing

auxiliary behavior

1. Identify prompts that reliabily

occasion desired response

2, Remove prompts gradually

3. prompt just enough to occasion response reliably

4. Combine with effective reinforcement procedures

Je

ee

1. Minimizes errors

2. Can be used to facilitate control

by critical stimuli, shaping,

chaining and other procedures 3. Helps to overcome overdepen-

dence upon artificial prompts

4. Helps to facilitate maintenance 5. Can speed up effects of other procedures

ee

@Assuming optimal use of the procedure. preceded or accompanied reinforcement, the 5The symbols s?, s4, and SU- refer to discriminative stimuli that have consistently the occurrence or nonoccurrence of behavior. absence of reinforcement, or punishment, respectively, and that then control stimulus materials so that control is gradually transferred from Cin discrimination training, fading refers to a gradual change in the a dimension that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to e discriminat to learner the for easy is that a stimulus dimension for the learner to discriminate.

Source: Adapted from Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer (1 977), pp. 411-413.

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o

Il. WORKSHOP (Simulated Case) A. Designing an Individual Service Plan with an Interdisciplinary Team procedures to assist clients Much of the work of the applied behavior analyst involves designing the field, however, you to achieve their goals and objectives. Before addressing actual cases in you will be better able should have sufficient supervised practice with simulated examples. Then problem situations to apply the principles and the procedural concepts you've mastered to solve role of an interdisyou may actually encounter later on. In this workshop, you will assume the nal, therapeutic ciplinary team member? in designing a set of procedures — an individual educatio

©

plan or service plan — for a sample case. Goals

Assuming that you have mastered material on observation, recording and procedural design (see Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977, and Reese, 1978, sections on these topics), on completion of this workshop, you should be able to 1. Analyze a case to identify behavioral objectives. 2. Select an appropriate data-recording system. 3. Select and justify the selection of a set of procedures that are apt to promote the achievement of the behavioral objectives.

2

pa

federal legislation (PL 94.142) U.S. (\EP). plan

E : requires the input of various key professionals in planning the individualized educational

112

€

INSTRUCTIONS: Activities 1-4 should be limited to about 15 to 20 minutes. 1. Divide into small groups of four to six people to participate in an “interdisciplinary meeting’’ to design an individual service plan. 2. Choose one of the case studies presented in the appendix (or one of your own). 3. Discuss the roles that would be important in designing procedures to solve one or more of the presenting problems for your particular client. (Client or client advocate, various professionals, such as teachers, guidance counselors, language therapists, pediatricians and so on.) Choose or assign a role to each participant. 4. On page 117 we have provided an illustrative script of an interdisciplinary team meeting. Read through the script to get a feeling for the way these meetings sometimes go. Then conduct your own meeting for the case study you have selected. Arrive at a treatment plan that includes the following: . goals and objectives . observational recording system . procedures to achieve goals . reinforcing and other consequences . responsibilities of individual members of the team in carrying out the treatment plan. It is usually advisable to consider more than one procedural approach, depending on the repertoire of the client, the people who will carry out the program, situational circumstances, and other factors. Discuss the alternative approaches, and select the one that appears most promising. Be prepared to justify the plan when it is presented to the larger

group. 5. Conduct the planning session for about 20 minutes. The interaction should provide an opportunity for people who suggest procedures to be challenged and to respond by justifying the procedures selected for that case. All participants should contribute to the discussion. Summarize the plan here:

6. Following the role playing, take at most five minutes to evaluate the performance of your group. Here are some questions you might address:

i)

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eee

pants expressed their a. Was decision making cooperative? Did it seem that all partici red? conside ly serious views and that those views were e a e ee e Den

what was b. How about the quality of the communication? Could everyone comprehend meeting? the of end the by consensus clear a being discussed? Was there

pe

c. Were the selected roles those that would most likely be encountered in an actual field situation? How well were the roles depicted?

d. Others?

7. Present your group’s plan to the entire assembly. Be sure that the presentation includes a specification of the problem, goals, objectives, observational and recording system, and behavioral procedure. The members of the audience should comment on these issues. Jot down their comments and suggestions. (Note your comments on others’ plan in Section 8.) a. How appropriate was your goal? The objectives? What alternatives did others suggest?

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b. How valid, reliable, and practical did the observational recording system seem for that situation?

c. Did the procedures selected seem appropriate to the problem? Did they seem feasible to implement, practical, ethically defensible; and, above all, did they promise to be effective?

8. Jot down your own reactions to the plans presented by other groups. a. How appropriate was the goal? The objectives? What alternatives might you suggest?

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c. Did the procedures selected seem appropriate to the problem? Did they seem feasible to implement, practical, ethically defensible; and, above all, did they promise to be effective?

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

116

SAMPLE SCRIPT — BASED ON THE CASE OF TERRY IN THE APPENDIX (To be used as a resource. Your group may change or substitute wording or use a case of interest to you.) Setting: Cast:

Conference room of a junior high school Terry: a ninth grade boy whose social adjustment and academic performance is poor Terry’s Mother: Discouraged, confused, uneasy in situation Guidance counselor: Mr. Martinez Language arts Teacher: Ms. Ling Shop Teacher: Mr. Wilson

The meeting has been called to design an educational plan for Terry. Terry’s case has been reviewed by the staff prior to the meeting, and the problems have already been summarized.

Mr. Martinez

Terry Mr. Martinez Terry Mr. Wilson

Ms. Ling Mother Terry Mr. Martinez Ms. Ling

Mother Mr. Martinez

Terry Mr. Martinez

Ms. Ling

Terry Mr. Martinez

Ms. Ling

Well, it seems to me that there are a number of areas that we should tackle: Your reading problems, your absenteeism, and your unwillingness to cooperate. What do you think about that,

Terry? | don't know. But you do recognize that if something isn’t done, things will probably get worse? Yeah. | guess. | for one know that you are capable of doing good work. Look how well you did on your last project. | wish you’d make half the effort in my class that you do in his. Why don’t you? (Shrugs) It is obvious that if you are to progress, you'll need to improve your reading skills and to attend school more regularly and on time. We do have some programmed instruction materials in reading. You could work on those while the other students are writing reports. If you improved your reading skills, the rest of your school work would be easier. That sounds O:K. But how are you going to get him to do the work? | don’t seem to be able to get anywhere when it comes to trying to get him to do his homework. Perhaps that’s where Mr. Wilson and the P.E. instructor can help. (To Terry). \t’s apparent that like to you enjoy and do well in Mr. Wilson’s class. Also in physical education. How would you earn free time to work on shop projects or to use the gym with a friend? That sounds O.K. What do | have to do? Ms. Ling, do you think you and Terry could work out a series of assignments that would be reasonable for him to complete each week? Then you can figure out how to tell if each of the tasks day to on the assignments is correct or not. You and Terry could then each check his work each see how well and quickly he worked.

book. We That shouldn’t be too hard because the materials have the correct answers right in the down them mark and day each correctly completes Terry that items can count the number of on a card. (To Terry) We could compare our counts each day to see if we agree. How do | get my free time in shop and gym? . we can Assuming that your teachers agree... (Looks around. Teachers nod agreement.) . . rate of your improve you if Then weeks. few a for do you how see We'll contract. a work out comwork much so and So doing your work correctly, we can negotiate a system of exchange: the or shop in time of minutes many so equals — pleted correctly — such and such a percentage gym. Of course, if you’re absent, you might have a hard time completing your work. (Informal interchange follows and role playing ends. )

117

B. Selecting Procedures for a Client There are many ways to accomplish behavioral objectives. The simplest and most benign approach is to use positive reinforcement, either to increase the targeted behavior or to in-

crease behavior that is incompatible with a problem to be reduced. There are, of course, many ways to use reinforcement. The decision will be based on the objectives to be achieved, the natural contingencies and those that may be managed, time requirements, potential collateral effects, and so forth. This activity is designed to assist you to consider the pros and cons of alternative procedures. As you complete the worksheet, consider the following variations of reinforcement: shaping, modeling, and subsequent reinforcement of imitation and chaining. (See Table 5.1). If the goal suggests that some problem should be reduced, design a program that includes extinction of the problem behavior and reinforcement of alternative behavior.

Goals By the end of this activity, you should be able to 1. Specify at least two behavioral objectives that would be appropriate to assist a client to achieve. 2. Identify the operation of natural contingencies that support or interfere with problem and with target behaviors. ~ 3. Explain how applied behavior analysis includes the management of contingencies.

4. Provide some solutions to problems of contingency management. 5. Select some alternative procedures for the solution of illustrative problems.

118

INSTRUCTIONS: Meet in a small group of about three to six participants, preferably with a training supervisor. Complete the items in sequence, following a discussion of each. 1. Describe a student or client problem of interest to you.

. Translate the plan for achieving each behavioral goal into a complete behavioral objective. eee

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8 ee

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repertoire? . Do you have reason to believe that the target behaviors are within the client’s Offer evidence. me

*

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. What contingencies do you think might be maintaining the problem behaviors? Support your assumption.

. What contingencies do vu think are operating naturally on the goal behaviors? Support your assumption.

. Who has control of the contingencies in each case?

. If the current contingencies are inappropriate, what changes could be made?

. Identify and justify the selection of at least two procedures that might help solve the problem behavior. Offer a tentative method for applying the procedures.

. Summarize and comment on this discussion.

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:

C. Selecting Reinforcers There is an old saying: ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Paraphrased, ‘‘One person’s reinforcers are another’s punishers.’” Behavioral programming demands that reinforcers are selected because they are effective for the individual; otherwise they won’t function as reinforcers. It is, therefore, necessary that you carefully prepare the selection of reinforcing contingencies. In the search for effective reinforcers, don’t lose sight of the necessity for planning programs that will be minimally intrusive or artificial. If social praise is sufficiently effective and is the natural reinforcer, praise should be selected. But the individual’s behavior is the final judge. If praise is ineffective, some other reinforcer must be sought. An appropriate strategy would be to assess other potential reinforcing events: activities and objects that are natural to the situation. After giving each a fair trial, in descending order of intrusiveness, you would then turn to more contrived reinforcers. This workshop should assist you in discussing concerns about reinforcing conditions for individual clients. We hope that the exchange will help you identify an array of promising reinforcers for that particular client. Goals

Assuming prior mastery of general guidelines on the selection and use of reinforcers, (see Sulzer-

Azaroff and Mayer (1977), Unit 9; Reese (1978), 55-68) on completion of this workshop you should be able to

1. Identify a potential array of reinforcers for yourself or an individual client. 2. Suggest some potential reinforcers that other participants might try for themselves or with their own clients. 3. Assess the appropriateness of one’s own and others’ suggestions for reinforcing objects and events.

Instructions . Complete | and II in the attached work sheet. the client, objectives, and 2. Meet in a small group under the supervision of a trained behavior analyst: describe to maintain confidensure Be help.) setting. (The client may be you, yourself or another person who wants should clients be identicase no In advocate. or client the from tiality, or obtain permission to discuss the case fied outside of the training situation. and/or supervisor. Complete 3. Discuss each of the specifics listed under II1, and solicit feedback from your peers the questionnaire. =

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WORKSHEET: SELECTING REINFORCERS ; |. Specify the behavioral objective of your self-management project or client project. (Note: As an alternative, select an objective for one of the case studies in the Appendix.)

I1. Briefly describe the subject and the setting.

Ill. Select an effective reinforcer. A. Might unconditioned reinforcers (such as food or liquid refreshments) be appropriate

«—

in this situation? Yes. 2s A

No:

1. If yes, justify the particular reinforcer you might select.

2. Describe the other events that would be paired with that reinforcer (for example, compliments, smiles, and other events that should eventually become reinforcing by themselves). eee

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Date

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. © = Name

B. If you feel a conditioned reinforcer (one established through learning) would be appropriate, indicate the type that you might try (social, points, tokens), and justify the selection of those reinforcers.

. How might you identify social events that should be paired with the presentation of the reinforcer? Describe how the social events could be presented.

. As an alternative, how would you go about selecting an activity as a reinforcer for

this client? Are there any indications of high-rate or strong preference activities?

. What quantity of reinforcers would probably be appropriate? (How much or how many reinforcers would be presented each time?) Offer a rationale for this decision.

%

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F. How soon after the response would the reinforcer be presented? Be sure that the plan is practical. .

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G. How often will the reinforcer be delivered initially? How often after the response is _ occurring frequently and consistently?

H. 1. What events might precede the behavior (presentation of rules, cues, furniture arrangements, and so on) when it is to be reinforced?

€ 2. How might any change in these conditions be communicated to the client?

IV. Summarize this initial discussion on reinforcement selection, noting the advantages and drawbacks of an armchair speculation about reinforcement selection.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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|

«

itl. FIELD ACTIVITY

:

Identifying and Assessing Reinforcers® Identifying effective reinforcers is essential to strengthening or maintaining behavior. The purpose of this activity is to help you identify an array of reinforcers that will be effective for the behavior you wish to change under the conditions that prevail in the settings in which the behavor ior is expected to occur. The workshop is thus appropriate for assessing reinforcers for a client conditions for yourself in conjunction with a self-management project. Remember the important influencing reinforcer effectiveness: (1) whether the reinforcer is conditioned or unconditioned (and, therefore, how rapidly satiation will take place); (2) the reinforcers (objects or events) that have been observed to increase the rate of that individual’s behavior in the past; (3) the consisthe tency, or schedule, of reinforcement; (4) how soon the reinforcer is delivered following some offer we behavior; (5) the antecedent stimuli that are present during reinforcement. Here reinforcers structure for permitting an objective, data-based strategy for identifying and testing best suited to an individual. Goals By the end of this field activity you should be able to 1. Identify a set of reinforcing objects and events to incorporate into a program with a particular client. with 2. Specify the conditions that would be likely to maximize the effectiveness of the reinforcer or reinforcers that particular client. 3. Test the effectiveness of at least one potential reinforcer.

and a client project. If so, especially if you plan to do both a self management 3 Vou may be using these forms more than once,

copy the forms before using them.

s

(Vat@ te

WORKSHEET:

LG ee eee es x PRIN GINO

IDENTIFYING

AND ASSESSING

REINFORCERS

Instructions:

If a self-management program, substitute ‘“you”’ for “client.” A. Background Information 1. Briefly describe the client with whom you expect to conduct a program: ——_—— ee

ea

A

Se

ee

2. Briefly review the goal(s) toward which you will be working:

3. Describe the conditions under which the program will take place:

Time:

€C

Place:

Activities going on: Materials being used: Other important conditions:

B. Reinforcer Questionnaire 1. Look over the Reinforcer Questionnaire and add any other questions that might help you identify reinforcers for your particular client.

2. If the client has a sufficient verbal repertoire, ask him or her to answer questions on the Reinforcer Questionnaire. If not, ask parents, teachers, care-givers, advocates, or

others who are well acquainted with the client. (Alternatively, you might use Cautela and Kastenbaum’s (1967) Reinforcement Survey Schedule.)

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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= we) Name

. What are your favorite foods or beverages?

. What are your favorite recreational activities?

. What are the things you look forward most to doing during your work or school

time?

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. What are the things you look forward most to doing when you are at home?

Se eS

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SS

. What things do you like to do with your friends?

S ee e es

What things do you like to do with your family? ES

ee

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SS

If you suddenly won a lottery, what would you do with your money? ee

_ Where in the vicinity have you been wanting to go for a long time?

4

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Date_2.

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Dile Sere wes

Name

i. What are some of your favorite games?

j. How do you spend your spare time?

k. What did you buy with your allowance last month (or with your most recent

birthday or gift money)?

|. What things or activities would you work very hard to earn?

m. Is there anything else you can think of that you would like to have or do?

n. Who are the people who make you feel good when they say you did somethin g well?

o. With whom do you like to spend your time?

p. Who would you most like to be like? (Your heroes , heroines, role models.) Why?

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C. Sequence Analysis

1. Narrative Recording or Diary. a. Try to spend a few hours observing the client during a loosely structured activity such as recess, lunch, free period, coffee break, after work, and so on. With appropriate permission from the client and/or caregivers, narrate the client's activities, paying particular attention to people, places, activities, and things that appear to be particularly positive for the client. (Use a separate piece of paper and attach it to

this.) or b. If appropriate, ask the client to keep a ‘‘diary’’ for a week or so, emphasizing time spent in specific activities, in given places, with particular people. Especially enjoyable events should be noted. 2. Analyze the narration or the entries in the diary by setting up a sequence analysis of those behaviors and consequences that appeared to be most reinforcing. Attach the sequence analysis. 3. Based on the above information, list at least four objects and four events or activities that seem to be reinforcing for the client. (Provide your rationale for selecting each.)

Objects

Rationale

eee

Events, Activities

Rationale

4. oe

one,

D. Testing the Effectiveness of a Reinforcer 1. After consulting with the client, select a simple, repetitive activity, such as an exercise or a drill in a subject matter or a simple work activity. While trying to keep the situation as natural as possible, ask the client to engage in this activity, and keep a record of 4 Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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the rate of performance. Tally the number of tasks completed during each minute, and continue for as long as seems appropriate for the particular activity. This could be five minutes for a physical activity like doing calisthenics for 20 minutes for doing problems in arithmetic or washing dishes. In the last example, you would count the number of dishes washed (and rinsed?) during each minute. Baseline

No. Responses Time or Tasks (min.) Completed

Time

No.

Time

No.

Time

1

6

11.

16

2

7

12:

17

OS A ah Ne cP Sea a

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Average rate per minute:

No.

ee Oe

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10) oe number = : time

=

=

E perminute

;

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2. After a rest, repeat the activity; but now, present small amounts of the objects or events that appear most promising as potential reinforcers. (Or present points or tokens that can be exchanged for these potential reinforcers.) Continue to record the number of responses.

Potential Reinforcer(s) Being Tested No. Responses Time or Tasks (min.) Completed

Time

No.

Time

No.

Time

1

6

ay

16

2

Y

12.

17

3s

Bo

4

9g

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F number = 5 Average rate per minute: ime

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: Per minute

3. Repeat the baseline and reinforcement phases once again, recording rate as before. Baseline No. Responses Time or Tasks (min.) Completed

Time

Rate:

per minute

No.

Reinforcement No. Responses Time’ or Tasks (min.) Completed

Time

No.

10. per minute Se

a Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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4. On the following graph, plot the number of responses emitted per minute (or other

appropriate time block.) Label the coordinates and be sure you specify the behavior you have been recording.

Draw vertical lines to separate responding without and with the potential reinforcer,

and label these conditions.

5. Comment on the effectiveness of the ‘‘reinforcer’’ as demonstrated by the above data.

6. Have you any reasons to question the validity of this test?

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7. Describe your plans for testing other potential reinforcers.

8. Describe the conditions under which you plan to administer the identified reinforcers;

what events will be paired with delivery? Why?

E. Preliminary Project Proposal You may now be able to complete section || D of the Preliminary Project Proposal (Chapter 12 II E). Comments on this field activity.

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IV. FIELD AND WORKSHOP ACTIVITY: ABSTRACT AND PRESENTATION OF A JOURNAL ARTICLE To the Instructor This assignment should direct participants toward journal articles that emphasize procedures for increasing behaviors. If you have your own collection of reprints you might permit participants to borrow them. Alternatively, you might prepare a list of references from which an article could be selected or some recent journal issues could be selected. Regardless of what sources are used, we suggest that participants be guided at this stage of training, towards simple demonstrations of the effective use of positive reinforcement. In the event that your class time is limited, here are some ways the assignment could be modified. 1. Help participants to organize small groups for completing their oral presentations more informally outside of class. (See preparation for Chapter 6 II.) 2. Assign only the written portion of the assignment (Instructions 1, 3, and 4).

3. Assign the same article to the entire group and limit the in-class activity to the 5-10 minute discussion. The worksheet in this chapter for summarizing a journal article is longer and more detailed than those in other chapters. If you are planning to assign oral presentations of journal articles in conjunction with Chapters 9 and 10, and if you will want your students to prepare detailed summaries of their articles, we suggest that you make extra copies of the form in this chapter.

Abstract and Presentation of a Journal Article

The purpose of this activity is to familiarize you with examples of current research in the field of applied behavior analysis, particularly in your own area of interest.

Goals Assuming the availability of journals that publish research in applied behavior analysis, you should be able to 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Write an abstract of an article. Discuss the article with others. Describe the study in an oral presentation. Lead a discussion on the contributions, shortcomings, and implications of the study. Evaluate the presentations of others and the value of this activity.

135

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INSTRUCTIONS 1. With the assistance of your instructor or supervisor, select an article that describes an experiment in applied behavior analysis. 2. Sign up for a time to present and discuss your article with a small group of three to five people. Each person in the group should present a different article. 3. Read the article and complete the form for a journal article summary. 4. Distill the information down to a short abstract of approximately 100 words. (Do not use the journal abstract.) 5. Bring sufficient copies of your abstract to your group meeting so that everyone will have one. 6. Prepare and deliver a 10-minute oral presentation, summarizing the article and its contributions to the literature. Then lead a 5 to 10-minute discussion, encouraging questions, comments, and evaluative statements about the study. 7. Complete the evaluation form.

Evaluation: 1. As you listen to the presentations of other participants, jot down your questions and comments on the attached work sheet. Note also the questions and the answers to other

presentations.

—

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2. Comment on the effectiveness of your own presentation, including the types of questions asked and comments made. Describe anything you might do differently next time to enhance the clarity or the interest of your presentation.

. Write a summary statement about the symposium, describing research you yourself would like to read and any new ideas you have received and might like to pursue.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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JOURNAL

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Authors:

Title: Journal: Year: —

Volume:

Introduction:

Why was the study conducted?

What were the independent and dependent variables? What was the experimental question or hypothesis?

Why is this study of particular interest to you?

Method: Who were the subjects?

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How were ethical and humanistic issues handled?

What staff, materials, other resources were used?

Describe the setting in which the study took place.

How were variables measured? Comment on reliability and validity of measurement. a a

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Name

What experimental design was employed? Comment on its adequacy.

Results:

Describe the results in words:

Sketch the graphic representation of the results. (Just indicate trends in data. A precise reproduction is not necessary.)

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Date

Discussion:

How were results interpreted? How do they relate to the experimental question or hypothesis?

What is the major contribution of the study to the literature?

Comments:

€)

Add any comments on the adequacy of the study, your concerns about any issues that it raises, and so on.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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ates pet

Abstract:

From the preceding summary, write an abstract of approximately 100 words. Do not simply copy the journal abstract.

Author(s): Title:

Reference:

Journal

%

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volume,

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» Within- Subject Designs

Required

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To the Instructor

Date Due

I. Introduction

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11. Workshop: Within-Subject Designs Goals Preparation A. Analysis of a Study from the Literature

B. Presentation of Data by Participants C. Designing a Program for a Hypothetical Case . Advanced Workshop: Planning Within-Subject Designs for Client Projects

Goals Preparation Instructions IV. Articles Illustrating Within-Subject Designs

To the Instructor n and some previous knowlThe following workshops on within-subject designs require advance preparatio on before coming introducti the read should ts participan All designs. ject within-sub major the edge about ject designs should within-sub on material to the workshop, and those who have not already mastered other workshop. the for n read the introduction before starting their preparatio (see Preparation). It will During the first workshop, participants present studies from the literature The study you present should make their job easier if you or a teaching assistant model this behavior first. this chapter.) Any design of end the clearly illustrate a within-subject design. (Suggestions are given at an alternating-treatment presenting by horizons students’ will serve, but you may want to expand your introduction to this the in described adequately is which of neither design or a multi-element design, chapter. Approximate Timetable for Workshop | 30 min. 1. Presentation by instructor; analysis by participants: min. 45-75 min: 15 @ nts participa by tions 2. Presenta min. 30 3. Designing a program for a hypothetical case:

et ee s e we

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a

than the time Your presentation will take approximately 30 minutes, which is a good deal longer ahead of time, study your present you that suggest allowed for participants in the workshop. We, therefore, it. precedes normally that class preferably starting the workshop in the projects with The second workshop assumes that at least some of the participants are conducting data, but this is baseline clients and have already selected goals and procedures. They may have collected for their own designs al experiment possible not essential. Working in small groups, they select and evaluate discussed. be to project each for and each other’s projects. Allow 20 minutes For advanced students, this workshop could serve as an alternative to the first one. (If the advanced two-semester students were not working with clients, they could use the case studies in the appendix.) In a during workshop second the and course, you might conduct the first workshop during the first semester the second semester.

1. INTRODUCTION The responsible practice of behavior analysis demands that one be accountable for the outcome of educational and therapeutic programs. No longer should psychologists or consumers be content to accept a given procedure in the absence of convincing evidence that it is effectively and efficiently achieving the goals of the program. Time is too short and resources and patience are too limited to permit the continuation of a technique unless it can be shown, in and of itself, to be of value. The behavior analyst must be prepared to present documented evidence that the selected procedures do what they are purported to do. When we talk about documented evidence, we do not mean promotional testimonials: “Three satisfied parents and seven intact children enthusiastically endorse the use of overcorrection to eliminate self-injurious behavior! ’’ Who knows whether it was the overcorrection procedure or some other factor at work? Evaluating a procedure by applying it with one group and not with another (control) group may also be suspect. There are all sorts of reasons why one group, on the average, may demonstrate improvement over another: they were different to start with; the experimental group responded to the novelty of the procedure; their teacher was full of enthusiasm; and so forth. Besides, group data are of limited value when we are dealing with a student or client; and we must be certain that a given procedure is effective with that particular individual. The experimental designs described in this workshop were developed for just this reason: to evaluate the effectiveness of procedures with individuals. Applied behavior analysis is.ideally suited to the requirement that the effectiveness of procedures must be demonstrated because the model incorporates this step as one of its essential features. The methodology that has evolved has permitted a relatively unambiguous evaluation of the effectiveness of programs and procedures. The contention, for instance, that overcorrection is an effective procedure for the reduction of self-injurious behavior can be tested with any individual who might benefit from the treatment. The use of a within-subject, or intensive, design can control or distribute many potential confounding variables — those unplanned factors that can affect the outcome of a program without our knowing it. How this is accomplished is the subject of much serious study and is reported in a variety of sources: Reese, (1978, pp. 81-89), Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, (1977, Units 31-33), and several full texts devoted to the topic: Hersen and Barlow (1976), Johnson and Pennypacker (1981), Kratochwill (1978), Robinson and Foster (1979), and Sidman (1960). Confounding variables that tend to obscure the results of many studies include the passage of time (the behavior may have changed simply as a result of practice, maturation, or other time-based factors), characteristics of individual subjects (it was not the procedure, but rather some characteristic of the person, that accounted for the change) task, and setting (some unrecognized aspect of the procedure or the materials or the setting may have been responsible for the change).

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°

©

The within-subject design permits control of many of these variables. First of all, baseline is assessed repeatedly and until it becomes stable.’ This replication of data within a condition provides a measure of day-to-day variability that is lost if we have only one ‘’before’’ and one “after’’ measure. Then the procedure to be evaluated is introduced. If, simultaneously with the introduction of the procedure, there is an abrupt and enduring change in the behavior, a change that continues while the procedure is in effect, then it looks as though the procedure has a consistent and a reliable effect upon the behavior. It is always possible, however, that the change is due to the passage of time or to some unidentified variable that happened to change at the same time the procedure was introduced. To increase our confidence that the change is, indeed, due to the procedure, we can employ one of several within-subject designs. Two of the most common within-subject designs, a reversal design and a multiple-baseline design, are described in Table 6.1 and illustrated in Figure 6.1, where they are used to evaluate the same (hypothetical) program. The program is one designed to increase the completion of homework assignments. Because the parents and teacher are also concerned about accuracy, the dependent variable is the percentage of homework problems correct/y completed. If a reversal design were used, the data might resemble the upper graph in Figure 6.1, where the vertical lines demarcate the different phases of the design. First, baseline is assessed, and the percentage of homework assignments correctly completed is approximately 25 percent. The percentage varies from day to day, but as the graph is fairly stable — neither increasing nor decreasing — the program is introduced on the eighth day. The percentage of correctly completed assignments increases abruptly, and the improvement is maintained for nine days. To increase their confidence that the improvement should be attributed to the program rather than to some extraneous variable, the parents and teacher decide to return to baseline conditions while continuing to monitor the behavior. The percentage of completed homework assignments immediately decreases. As this is desirable only in that it documents the effectiveness of the program, this phase of the study is terminated after only four days. When the program is reintroduced on the twenty-first day, homework performance immediately recovers, and it remains at a high level throughout the rest of the study. Two follow-up checks taken at monthly intervals show that all is well, so we can assume that appropriate steps were taken to maintain the behavior under natural conditions. The phases of a reversal design can be repeated any number of times to reconfirm the relation between behavior and the procedure being evaluated, but one has to be willing to permit at least a temporary loss of what may have been hard-earned gains. If the problem is something like homework, there is no great harm in risking a return to the status quo for a week or so in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program. But if a procedure has been used to reduce self-injurious behavior, we would prefer an evaluation that did not require the recovery of selfinjury. Another difficulty with reversal designs is that some gains are not reversible. Once acquired, many skills stay with us, riding a bicycle being a classic example. Multiple-baseline designs provide a solution to these problems. Instead of replicating effects by repeatedly introducing and removing the procedure to be evaluated, multiple-baseline designs replicate across different subjects or settings or classes of behavior by introducing the procedures at different times. If a multiple-baseline design were used to evaluate a program to increase homework completion, we might follow the procedure shown in the three lower curves in Figure 6.1. Instead of treating all homework assignments together, as in the reversal design, we might introduce the program for homework assignments in math, but continue baseline for homework assignments may fluctuate within 1 To determine whether or not baseline data are stable, examine the data for evidence of a trend. The points this sort of stability is for reason The decreasing. nor increasing neither are they that is thing important the range; a fairly broad are measuring baseline and if fairly obvious: if the daily number of temper tantrums is decreasing during the period in which you any further decrease is due whether know won't you frequency, their reduce to intended is that procedure a you then introduce to the procedure or whether it would have occurred anyway had you continued baseline.

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in science and English. If performance improves in math when the program is introduced and if it remains at the same level in science and English, then the improvement is probably not due to the passage of time, to a change in the weather, or to an inspirational lecture by the student’s parents. But our confidence in the effectiveness of the program is greatly increased when the same beneficial results occur as the program is introduced in science and English at successive, later dates. Multiple baseline designs can be used to replicate effects across different classes of behavior, across different subjects (or groups of subjects), or across different settings. The essential feature is to establish a stable baseline for all conditions (behaviors, subjects, or settings) and then to introduce the procedure at different times for each condition in succession. Another within-subject design, the changing-criterion design (Hartmann and Hall, 1976), shows the extent to which behavior corresponds to a progressively changing criterion. The effectiveness of a procedure is measured by the extent to which the behavior stays within the limits set by the criterion. In a self-management program, one might assess baseline and then progressively lower the number of calories to be consumed each week or progressively increase the number of hours to be spent studying. If calories consumed or time spent studying match the criterion set by the program, then the program is effective. When we want to compare the relative ettectiveness of two procedures, we might employ one during baseline and the other during ‘‘treatment,”’ following either a reversal or multiplebaseline design. Or we might apply one procedure to one class of behavior and the other to a different class of behavior. Several designs now permit such comparisons, notably the mu/tielement design (Bittle and Hake, 1977; Ulman and Sulzer-Azaroff, 1975) and the simu/taneous treatment design (Kazdin and Geesey, 1977; McCullough, Cornell, McDaniel, and Mueller, 1974). The simultaneous treatment design is called a mu/tip/e-schedu/e design by Hersen and Barlow (1976), but we think the most descriptive name is a/ternating-treatment design (Barlow and Hayes, 1979). However, as the evaluation procedures become more complex, we are moving beyond the scope of this manual. We leave it to the individual instructor whether or not to include some of the more elaborate designs in this workshop. Within-subject designs are convincing because, even though many variables may be operating during the course of a study, it is only when the procedure is introduced that a consistent change in behavior is noted. Replication of the effects with other groups of subjects provides even more convincing evidence; and when we can change the setting or the materials or the task and produce the same effect, then the power of the procedure becomes even more apparent. Such systematic replication permits one to begin to derive behavioral princip/es; and with demonstrations of generality over many subjects, species, tasks, settings, and so on, a behavioral Jaw is discovered. As a participant in this workshop, you may be concerned only with demonstrating that the procedures that you and a client have selected are effective and efficient for that client. On the other hand, you may wish to determine whether or not a procedure you have designed has broader generality. In either case, you will want to (1) identify valid and reliable measures of the behavior to be monitored, (2) measure baseline long enough so that you are convinced that it represents the typical functioning of the client or clients under the conditions of your study, and then (3) apply the procedure you and the client have selected. Assuming that there is a consistent change in behavior when the procedure is introduced, you will then want to (4) determine that the relation is indeed functional: that whenever the procedure is applied, the behavior changes in a predictable way. You might use a reversal design and find that when the procedure is withdrawn, the original state is recovered. Or you might use a multiple-baseline design and find

that when the procedure is applied with one set of behaviors, those behaviors change while others do not, and that when it is applied, in turn, with other behaviors, they, too, are modified in the same manner. In some cases, a changing-criterion design might be appropriate, or you might want to employ one of the more complex designs mentioned earlier. During the workshop

you will have a chance to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different designs for different programs and to select a design for an independent project you may be conducting.

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«

REVERSAL DESIGN Baseline

Program

Baseline

Program

Follow-up

subjects) (all classroom completed Homework %

MULTIPLE-BASELINE Program

Baseline

DESIGN Follow-up

100

50

100 SCIENCE

completed Homework %

| |

100

ENGLISH |

| | | | |

Days

A: A Reversal Design consisting Figure 6.1. The same program evaluated by two different within-subject designs. B: A Multiple-Baseline Follow-Up. of Baseline, the Program, a Return to Baseline, a return to the Program, and program is introduced The . respectively English, and Science, across three classes of behavior, homework in Math, program is then The English. and Science for continued is baseline while day 6th for Math assignments on the is designed program the both examples, introduced for Science on the 11th day and English on the 16th day. In data.) cal (Hypotheti completed. to increase the percentage of daily homework assignments accurately

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Table 6.1 Major Within-Subject Designs

Design

Other Advantages

Operation

Select When

Measure baseline (A); apply procedure (B); return to baseline conditions (A); repeat procedure (B)

Extended baseline conditions can be tolerated before and during intervention

Reversal with reinforcement not contingent upon target behavior during reversal phase (ABCB)

Same as ABAB, except reinforcers not contingent upon the target behavior during phase C and are contingent during both B phases

Comparing effects of noncontingent with contingent reinforcement; target behavior seldom or never emitted in the absence of reinforcement

Same as ABAB; also when undesirable behavior might be inadvertently reinforced

Reversal with DRO (omission training) or Alt-R (ABCB)

During reversals, apply contingencies when target behavior

Target behavior resistent to reversal; rapid demonstration of control desirable

Same as ABAB; also when other behavior that might be reinforced is dangerous or otherwise undesirable

Same as ABAB; reinforcers available during reversal

Target behavior is not reversible or reversal is undesirable

See below

Intervention not interrupted once instituted; consequently more acceptable than reversal designs to clients and staff

Several independent behaviors targeted for change; to demonstrate effects of procedure with different behaviors

All behaviors re-

See above

REVERSAL

(ABAB)

(General)

does not occur (DRO) or apply to alterna-

tive behavior (Alt R)

MULTIPLE

BASELINE

(General)

Measure several baselines: either several behaviors or same behavior in different settings or same behavior and setting for different individuals

Avoid When

Behavior not reversible; rapid

results required; reversal of specific target behavior ethically irresponsible

Alternating A and B conditions may facilitate client’s discrimination of relevant stimuli in the situation and the transfer from continuous to intermittent reinforcement

Same as ABAB; reinforcers available during reversal

Apply procedure to one behavior (or set-

Multiple baseline across behavior

ting or individual) continuing baseline with others; add procedure for second behavior (setting, individual); and so on. Apply procedure to different behaviors, one at a time; same setting and individual(s)

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quire rapid change; procedure might affect more than one behavior simultaneously

Table 6.1 (cont.) Other Design

Operation

Select When

Avoid When

Advantages

Multiple baseline across situations

Apply procedure in different situations, one at a time; same behavior and individuals)

Behavior is targeted for change in more than one setting; to demonstrate effects of procedure in different settings.

See above

Multiple baseline across individuals

Apply procedure to different individuals (or groups) one at a time; same behavior and setting

Same behavior targeted for change in several individuals; to demonstrate effects of procedure with different individuals

Behavior requires rapid change in _all settings; change in behavior would generalize to other settings Changes in target behavior of one member of group may affect behavior of other members

Reinforce when behavior meets criterion; raise criterion gradually, at irregular intervals Apply contingencies when behavior meets criterion, change criterion gradually, e.g., reinforce small, progressive changes in requirements for low rate (DRL) or omission training Alternate different procedures, each correlated with a specific stimulus situation

Teaching new behavior or strengthening weak behavior; intervention consists of graduated steps Low rates of problem behavior acceptable, or intervention consists of gradual reduction

CHANGING

CRITERION

to increase behavior

to decrease

ALTERNATINGTREATMENT (Simultaneous Treatment; Multi-element)

Evaluating one or more different procedures; showing rapid effects over a limited time; target behavior unlikely to be reversed; there is a problem achieving stable baseline; sequence and contrast effects should be minimized

ne

Source: Adapted from Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977, pp. 467-469.

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See above

Behavior is likely Appropriate for to exceed criteria programs where ~ criteria change or rapid change gradually and is required progressively See above Rapid reduction is required

Unwilling or unable to continue

alternating conditions until clear differences are manifest

——

May be more acceptable than reversals in applied settings

Il. WORKSHOP: WITHIN-SUBJECT DESIGNS Goals By the end of this workshop, the participant should be able to do the following:

A. Analysis and Selection of Within-subject Designs 1. Identify the phases of the following within-subject designs. a. Reversal (or ABAB) design b. Changing-criterion design c. Multiple-baseline design across behavior, subjects, settings 2. Describe how particular designs have controlled or failed to control specific confounding variables. 3. Suggest refinements or alterations in designs to facilitate the interpretation of data.

In the advanced or supplementary workshop participants will also be able to: 4. Plan experimental designs for their own behavioral programs. 5. Consult with other participants about the design of their programs.

B. Oral Presentation of Research 1. Analyze the essential features of a behavioral program described in a current article. 2. Prepare a 10-minute presentation that will describe the subject or subjects, the goals and procedures for achieving them, the results, and the experimental design employed. 3. Give an oral presentation of an experimental study. 4. Lead a discussion on a. The appropriateness of the goals, procedures, design, and author’s interpretation of the results. b. The relevance of the research to society or to the particular concerns of the group. c. Possible extensions of the research. 5. Prompt, shape, and reinforce constructive contributions from other members of the group. a. Other relevant variables and ways they might be investigated. b. Alternative interpretations of results. c. Alternative experimental designs. d. Improved procedures for programming maintenance and generalization.

Preparation

During the workshop, participants will be dividing into groups of from three to five people, each presenting a different study from the literature. Two or more people may present the same study, so long as they will not be in the same group. A. Instructor 1. Select five or six recent journal articles that illustrate the use of different within-subject designs. You will need one article for each member of a given group. If you select different topics and include one or two extra articles, participants should have freedom to choose. 2. Either send the participants to the journals or procure copies of the articles. (It is legal to reproduce one copy of an article for classroom use, or you can request reprints from the authors.) 3. Prepare a sign-up sheet for participants to indicate the articles they want to present. Arrange the sign-up sheet according to groups, and include at least one reversal, one multiple-baseline, and one changing-criterion design for each group. 4. Optional, but desirable: make overhead transparencies of the graphs, as many copies as there will be people presenting that study.

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: K

n of a study from the literature, 5. During the first part of the workshop, the instructor models the presentatio sheet for Part A.) Therefore: work and the participants fill out a work sheet as the study is described. (See ) the use of a within-subject illustrates that laboratory) own _a. Select a study (from the literature or from your design. you will present the results b. After leading a discussion about the goals and procedures used in the study, make a transparency of the to is this do by showing the data from one phase at a time. The easiest way to the transparency, you can over paper of piece a place you If data and project it with an overhead projector. ly, you can draw the Alternative time. a at phase one for data the reveal and slide it across the transparency each phase of the study. data on a blackboard, adding the appropriate points as you come to discuss possible, we recommend that all at if This part of the workshop takes approximately 30 minutes, and, workshop. the the instructor conduct this exercise in the class preceding

B. Participants one you would like to present to a small 1. Look at the articles the instructor has selected, and choose at least group. 2. Sign up for the article. 3. Prepare a 10-minute presentation in which you will describe: o

. The subject(s) and the problem(s) to be solved or investigated. . The goals of the program.

. The way the behavior was defined and measured. . The procedure(s) or treatment plan. . The method of collecting data. the experimental design). The method of testing the effectiveness of the procedure (that is, >oande you will show on a transparency or that data the of ion presentat the y 4. Practice your presentation, especiall with the material. If your friend understands draw on the blackboard. Try it out on a friend who is not familiar then probably your classmates will. Your study, the goals, procedures, results, and general importance of the you will gracefully accept and differcourse, of which, ns suggestio friend will undoubtedly offer constructive 10 minutes. entially reinforce. Make sure your presentation does not exceed

4

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WORKSHOP Part A. Analysis of a Study from the Literature (presentation by instructor) (This part of the workshop may be conducted in a class preceding the workshop.) 1. The instructor or group leader will describe the history of a behavioral problem from the published literature or from an actual case. Jot down in a sentence or two the nature of the problem:

2. Discuss various alternative goals that might provide a solution to the problem. Consider the pros and cons of the suggestions that derive from the group. On the left, list the goals suggested by group members; on the right, the justification offered for each goal. Goals

Justification

a

3. Now the instructor will describe the goal or goals actually selected in the study. What behavior was selected for change?

4

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Date. |

Due Be

NAM ee a

Comment on the appropriateness of these goals:

4. As a group, discuss methods of measuring the target behavior or behaviors. Again, justify the methods selected. Behavior

Measure

Justification

5. The instructor will now describe the measures used in the study, and you can compare them with those selected by your group. Identify the measures selected in the study, and comment on their appropriateness from your own and the group’s perspective:

6. The instructor will project the baseline data, concealing the later phases of the study. As a group, generate a list of factors that may be affecting the baseline data:

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

¢

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2

Name SS

ee

7. Consider some procedures that might achieve the goals of the study, and write them here:

_ Without naming the procedure, the instructor will describe what was done in the study, and reveal the data for the phase after baseline. Write down the technical name for the procedure or procedures employed. eee

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_ Discuss and write down the various experimental designs that could have been used to test the effectiveness of the procedure.

. Which would you have used, and why? e ee e Se SS ee e ee e

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_ Without naming the design, the instructor will reveal the data for the remaining phases of the study, describing the procedure during each phase. Write down the name of the experimental design used. S ee ES a

12. Study the full graph, and draw conclusions about a. The effectiveness of the procedure. Se A

So ee

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Date" oe. = oe

(De

‘Name

b. The adequacy of the experimental design for evaluating the effectiveness of the procedure.

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13. How do the conclusions of your group compare to those of the authors of the study?

14. Does this study meet the criteria for ethical standards of practice described in Chapter 2? __ yes, no. If not, state your reservations and suggest improvements.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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uName

te

Part B. Presentations of Data by Participants The participants should divide into groups of from three to five people and take turns presenting the data they have brought to the workshop. The presentation and accompanying discussion should not exceed 15 minutes. 1. Presenters will a. Summarize the essential features of the study, including: (1) Client(s) and problem. (2) Goal(s) or target behavior. (3) How the behavior was measured. . (4) Procedure(s) selected to achieve the goals. described you if others the for practice good be would (It design. (5) The experimental what went on in each phase and let the other people try to identify the design.) b. Lead a discussion on the appropriateness of the (1) Goals, procedure(s), and experimental design. (2) Authors’ interpretation of the results. (3) Possible extensions of the research. c. Prompt, shape, and reinforce constructive contributions from other members of the group. Constructive contributions would include suggestions concerning: (1) Other relevant variables and ways they might be investigated. (2) Alternative interpretations of the results. (3) Alternative experimental designs. (4) Improved procedures for programming maintenance and generalization.

(5) Other ethical concerns. 2. Other Participants will a. Support and encourage the person presenting the study, with liberal use of nods, smiles, and leading questions if the presenter forgets to mention an essential point. b. Fill out the worksheet (Table 6.2) as the presenter is describing the study. (Space is provided for your comments about the various aspects of the study.) - ¢. Participate in the discussion described earlier.

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Date

Dilew os

Name

Table 6.2 Work Sheet for Presentations on Experimental Designs Presenter and Reference for Article

Client(s) and Problem

Goal or Target Behavior

How Behavior Was Measured

— Procedure(s) to Achieve Goal (s)

; Experimental Design

1:

(Comments)

(Comments)

Se 4.

ee

(Comments)

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eee

Date pers

Die se ae Name

Part C. Designing a Program for Hypothetical Case 1. Remaining in small groups of from three to five participants, select a speaker and complete this worksheet. 2. Select a case study from the appendix. Read the case study, and, as a group, decide upon the following: Problem:

Goals and Target Behavior:

System of Measurement (how the behavior will be measured and recorded):

Procedures to Achieve Goals:

Method of Evaluating Effectiveness of Procedure(s) (Within-subject Design):

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Date DUC 2

aee ee

ee Name

3. Sketch a graph that shows how the data will look if the effectiveness of the procedure is confirmed by the design you have selected. Plot hypothetical data, and fabel each phase so that the procedures and the design are clear. (One member of the group should draw the graph on the blackboard or on an overhead transparency.)

4. Assemble the full group, and have the speaker for each small group describe the program designed by that group.

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162

111. ADVANCED WORKSHOP: PLANNING WITHIN-SUBJECT DESIGNS FOR CLIENT PROJECTS Goals

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: 1. Plan experimental designs for their own behavioral programs. 2. Advise other participants about the design of their programs.

Preparation the work1. Review the program you are designing with a client so that you can describe it to your colleagues in shop and, with their help, select the most appropriate experimental design. may be (If you are not conducting an applied project, you may be given a case study to describe, or you study.) a presenting without person resource a as wisdom asked to share your fill out 2. Look over the work sheet so that you will be prepared for the decisions you will have to make. Then Part | (outline of Proposed Project) before coming to the workshop.

Instructions

Dividing into small groups, participants should take turns presenting the projects they propose to conduct with clients. Fill out the following worksheet as you present your project, incorporating the suggestions made by the other participants. (The instructor will provide additional copies of the worksheet if you are to turn in a report on the other participants’ proposals. Otherwise, complete the worksheet only for your own project, but attach a sketch of every participants’ probable results. It should be clear from the graph what experimental design was selected.)

163

WORK SHEET 1. Outline of Proposed Project a. Client(s) and problem(s)

. Target behavior

. Measures

. Proposed procedure(s). Outline sequence of steps to be followed or the components of the ‘‘package.”’

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165

2. Before selecting an experimental design, answer the following questions about the proposed program. a. After the procedure is introduced, will the behavior be apt to reverse to baseline if the procedure is withdrawn Following a brief intervention? Following a lengthy intervention? . Would a reversal following a successful intervention be detrimental to the client?

Disturbing to the other people concerned? . Is more than one class of behavior to be changed? ___ If yes, list them, and state why it is important that they be changed.

. If more than one class of behavior, is it important that all be changed as rapidly as possible?

. 1f more than one class of behavior, would you anticipate that applying the procedure to one class would affect the others?

Explain.

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|

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Braeren ome

Due.

=

es ™ Name

f. Would it be desirable and feasible to replicate the procedure: For other classes of behavior?

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. ls the program one that employs progressive changes in the criteria of performance?

. You answered ““yes’’ to g. and if the program is successful, is the behavior likely to stay

within the limits specified for each stage of the program? . Are you primarily interested in comparing the effects of two different procedures?

j. If yes, are the procedures sufficiently different so that they might be alternated over a period of time without their effects generalizing from one condition to the other?

3. Refer to Table 6.1, ‘Major Within-Subject Designs.”’ Identify the experimental designs that would be appropriate for your project, given your answer to the above questions. List the designs here.

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a

a

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_ Discuss these designs with the other members of your group and try to reach a consensus as to which would be most appropriate for your project. Design selected: Justification:

8

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Date ee a. 2)

Due eee Le

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5. Go to the blackboard, and, in consultation with the group, draw a graph that illustrates the probable results of your study. Plot hypothetical data, and label each phase so that the design and the procedures in effect are clear to the reader. When the graph meets with everyone’s critical, but kindly, approval, copy it here.

6. If time permits, the full group can reassemble, and participants can describe and justify

the experimental designs selected for their projects.

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,

é

9

ARTICLES ILLUSTRATING WITHIN-SUBJECT DESIGNS The graphs in these articles need not be enlarged for The simplest procedure is to xerox the page, cut out Print (soft pencil, not ink) larger labels on the paper, article contains several graphs, we usually select two

a transparency, but it would be wise to enlarge the labels. the graph, and line it up on a piece of 8%-by-1 1-inch paper. and make the transparency (Chapter 14 IIIC). When an or three.

Reversal Designs Broden, M., Copeland, G., Beasley, A., & Hall, R. V. Altering student responses through changes in teacher verbal behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977, 10, 479-487. Hughes, H., Hughes, A., & Dial, H. Home-based treatment of thumbsucking. Behavior Modification, 1979, 3, 179-186. (Omission training; basis for a discussion of ethics because behavior reinforced with edibles.) Jackson, D.A., & Wallace, R.F. The modification and generalization of voice loudness in a 15-year-old retarded girl. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1974, 7, 461-471. (Reversal with reinforcement of alternative behavior; generalization training.) Shafto, F., & Sulzbacher, S. Comparing treatment tactics with a hyperactive preschool child: Stimulant medication and programmed teacher intervention. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977, 70, 13-20. Wilson, G.T., Leaf, R.C., & Nathan, P.E. The aversive control of excessive alcohol consumption by chronic alcoholics in the laboratory setting. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1975, 8, 13-26. (Reversal replicated with several subjects.)

Multiple-baseline Designs

9

Campbell, J.A., & Willis, J. Modifying components of “creative behavior” in the natural environment. Behavior Modification, 1978, 2, 549-564. (Across behavior.) Carr, E.G., Binkoff, J.A., Kologinsky, E., & Eddy, M. Acquisition of sign language by autistic children I: Expressive labeling. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1978, 77, 489-501. (Across behavior; replication with four subjects.) Furman, W., Geller, M., Simon, S.J., & Kelly, J.A. The use of a behavior rehearsal procedure for teaching jobinterviewing skills to psychiatric patients. Behavior Therapy, 1979, 10, 157-167. (Across behavior; individual replications.) Jacobson, N.S. Increasing positive behavior in severely distressed marital relationships: The effects of problemsolving training. Behavior Therapy, 1979, 10, 311-326. (Across behavior; replications.) Murdock, J.Y., Garcia, E.E., & Hardman, M.L. Generalizing articulation training with trainable mentally retarded subjects. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977, 10, 717-733. (Across settings.) Ortega, D.F. Relaxation with cerebral palsied adults showing spasticity. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1978, 77, 447-451. (Across subjects; behavior as a parameter.) Schreibman, L., & Carr, E.G. Elimination of echolalic responding to questions through the training of a generalized verbal response. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1978, 17, 453-463. (Across subjects; generalization and follow-up.)

Alternating-treatment Designs Loos, F.M., Williams, K.P., & Bailey, J.S. A multi-element analysis of the effect of teacher aides in an “open’’style classroom. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977, 10, 437-448. treatment McCullough, J.P., Cornell, J.E., McDaniel, M.H. & Mueller, R.K. Utilization of the simultaneous Psychology, Clinical and Consulting of Journal classroom. first-grade a in design to improve student behavior

1974, 42, 288-292. (A classic.)

3

169

Changing-criterion Designs

€

Foxx, R.M., & Rubinoff, A. Behavioral treatment of caffeinism: Reducing excessive coffee drinking. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1979, 12, 335-344. Hartmann, D.P., & Hall, R.V. The changing criterion design. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1976, 9,

527-532.

Combined Designs Dapcich-Miura, E., & Hovell, M.F. Contingency management of adherence to a complex medical regimen in an elderly heart patient. Behavior Therapy, 1979, 70, 193-201. (Multiple baseline and reversal.) Lake, A., Rainey, J.R., & Papsdorf, J.D. Biofeedback and rational-emotive therapy in the management of migraine headache. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1979, 72, 127-140. (Group and reversal.) Russo, D.C., & Koegel, R.L. A method for integrating an autistic child into a normal public-school classroom. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977, 70, 579-590. (Reversal and multiple baseline; good follow-up data.)

170

@ Maintenance, Generalization, and Follow-up

Required

Optional

Date Due

To the Instructor |. Introduction

A. Maintenance of gains B. Follow up Goals

enerss

Il. Field Activity: Analysis of Research A. Analyzing abstract for principles of maintenance and generalization: Occupational Safety.

eeeS

4

B. Analyzing portion of a study for principles

,

of maintenance and generalization: Aerobic Exercises. . Workshop: Programming for Maintenance and Generalization A. Preparation B. Workshop 1. Case Study 2. Self-Management project 3. Client project

To the Instructor

assess mainThese activities are designed to help students improve the skills they would use to plan for and critical their sharpen to participants help tenance and generalization (or transfer). The field activity should In time. out-of-class of hour an than less take should and skills as they analyze research reported by others

and generalithe workshop they will focus on designing methods for promoting and assessing maintenance wish to take you Should class. of outside conducted be to activities workshop the for feasible is It zation. work when it is that option, help participants form a group to complete the tasks and then look over their to complete possible be should it indicated, as ahead, prepared completed. Assuming that participants have 3. (For Part 1, you and 2 or 1 Part only assign class, one-hour a For hours. two within the full workshop may wish to substitute a project of your own for the case histories.) (in selfIf participants have already done the workshop in Chapter 11, V, Evaluating Progress we suggest not, have they If chapter. this of B2 III into right management projects), they could proceed e maintenanc on emphasis major placing here, included one the of instead V, 11, they complete Chapter and generalization.

&

171

1. INTRODUCTION Behavior modified at one time and place does not necessarily persist at other times and places. A student could learn to complete assignments in one class but not in other classes; or, if all goes well, the behavior will generalize to all classes and all teachers, and it will be maintained over the years.’ Instead of leaving generalization over conditions and maintenance over time to happenstance, they should be incorporated into the program. How is this accomplished? A. Maintenance of Gains

Several steps can be taken to facilitate maintenance of progress within the natural environment. The following suggestions were proposed and discussed by Reese (1978). 1. Incorporate Natural Settings Try to conduct programs in the natural setting. Or if this is not possible, do not terminate the program until the behavior is occurring in the natural setting where people have been trained to continue carrying it out. For example, if concentrated one-to-one tutoring is needed and this can't be managed in the regular classroom, tutoring might begin with a teacher’s aide. As the child progressed, the teacher's aide could gradually give longer and longer assignments and be away from the child for longer periods of time. The regular teacher could gradually begin to give some assignments, monitor the child’s progress, and contribute increasingly more of the feedback and praise. Or if the problem were disruptive behavior that required the help of the school psychologist, the teacher and the psychologist should cooperate in designing a program that could be carried out in all of the child’s classes.

2. Select Goals that will be Supported by the Community When clients and other consumers jointly select behavioral goals, future reinforcement of those behaviors is more likely. When you selected a goal for the workshop, you were asked to pick one that would tend to be supported at home, school, or elsewhere. Had you selected as a goal some pleasant social behavior such as smiling, it would probably have occasioned its own positive response. 3. Incorporate Naturally Occurring Reinforcers Examples are praise and privileges in schools, bonuses and supervisory approbation in business, and peer approval in social groupings. Those reinforcers will be available and can be applied in the natural setting without interrupting the normal routine.

4, Decrease the Density of Reinforcement and Increase the Delay When behavior that has been regularly reinforced is abruptly no longer reinforced, it tends to return to its previous rates. But slowly diminishing the frequency of reinforcement and gradually increasing the delay between the behavior and the reinforcer prepare individuals for the real 1The term generalization is used in different ways, even by behavior analysts. As used here, generalization is equivalent to the general term transfer. We are defining generalization as the occurrence of behavior in other situations after it has been reinforced in one situation (or as the suppression of behavior in other situations after it has been suppressed in one situation). In other words, after establishing or changing the rate of behavior in one setting, you would see whether or not behavior (or the change) occurs in other settings. In a simple laboratory example, one could train a pigeon to peck a white disk and then see if it pecked red and green disks. If it did, then one could say that pecking generalized from white to green disks. Note that we have said that pecking generalized, not that the pigeon generalized. This simplistic (but operational) definition of generalization says nothing about how or why generalization occurs, nor does

it treat generalization as a process. Our concern is that beneficial changes in behavior that are established in one context (person, place, subject matter, and so on) eventually occur in other contexts, as is appropriate . We want benef icial changes to occur in, or transfer to, or generalize to a variety of situations.

172

¢

world of intermittent reinforcement and variable time delays. (Table 7.1 summarizes methods for extending and maintaining behavior.) Different schedules of reinforcement tend to promote different response patterns, and most promote greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement (CRF). CRF is most effective in the early stages of a program, but a gradual change to a variable interval? would be closer to most natural contingencies of reinforcement and would make the behavior more persistent in the absence of reinforcement. 5. Extend Contingencies to New Settings and Individuals If contingencies are not extended to new settings and individuals the client may discriminate that itis only in a particular place that a particular person delivers reinforcers (or other consequences). The behavior undergoing change may then occur only under those conditions. Involve others as contingency managers in various places, and the behavior will transfer accordingly. If Marge receives reinforcement only for complying with requests in school, her compliance at home may not change; it could even deteriorate. To avoid such a problem, her parents would need to participate in the program more actively. See Table 7.1, Stimulus Control. 6. Train Parents, Teachers, Peers in the Use of Behavioral Procedures Those people will then be better able to manage the contingencies in the natural setting. Instructions alone may be insufficient to promote consistent follow-through by Marge’s parents. They could learn via modeling and role play, receiving positive feedback as their skills improved.

7. Program Reentry into the Community of the mainstream, a gradual When people are moving from institutions or other locales outside r transition than otherwise. Simply reduction in the amount of structure will produce a smoothe the community will accomplish little shifting Jan, whose development is severely impaired, into unless the transition is carefully programmed. 8. Self-Management positively related to the degree of selfIt seems likely that maintenance and generalization are are always there to try to manage management an individual exercises. Individuals themselves they recognize these contingencies, they the contingencies controlling their own behavior. When reinforcers at the appropriate time and no longer need to depend on others to supply appropriate the client to take over the conduct place. A major goal of applied behavior analysis is to enable e. and the evaluation of the program as rapidly as is possibl B. Follow Up toward the goals is monitored either continuWhen a behavioral program is carried out, progress ors in other places and with other people ally or at regular intervals. Monitoring the target behavi generalization. Once the formal program permits one to assess whether or not there is appropriate ng the persistence of the gains. A demonis terminated, though, there needs to be a plan for checki es pretty convincing evidence of the success stration of behavioral durability of a year or so provid for pub-

-up data before an article is accepted of the program. Several journals now require follow mental Psychiatry, for example, requires lication. The Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experi -up data, collected at least six months after the that all case studies include quantitative follow the follow up must extend for at least a year. program was terminated; and for addictive behavior,

mined, but varifollows the first response that occurs following a predeter 2variable interval is a schedule in which reinforcement be reinforced. would minutes 5 of average an following response first able, interval of time. For VI 5 minutes, the

173

Table 7.1. Procedures for Extending and Maintaining Behavior. Procedure

Operation

Maximizing Efficiency

Characteristics

Stimulus control!

Present discriminative stimuli (S°s) that were present during original training in other situations; reinforce behavior

1. Emphasize common ele-

1. Responding may be.restricted to specific stimulus conditions via differential reinforcement or extended

Generalization training

ments

2 Identify and use SPs. 3. Train the response under a variety of stimulus conditions.

'

. Combine with effective reinforcement and other stimulus-control procedures

to other situations via generalization training . Reduces necessity for “starting from scratch” under novel stimulus conditions

. Risk of overgeneralization

Fading

Gradually remove prompts and auxilliary

S°s; reinforce.

. Identify prompts that reliably occasion desired response . Remove prompts gradually . Prompt just enough to occasion response reliably . Combine with effective reinforcement procedures.

. Minimizes errors

. Can be used with shaping, chaining, and other procedures to facilitate control by critical stimuli . Helps to overcome overdependence upon artificial

prompts . Can speed up effects of other procedures.

Reducing reinforcement density Intermittent reinforcement (in general)

Reinforce some but not all occurrences of specified behavior

. Switch gradually and progressively from continuous to intermittent reinforcement . Supplement change with

SPs . Supplement change with other reinforcers, especially those found in natural environment. a

a

. Delays satiation . Performance maintains

longer than under CRF . Efficient

. Convenient . Facilitates development of “intrinsic motivation”

ee

1See your text for information on stimulus control (e.g., Reese, 1978, p. 96-98, 224-227; Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977, Units 12-15). Source: Adapted from Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977, p. 417-418, 428.

Goals

Having mastered a set of basic concepts of programming for generalization and maintenance, by the end of this set of field and workshop a Ctivities you should be able to . Critically analyze illustrative programs for factors affecting generaliz ation and maintenance. . Suggest procedural revisions that will promote generalization and maintena nce more effectively in illustrative programs. . Design methods for assessing and Promoting generalization and maintenance for illustrative Caser.. Ww N= . Design methods for assessing and promoting generalization and maintenance for actual behavior analysis programs. on: Determine what kinds of follow-up data are needed and when they should be collected.

174

Il. FIELD ACTIVITY:

ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH

Instructions

In the following activity you are asked to consider two studies, one having to do with the reduction of safety hazards in industry and the other with increasing and maintaining aerobic exercise. A. Analyzing Abstract for Principles of Maintenance and Generalization: Occupational Safety Read the following description of the study on reducing safety hazard. their seriousness, applied behavior Industrial accidents are a major cause of death in the United States. Owing to and de Santamaria (1980) roff analysts are directing their attention to the problem. For example, Sulzer-Aza and to fit directly into the accidents al occupation analyzed a feedback ‘‘package’’ system, designed to prevent production departments six in conditions hazardous Eighteen n. organizatio normal operations of an industrial Subsequently, there were follow-up were assessed over 57 daily observation sessions over a 12-week period. al design was used. The ‘‘feedexperiment observations over four months. A multiple-baseline across-subjects al data, accompanied by a note observation of copies with back package”’ consisted of presenting the supervisor and occasionally included comhazards, safety reducing for ways suggested that.congratulated good practices, ments from a senior executive. frequency of hazards was lower The results (See Figure 7.1) indicated that during the feedback phase, the frequencies dropped 60 percent hazard on, interventi Following phase. and less variable than during the baseline percent to 88 percent. Baseline data were highly on the average across departments. The decrease ranged from 29 variable with peaks ranging from 20 to 55 hazards per department. At this end of the study, the feedDuring treatment, data stabilized, with the highest frequency reaching 33. the assumption that such a supporting on, organizati the by schedule y back system was adjusted to a semiweekl system could be maintained.

175

40

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176

1980, p. 293

oO

Date

Occupational Safety

have 1. Refer back to the eight steps on maintenance and generalization. Identify those that been incorporated into the safety study, and describe how this was done.

to omit them or suggest _ For those steps that were omitted, discuss why it was appropriate . program the ways in which they might have been incorporated into

and maintenance. . Suggest other strategies that might further promote generalization e ane RE ad

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this period. _ Describe any follow-up measures and what was done during

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ae a es Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

177

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B. Analyzing Portion of a Study for Principles of Maintenance and Generalization: Aerobic Exercises Yet plans to People today seem to be becoming increasingly concerned with physical fitness. a procedure to find to effort an In engage in a regular exercise program often fail to be realized. swimming, walking, running, as promote and maintain a regular regimen of aerobic exercises, such al operation derived (1979) cycling, and other active exercise, Wysocki, Hall, lwata, and Riordan ent arrangem cy contingen a and definitions of specific exercise behaviors, a measurement system, a specific activity likely to produce the desired changes. The amount of oxygen consumed during points could “aerobic” The permitted the assignment of a number of points for that activity. then, in turn, serve as a standard measure of exercise behavior. and answer the Read the Methods and Results sections of the study by Wysocki et al. (1979) as you read the them answer and following questions. You may wish to look at the questions first article.

EXCERPT FROM WYSOCKI

ET AL. (1979 p. 57-60)

ion on the utility of the aerobic The purposes of this study, then, were to provide preliminary informat and record each other’s exerobserve to subjects of ability the exercise, of point as a behavioral measure effectiveness of behavioral the and ts, cise and to translate those observations into aerobic point equivalen contracting in encouraging exercise.

METHOD Subjects and Setting

male, five female), ranging in age from 20 Twelve undergraduate and graduate university students (seven announcing the formation of an exercise ement advertis an to to 33 yr., participated. Subjects responded recurring failures to engage in reported subjects All es. techniqu gical group based on modern psycholo regular exercise. held in a large university classroom. Weekly meetings between subjects and experimenters were most frequently used being an outthe settings, of variety Exercise behavior was performed in a wide swimming pool, indoor racquetball 25-yard indoor an track, 220-yard door 440-yard track, an indoor homes. courts, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, and subjects’ Observation aerobic point values had been established (Cooper, Subjects could engage in any activities for which aerobic point equivalents. The exact measure1970), and all exercise behaviors were defined by their . For example, an observer measured running/ ment procedure used depended on the particular activity r with a stopwatch, and recording both the behavio the timing walking by counting laps around a track, raw data into aerobic points by consulting distance and duration. The subjects then converted these

charts provided in Cooper (1970). Reliability having two persons independently observe and Assessment of interobserver agreement was performed by ] A comparison of baseline and conrecord the exercise behavior of a third individual. [Details omitted.

checks during baseline and 98.8% agreement tracting reliabilities showed 100% agreement for each of 11 across 55 checks during contracting.

179

Table 1. Aerobic Point Values for Some Selected Exercises?

©

Activity Distance

Duration (min:sec) eee a a EE

Running/Walking 1.0 mi 1.0 mi 1.5 mi 3.0 mi Cyclin 20 a 3.0 mi 5.0 mi Swimming 200 yd 300 yd 400 yd 1000 yd

Aerobic Points

ee

eee

12:00-14:29 8:00- 9:59 15:00-17:59 24:00-29:59

2.0 4.0 4.5 14.0

8:00-11:59 12:00-17:59 20:00-29:59

1.0 1.5 2.5

3:20- 4:59 5:00- 7.29 6:40- 9:59 25:00-33:19

1.5 2.5 3.5 8.25

40 min 60 min

3.0 45

45 min 60 min

6.75 90

Tennis

Handball = 8Condensed from Cooper (1970).

Procedure

Weekly Meetings Throughout the study, subjects met weekly with the experimenters. During the initial meeting, the experimenters described the program and the subject s elected to Participate on the basis of that information. The general principles of contracting were described and the differences between aerobi c exercises were informed under what conditions they would not want meetings were devoted to the following activit ies: assisting sites and times for exercise, collecting and distributing data returning earned items previously deposi ted, and collecting

€

to Participate in the study. Subsequent subjects in determining mutually agreeable sheets, signing and renegotiating contracts, new deposits.

Baseline Subjects were told that for an unspecified period of time they would be able to explor e different aerobic activities before signing contracts in order to determine realistic aerobic point criteri a for themselves.

Contracts for Exercise

Subjects elected to earn a specific number of aerobic points each week and signed contra cts outlining the conditions under which deposits would be

refunded. Each subject deposited six items of personal value (e.g., jewelry, clothing, books, and other personal items; checks made out to charitable organizations) with the experimenters, two of which could be earned back each week. Refun ds were made at weekly

180

:

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GROUP | Contract 1

Base25

Break con 2

line

| |

20

| | | |

15

|

|

10

| | | | | |

| ne 30

25 POINTS AEROBIC OF NUMBER MEAN 20

10

—

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

GROUP II

| | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|

| | |

| |

WEEKS

during each week of the experiment. Figure 7.1. Mean number of aerobic points earned per group

per week was returned for attaining the aerobic meetings according to the following schedule. One item indicating the number of aerobic points form ted point criterion in effect and for bringing a comple another sub-

recording primary observational data on earned that week. A second item was returned for either ity data at least once during that week. Before ject each time exercise was performed and reliabil t constan a ensured ment require This items. additional item would be returned, subjects deposited two in

, because withdrawal from the group resulted source of reinforcement for remaining in the program forfeiture of all items on deposit. Acceptable forms were a doctor's note or a IlInesses that precluded exercise required verification. numts were renegotiated every two weeks for the same week-long absence from work or classes. Contrac ation. organiz it nonprof a to went s ber of aerobic points or higher. Forfeited deposit

181

One-year Followup One year after completion of the study, all subjects received a maintenance questionnaire asking them to estimate the average number of aerobic points they had earned per week for the previous two weeks.

Experimental Design A multiple-baseline design (Baer, Wolf, and Risley, 1968) across groups of subjects was used to assess the

effects of behavioral contracting on the attainment of self-selected aerobic point criteria. During base-

line, subjects agreed to be randomly assigned to one of two equal-sized groups (n = 6). Length of baseline condition for Groups | and I was one and three weeks, respectively. During Week 8 only, subjects were released from the aerobic point stipulation contained in the contracts. The university’s physical education facilities were closed during the last four days of that week due to a holiday; thus, there were fewer opportunities for subjects to engage in many activities for which they had been earning points. During this week, subjects earned back two items for attending the weekly group meeting. Although this change in procedures cannot be considered a true return to baseline contingencies, subjects were still able to exercise in the regular facilities during the first three days of the week; they could also engage in activities not requiring those facilities throughout the week.

RESULTS Four potential subjects (three male, one female) withdrew from Group I! during the baseline condition. Three stated that time limitations would prevent them from actively Participat ing in the study, while the fourth indicated a preference for activities other than aerobic exercises. None of these subjects earned any aerobic points during baseline. The mean number of aerobic points earned per week by Groups | and I| appears in Figure 1. For all subjects, a mean of 5.0 points was earned during baseline, 16.6 during Contract 1, Zero points during Break,

and 14.8 during Contract 2. [ Individual data omitted.]

Maintenance data 1 yr after the experiment terminated show that seven subjects earned more aerobic points at that time than during baseline; three of these subjects were earning more points than at the end of the contracting condition. [ Further details of program omitted.]

182

Date

Aerobic Exercise

ance. 1. Describe the system used to measure generalization and mainten ee ee ae ee

and generalization. . List the procedures that would tend to promote maintenance

ization that were omitted from _ List those procedures to promote maintenance and general the program.

ures into the program (for ex. Describe how you might incorporate two of those proced either to program or to assess used ample, the conditions during week 8 could have been

generalization and maintenance).

w-up. 5. Comment on the adequacy of the follo

4

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

183

Date pee

Il. WORKSHOP:

cons

PROGRAMMING

Ue

Name

FOR MAINTENANCE AND GENERALIZATION

he previous activities should have helped you to focus on procedures that some behavior Analysts have followed in their attempts to provide for the generalization and maintenance bf behavior. Now it is time for you to begin to do some planning of your own. First you will blan some procedures for a simulated case. Then you will design procedures for your own self-management project or for your own client project. You will be working in small groups of three to five people.

INSTRUCTIONS: A. Preparation (To be done one week before the workshop) 1. Simulated case study a. Refer to the appendix and select a case of interest to you. (Or select a case of your

own choosing.) Case of b. Assisted by your instructor, form a group of 3-5 participants who would like to work on the same case.

c. As a group, write one or more behavioral objectives for the client.

. Self-management project One person in the group should prepare a brief description of the goals of a selfmanagement project and the procedures being used to achieve the goals. (Two people should do this if no one will be presenting a client project.) . Client project Another person should prepare a brief description of the goals of a client project and the procedures being used to achieve the goals. _ B. Workshop 1. Simulated case study a. With your group, discuss and describe in writing a procedure for achieving the behavioral objective.

4

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

185

pee

DUR i ee

Near

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b. Provide details as to where, when, with whom, and how /ong the behavior should occur beyond the training setting:

c. Describe the methods that will be used to assess generalization:

d. Describe the methods that will be used to assess maintenance:

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a

aa

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e. Discuss and write down specific procedures for promoting generalization and maintenance once the behavioral objective has been met:

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f. Describe the follow-up data you will collect and when you will collect it.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

186

@

mater

©

=

- - . Due

2. Self-management Project selfOne or two participants should describe the goals and procedures of their maintenance for procedures determine to discussion a lead management projects and and generalization. —_—_ a. Self-management goals: ————_———__

e ee e ee ee e ee _ Procedures to achieve goals: Se

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ee — tell how progress will be assessed. e

. Client Project of paper as necessary.) Do the same for a client project, if applicable. (Use extra sheets BGO

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Publishing. Copyright © 1982 by CBS College

187

Due

b. Procedures to achieve goal:

c. Maintenance and generalization:

d. Follow-up data:

Feedback

If one of these programs concerned your own project, solicit the feedback of your peers, instructor, and other relevant people, and describe any additions or changes that now seem appropriate. Provide the reason for the changes.

Comments, Questions, Suggestions

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

188

@

@ Operant Procedures II : Programming Instruction

2

To the Instructor

Date Due

Optional

Required

|. Introduction

4

wg

EE

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Il. Workshop: Programming Instruction Goals Instructions A. Preparation (Start at least two weeks prior to Workshop) 1. Instructional Goal Survey 2. Instructional Objective Questionnaire B. Instructional Plan C. Workshop: Presenting instruction in group setting D. Evaluating Instruction

{Sele Meat Bale ABE SsPe aee i io sece

. Field Activities A. Introduction to a Field Setting (Chapter 4

2 ned

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111 C) B. Observation of Instruction

To the Instructor activity. But this workshop depends The workshop on programming instruction has to be a very popular Questionnaire early enough Objective onal for its success on careful planning. Distributing the Instructi adequate time to prepare presenter the permits es preferenc for the participant’s peers to indicate their onal Goal Survey should be Instructi The form.) per minutes 3 about aside set instruction. (You'll need to g to the presenter and interestin that are completed first in order that potential instructional objectives many important skills, s integrate activity this about which he or she is well informed will be selected. As more of the following or one in done be can This guidance. you may wish to provide some supplementary

ways: a few weeks prior to the workshop. 1. Present a short instructional sequence yourself as a model plans. their review to 2. Meet with students prior to their presentations group. the with it analyze 3. Videotape an outstanding workshop, and

189

It is particularly important that adequate time be allowed for presentations. We suggest 10 to 20 minutes for each. You will, therefore, be able to schedule approximately four presentations for an hour meeting. If presenters have their materials, such as instructional handouts, illustrations, or props, ready ahead of time and if they arrange for a partner to distribute them, progress should be smooth. In the event that your time schedule does not appear to permit all the participants time to complete this activity, you might wish to offer this as an alternative, perhaps instead of one of the independent projects.

1. INTRODUCTION The most basic assumption underlying the application of behavior analysis is that behavior changes as a function of the contingencies operating on the individual’s behavior. When we speak of behavior change, we are including the full array: social behaviors, as with one child playing cooperatively with others; personal behaviors, as in feeding, dressing, cooking for oneself; saying things to oneself covertly or overtly, “I really played that bridge hand well’ or “I’m always goofing up in my attempts to establish a meaningful relationship.” Also included are fine and gross motor behaviors: performing a sleight-of-hand magic trick, doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation; skills that are prerequisites to learning more sophisticated skills: attending to instructional stimuli, following verbal or written instructions, holding a pencil; behaviors such as crying ata high rate, tensing one’s muscles, avoiding high places or crowds; skills that are commonly taught in schools or training programs: reading, writing, arithmetic, knowledge and comprehension of verbal materials, the ability to organize information in unique ways to solve problems or to create new products, and so many more. As you consider the nearly infinite array of behaviors that are modifiable by contingent events, you'll realize that any time an individual initiates or maintains action for the purpose of changing behavior, the principles of behavior analysis are relevant. Notice that a parent’s attempt to teach a child to feed herself, a teacher’s to instruct students in academic skills, a psychotherapist’s to aid a client to overcome a phobia or to improve social skills, a physical therapist's effort to teach a client to recover muscle function, the nutritionist’s to influence a patient to alter a diet, the social worker's to instruct parents to cope with frustration — all are attempts at behavior modification. So, when intervening for purposes of changing behavior, parents, teachers, physicians, counselors, therapists, case workers, scout leaders, work supervisors, occupational trainers, and we ourselves may profit from incorporating principles of behavior into our programs for change. In this activity we are hoping to provide you with the opportunity to go beyond reading about behavior analysis and actually use the principles to design and test a brief training program. The experience should permit you to incorporate such procedures as stimulus control, fading, shaping, and chaining into a program that will enable you to teach your peers some area of your own expertise. Here are some examples: Skill or Concept Assembling a jack for changing a tire Discriminating chablis from Rhine wine Writing a Chinese character

Forming a crescent roll Distinguishing a viola from a violin Selecting a proper shoe for jogging Discriminating statements of self-worth from statements of self-deprecation Holding a squash racquet properly

Nature of Instruction Chaining, combined with shaping and fading of prompts Differential reinforcement, fading Chaining, shaping, fading

Differential Differential Differential Differential

reinforcement, reinforcement, reinforcement, reinforcement,

Shaping, chaining, fading

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chaining fading fading fading

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You will be asked to select an instructional objective that is novel for your peers. It should first be something that they don’t already know. In order to maintain their motivation, we to be ire provide a survey to help you identify your own special talents and next a questionna your subskills of set distributed to the group. The questionnaire will help you to find out what survey the of use own fellow participants would like to learn from you in a brief lesson.1 Our goals and questionnaire has led participants to select a broad array of intriguing instructional in addition to those just mentioned. For example: Discriminating the early stages of one’s own anger. Discriminating between red and sugar maple trees during the winter tapping season. Eating with chopsticks. Performing a magic trick. Doing a ballet step. Solving a math game problem. Expressing a set of American Sign Language words.

4

taught through the The discrimination between the two types of maple trees was cleverly branches of each, with presentation of a set of stimuli that were readily discriminable — the the use of such verbal through nations discrimi basic the learn to leaves attached. We were helped ‘‘smooth . . .’ The prompts were prompts (or mnemonics) as ‘‘red,”’ “rough,” “ragged,” ‘‘sugar,’”’ prompts removed — gradually faded — the verbal hints diminished, and the visual and tactual us were still able to tell twigs with buds, then ultimately with neither leaves nor buds. Most of and texture of the bark. the two apart — now on the basis of the critical features — the color When it was demonShaping and chaining were combined to teach the use of chopsticks. a portion of M & M's, up pick to sticks the use couldn’t student strated on baseline trials that the success. First, a cube or a large training trials were instituted at a level much more apt to lead to te with the sticks. Following piece of shredded wheat cereal was presented — easy to manipula was offered. The food items several trials with that food, a smaller shredded wheat cereal cube M & M’s as the student continued became gradually smaller — eventually raisins, then ultimately 5:45 p.m.!). The procedure perhis successful and powerfully reinforced performance (it was permitting successive approximamitted the components of the behavior chain to be acquired by tions of the component subskills to be reinforced. using a series of written proThe discrimination of the early stages of anger was taught by ion, first many prompts were grammed instruction frames. As in most programmed instruct firmly acquired. The sign language provided; gradually, these were faded until the concepts were when needed, and gradual fading program utilized instructions, modeling, graduated guidance stimulus alone: ‘Show the word of prompts until responding was under the control of the critical

for ‘toilet.’ ”’

we suggest that you refer back to Once your peers have told you what they want to learn, , and chaining. (See Reese, 1978, your text for material on stimulus control, fading, shaping 12-17 and 29. Sulzer-Azaroff, Brewer, Chapters 3 and 7, Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977, Units of instruction in more fine-grained and Ford, 1978, is a workbook that programs the design baseline by presenting for several detail.) You should also plan carefully to take an adequate l behavior. This demonstrates the trials the conditions that should ultimately evoke the termina The baseline will permit you later to level at which students are functioning prior to instruction. implemented. Other sources of evaluaassess how effectively your instruction was prepared and helpful in your future efforts to provide tion, such as student satisfaction ratings, will also prove

es on evaluation, review Chapter 6, quality behavior analysis procedures. (For additional exampl and see Chapters 12 and 13.)

4

subskills. r 3) to refresh yourself on the concept of 1Refer to the material on task analysis (Chapte

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Il. WORKSHOP: OPERANT PROCEDURES II. PROGRAMMING INSTRUCTION

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The purpose of this workshop is to help you to conceive, develop, and evaluate a short instruc-_ tional program that will be interesting and informative to you and your peers.

Goals Having mastered critical concepts on such topics as shaping, chaining, fading, and other behavioral procedures relevant to formal instruction and having selected a topic of interest to your peers, you should be able to 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Prepare a sequence of instruction. Instruct your peers. Collect data on the effectiveness of the instructional sequence. Assess the effectiveness of instruction. Analyze actual instructional episodes in the field to a. Identify applications of behavioral procedures b. Conceive alternative teaching strategies

Instructions 1. Preparation: a. Instructional Goal Survey. Preferably two weeks, but at least one week prior to the workshop, you should complete the Instructional Goal Survey. b. Instructional Objective Questionnaire. At least one week prior to the workshop, a portion of a group meeting should be used to permit your peers who will be members of the audience to fill out the Instructional Objective Questionnaire. (Allow about 3 minutes per form.) c. Instructional Plan. During the week before the workshop, select your instructional objective and complete the Instructional Plan (B) outside of class. You may wish to ask your instructor for feedback before you teach the concept or skill during the workshop. 2. Workshop: a. Bring your handouts and any illustrations or props to the workshop and, if necessary, select a friend to help you distribute them or set them up. b. Teach the concept or skill, collecting the data as you planned (C). 3. Evaluation. Analyze your data and tur in your evaluation (D) to your instructor.

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PART A. PREPARATION 1. Instructional Goal Survey At least one week prior to the workshop, this and the next form should be completed by each participant. The purpose of this form is to help you identify a concept or skill to teach the others in the group. The skill or concept should be something that is not currently in the repertoire of the others. ____= ~ Describe some of your hobbies,___-

_>=———————— — . Describe some of your special talents, —-_-

_ List some course materials that you have mastered that the others in the group probably have not.

_ Describe some atypical occupational experiences that you have had.

4 Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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e. Describe any unusual experiences such as trips, meetings, group activities, community activities, conversations that have taught you something the others are unlikely to know.

. Who are some of the most memorable people you have met? Tell what you learned from them.

. Identify a few of the most memorable books you have read. Consider some plays, concerts, dance recitals, sports events, lectures, workshops, symposia, and so on, that you have attended; and tell what you learned from them.

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. Describe any other experiences from which you feel you have learned some unusual concepts or skills.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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Review your instructional goal survey, and present at least three formal instructional objectives that would be appropriate to teach the others in your group. Be sure to indicate the conditions (givens, occasions, prompts, and so forth), the complete behavior, and the standards by which attainment of the objective will be judged.

(1)

(2)

(3)

. Consider each objective, and identify as many important subskills of each objective that you can think of. It is not necessary for you to state each subskill as a complete behavioral objective at this time.

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

. Based on the above analysis and your familiarity with the other members of the group, propose approximately three subskills that you think you could readily teach within a 10- to 20-minute lesson. Try to select some that would be particularly interesting to the audience. List your proposed objectives on the attached questionnaire, so people can rate them according to their own abilities and interests. 4 Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

195

Date

Due

2. Instructional Objective Questionnaire

Name of Presenter

Instructions for audience members On the right side of this questionnaire, place your initial at the top of the columns. Under your initials indicate your order of preference for the skill you would like to learn; 1 = most, 2 = next most, and so on.

/nstructions for presenter Complete the left side of this questionnaire: Identify in abbreviated form up to three objectives and (where appropriate) any subskills that fall under each objective. Also list any prerequisite skills that group members must already possess in order to acquire the subskill.

Audience

Subskills

Initials and Code

Prerequisite Skills

Objective |.

Summarize the results by selecting the objective and subskills you will teach:

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

196

Audience Comments:

Daten es (Due

PART B. INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN Based on the survey of group participants, you should have identified a concept or skill that you will teach to the group members. The skill should either be a behavior that involves a subtle discrimination, a behavior that includes a few steps, or a behavior that is more complex than group members are currently able to emit. 1. Identify the concept or skill you will teach:

they 2. Tell exactly what the participants will be able to do following instruction that you assure were unable to do previously. Include the conditions and the test that will standards the to that they can now perform the skill. (This statement should be identical the of performance.) Here are a couple of examples. Add your own response following examples. to shape three crescent Given a piece of dough, a board, rolling pin, and flour, participants will be able hard portions, and very any contain not should rolls. The rolls should not come apart in baking, they . Given two glasses participants group the of percent 90 by judged as center, they should be fluffy in the the chablis and the identify to able be should participant the bottles, coded from wine with filled s, with no errors. Rhine wine. This “double blind’’ test should be performed by at least five participant

Now specify yours:

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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IV. Self-management Proposal and Contracts

V. Workshop: Evaluating Progress

To the Instructor Self-management projects have consistently proved to be one of the most instructive and appealing aspects of our training programs. Each of us has been assigning them regularly for many years and we plan to continue to do so. When participants conduct self-management projects, they experience the application of the full behavior analysis model firsthand. They also find out what it is like to be the subject of a program of behavior change and just how much effort may be involved. In the manner of training medical and nursing students who practice many procedures initially with themselves, we believe that oftentimes behavior analysis procedures are best tested with oneself first. For a self-management project to be successful, however, adequate resources, training, and supervision are necessary. This means that you or others supervised by you will be keeping in close and regular contact with participants as they design, implement, evaluate, revise, and report the results of their self-manag ement programs. Should you have only a small number of participants conducting this project, you may be able to fulfill the supervisory role yourself. Otherwise, you may need to enlist the help of others. We have found that people who have previously completed our training program often function excellently as supervisors, provided, of course, that we keep in regular contact with them — reviewing the progress of the group assigned to them. Whether you or someone under your direction is the person who works regularly with those who are conducting self-management projects, some regular contact should be planned. We have organized groups of about five participants who are supervised by graduate or ad-

265

vanced undergraduate students. However, we always supervise certain kinds of projects ourselves: those involving serious anxieties or depression and those involving a medical problem. We also check these programs (and any diets or other regimens that seem extreme) with appropriate medical personnel. Weekly meetings are scheduled, during which progress is discussed and assistance offered. Participants are offered sources for relevant literature, help in planning methods for recording, plotting and analyzing data, and preparing and presenting oral and written reports, and they are provided the opportunity to engage In discussions of ethical, philosophical, and topical issues. The atmosphere provided by such a small group

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to the permits those participants who, under other circumstances, might be reticent to contribute discussion, offer help, or ask questions. We encourage our participants to team up in pairs and to assist one another in various ways, such as serving as independent observers collecting data to demonstrate the reliability of the measurement system. Perhaps, as in our case, the participants in your group are expected to be acquiring knowledge of basic concepts and principles of applied behavior analysis simultaneously with conducting their self-management.

programs. This could seem to present a problem. How can participants plan a program while they are just learning about procedures? The answer is that they can, as long as they are guided to use simple reinforcement procedures, usually learned early in the instructional sequence. Then as they are planning and implementing their self-management programs, they continue to study the remaining content of the course. (This may be an intensive study of a small amount of content or a broader survey of a larger number of topics. See the “Recommended Schedule for a One or Two-Semester Course” in the Preface.) Here is a sample schedule that lends itself to a combination of conceptual learning and self-management projects over a 14-week period. (Naturally we are omitting various topics, assignments, and activities.)

Workshops/Field Week

Sample of Topics Covered

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Model, introduction Objectives and task analysis Observing, defining, recording Reinforcement principles and procedures

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Goals for self-management Recording in conjunction with projects Selecting procedures, Selecting reinforcers Identifying and assessing reinforcers Journal abstract Experimental designs for projects with clients Maintenance workshop Workshop: evaluating progress (Ch. IV)

Goal selected; baseline started

Final report written and submitted Oral report

Measures, recording system reviewed, preliminary proposal Plan simple reinforcement procedure; Literature review, Find proposal and contract Institute program

Continue program; select design Continue program; introduce withinsubject design

Revise procedures if necessary; draft introduction and methods section of project report; plan maintenance Analyze results; replot data, if necessary. Apply maintenance procedures

Review, evaluation

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Notice that the self-management projects are completed before the last week of the semester, leaving another week for review or other activities. You may wish to follow a similar plan or alter the series of activities. To assist you to schedule the events in this rather complex activity, we have attached a separate schedule sheet. You may want to make a copy of the form, and fill in the relevant information for your own instructional program. From that master, sufficient copies can be reproduced so that each Participant has one. Alternately, you may (as we do) plan individual schedules with each student. ne EE

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Required

Read introduction (1) and proposal (IV) Complete IV A,B (pp. 285-287) of propo sal Workshop: Goals for Self-management (Ch. 3, IV) Field Activity: Preliminary Recordings (III A) 1. Sequence Analysis: Table 11.5 2. Daily Schedule: Table 11.6 3. Other as appropriate Preliminary Self-management Proposal (111 B)

Graph of Baseline Data

Self-management Proposal (IV): C, D (Preliminary-Goals)

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Literature

F

Method Data Sheets

Dsett-management Contract (p. 297) Workshop: Evaluating Progress (V) Conferences with Instructor to: 1. Review proposal and preliminary records 2. Review contract, baseline, initial results

of program

3. Check progress, plan maintenance

4. Other

Maintenance Contract: (p. 299) Oral Report (See Chapter 14) Written Report (See Chapter 14)

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Optional

Due Date

Goals

Upon completion of this project and having mastered written material on self-management procedures, the participant should be able to the client and that 1. Select appropriate goals for self-management projects (that is, goals that are beneficial to will be supported by those in the client’s environment). 2. Design a program that will promote the attainment of these goals. 3. Design a system for evaluating the effectiveness of the program. 4. Carry out a successful self-management program.

1. INTRODUCTION An important and useful feature of applied behavior analysis is that we can adapt the model to change our own behavior. We can also help clients adapt the model to change their own behavior. This, together with the model’s built-in provisions for accountability, is what makes it so ethically defensible. Conducting a self-management project is also a good way to experience, and thus appreciate, the subtleties of the model. We may be especially sensitive to the adequacy of the measures or to the effectiveness of the procedures when the behavior we're concerned about is our own. The joys and sorrows inherent in conducting a successful self-management project are educational, and they may well be important prerequisites to helping clients. (To put it differently: you don’t go mucking around with someone else’s behavior until you’ve succeeded in managing your own.) Table 11.2 lists some of the projects that our students have conducted in recent years. By far the most frequent are those having to do with weight control or some aspect of studying, but the number and variety of problems solved are impressive and, we hope, encouraging. Be prepared to get all the help you can: if your ‘‘problem”’ were easy, you'd have solved it long ago. Table 11.2. Self-management Projects Conducted in Our Courses Increasing

Teaching Self

Reducing

Exercising Study time

Foreign languages Speed reading

Participating, speaking up

Dance steps Calligraphy Assertiveness skills Magic tricks Juggling To play musical instruments Deep muscle relaxation Cooking skills Art techniques Computer skills And many other skills

Gnashing teeth (bruxism) Biting nails Chewing lips

in class Writing (finishing a novel for another course) Practicing musical instruments Planning schedule realistically Flossing teeth Sitting up straight Grooming, dressing neatly Sleeping Self-esteem Time with children Arising on time Terminating conversations gracefully

Calorie, sugar intake Rate of chewing, eating Drinking coffee Drinking cola drinks Cracking knuckles Interrupting Lisping

Smoking Swearing Use of filler words (“You know,” , Likeg ssUbe “Oks Forgetting things Being indecisive Calling long distance on the phone Interpersonal anxiety Falling asleep in class Fear of birds, elevators Asthma attacks Headaches, backaches

268

Most people find it helpful to design and conduct a self-managemen t program along with someone else. Even when two people are working on different projects, they can discuss problems and share successes. They can also provide that extra incentive to keep accurate records.

Il. INSTRUCTIONS Your self-management project is likely to take the whole semester and perhaps — if it is something like weight control — the rest of your life. (Whatever it is, we trust the experience will

prove useful the rest of your life.) At any rate, get started early. A schedule, or timetable, is included at the head of this chapter; and your instructor will advise you when each activity is due.

A. The Self-management Proposal and Contract 1. Read the entire project proposal (IV) before you start filling it in. This will tell you where you are going, and the examples interspersed throughout the form may give you some ideas. You may be asked to submit only part of the proposal before having a conference with your instructor, and you may meet with a group of your peers once or twice during the course of your project. Meetings during the early stages can facilitate the selection of goals and procedures; later meetings can be helpful when the data dictate that a program needs revising. The workshop in Chapter 3 IV is recommended at this point. You may then wish to submit the “Preliminary Self-management Proposal” and receive feedback from your instructor. 2. The records you will keep are essential to your program because they provide the feedback you need to determine how it’s going. They will either reinforce your efforts or provide an early warning signal that something needs to be revised. Table 11.3 suggests several different recording procedures for monitoring various classes of behavior in conjunction with self-management projects. Generally speaking, the more classes of behavior you monitor, the more you will learn about yourself. So read the entire table; you may well want to use different recording procedures for different classes of behavior.

The field activity ‘Preliminary Recordings for a Self-management Project,” (111 A) may be helpful. At this time, you should be able to complete Sections A-D of your proposal and through baseline of Section F. 3. If you have not already done so, start reading in the area of your project. The proposal form (IV A) contains some suggestions; see your instructor for others. 4. Before deciding which procedures will be most effective — and feasible — for you to use, look at Table 11.4, or review Chapters 5, 8, 9, and 10. You will probably want to use a combination of procedures. If you are trying to increase some behavior, you may want to combine self-instruction, modeling, and reinforcement. If you are trying to decrease behavior, you may want to combine extinction, response cost, and omission training. 5. Turn in your completed self-management proposal and contract. See Table 11.8 for an example of a contract for a time-management program.

B. Carrying Out the Program 1. After your instructor has approved your proposal, conduct your project as planned. Arrange for any consultations or assistance you may need, such as special materials or help with recording data. 2. Plot your data daily, and keep notes of any unanticipated events or outcomes or of any questions that arise. 3. Be prepared to revise your program, if necessary, and to write a new contract. We recommend the workshop, “Evaluating Progress” (V), one to two weeks after you have started your

program.

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4. Write a maintenance contract. If you have reached your goal, institute your maintenance program before the end of the course. Even if you have not reached your goal, we recommend that you test your maintenance program foraweek or two while you still have the support of other members of the class. You can always reinstate the full program, or a period of maintenance may help you design a better, perhaps less restricting program. The workshop in Chapter 7 111 B should help you design a feasible maintenance program.

5. Prepare an oral report so that you can share your project with others. (See Chapter 14 for suggestions.) 6. Prepare a written report (see Chapter 14), probably in duplicate: your instructor will almost certainly want to keep a copy for the benefit of future students. Your proposal will contain most of the information for the introduction and method, so this task should not be too arduous. Even if you have not yet started a maintenance progrm, be sure to include a maintenance contract in your report.

C. Conferences with Instructor

Bring your graphs and any other data to every conference 1. During your first conference you will want to do the following: a. Review your preliminary data, preliminary proposal, and any sections of the full proposal that you may have completed (or that you expect will be difficult to complete). b. Discuss the relevant literature and other potential resources (for example, someone in the field of counseling, medicine, or physical education). c. Go over the schedule in Table 11.1 and decide which activities you should complete and when you should complete them. Sections A-F 5 of the full proposal should be completed as soon as possible; and when you have done that, you can write your first contract. d. Schedule your next conference and decide what you will have accomplished petare that conference. 2. Within a week to 10 days of your first conference, you should have completed Sections A through F 5 of the full proposal and drawn up a first contract. Check with your instructor (or other supervisor) that you have sufficient baseline data and that your proposal and contract are reasonable. If they are, start your program. 3. Preferably one week, and no later than two weeks, after you have started your program, show your data to your instructor. Discuss possible revisions, and either write a new contract or, if all is going well, extend your present one. 4. Schedule further conferences to discuss a. progress (or the need for revisions) b. maintenance c. the oral and written reports

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Table 11.3. Recording in Conjunction with a Self-managemen t Project No matter what your self-management project, you will want to examine the situations in which the behavior is (1) likely to occur and (2) unlikely to occur. Narrative recording is a good way to start, whether the behavior is something you are trying to increase or to decrease.

Narrative Recording Select one or more situations in which the behavior is likely to occur, and try to write down everything that happens that is in any way related to the behavior you want to control. If you want to decrease behavior such cue or smoking or making caustic comments, also note the occasions when you feel the urge to do these things. Do the same thing in situations where the behavior generally does not occur. If you are trying to increase the frequency or duration of some activity, you may discover the events that control competing behavior. If you are trying to decrease behavior, you may discover ways to extend these unfavorable conditions to other situations where the behavior is usually a problem.

Frequency (Event) Recording If the behavior does not occur more than a few times an hour, try to count every occurrence. If your self-esteem needs a boost, you may be pleasantly surprised at the number of compliments you receive or the number of things you actually do accomplish. (Be sure to include the little things such as your satisfaction with having written a long overdue letter or that you did remember to compliment your roommate for trying to keep the place clean. Don’t wait for a job offer or for a term paper to be completed.) On the other hand, you may be unpleasantly surprised at the number of drinks you consume or the number of times you lose your temper or cut a class. You can also count the frequency of pushups, between-meal snacks, or contributions to class, but don’t try to count behavior that occurs at very high rates. Not only will you miss many instances, but the attempt will also probably interfere with other things you should be doing. Duration Recording This method is appropriate for measuring time spent studying, practicing a skill, watching television, “wasting time,”’ conferring with an instructor or supervisor. Fortunately, it is often possible to get reliable estimates of the duration of these activities without becoming a slave to a stopwatch. Television programs, classes, and conferences have set time limits, or you can note the time when you start such an extended activity and when you stop. Duration recording is also useful in monitoring the time between eating, drinking, smoking, or getting into an argument. Latency Recording This is another easy method because you have only to note the time a signal is given and the time the behavior occurs. Glance at your watch when you say you “really must leave’ the party, and glance again when you actually depart. The latency of getting up after the alarm goes off is particularly easy: just note the setting and the time when you actually arise.

Time Sampling Time sampling has proved useful for our students monitoring posture, bruxism, and daydreaming. But use a tape (or friend) to announce variable intervals, or you may begin to anticipate the end of the intervals, and your sample will be biased.

Subjective Reports Subjective reports are necessary if one is monitoring covert behavior, and rating scales can be used in conjunction with other recording procedures. One can measure the intensity as well as the frequency or duration of urges to do something or feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with oneself or others. Products of Behavior Products of behavior (pages written, bills paid, empty beer bottles) are often critical. It would be difficult to assess a program for controlling weight if one assiduously avoided going near the scale. In addition, try to estimate the reliability of your records by having a friend monitor your behavior, at least occasionally, without your knowing when the observations will take place.

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Table 11.4 Self-management Procedures ee ee a Pile Sa

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Self-instruction

Modeling and Role Playing

Reinforcement

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Writing down the rules in a contingency contract; reading or saying them out loud. Watching someone performing skillfully or appropriately (speaking with confidence; overcoming a problem; demonstrating a skill) then practicing the behavior that has been modeled. Rewarding performance of the desired behavior by engaging in a preferred activity or by gaining a token or point that you may exchange for a back-up reinforcer.

Escape-Avoidance

Extinction

Satiation

Punishment

Making a deposit of money or goods that will be forfeited if the desired behavior is not emitted. “Storing a bag of ugly fat (representing one’s own obesity) in the refrigerator and removing pieces as one loses weight.” (From Mahoney & Thoresen, 1974, p. 50) Asking friends not to reinforce behavior (such as complaining, swearing) that you are trying to eliminate. ??(If you are spending too much time reading pornographic literature, you might, in one sitting, go through eight or ten of those with the fewest redeeming features. But it might be better to program this as a reinforcer for competing behavior.) Doing something you dislike: cleaning the room; exercising; wearing the button of a hated politician (also from Mahoney & Thoresen), contingent on problem behavior.

Covert Procedures

en

Recalling the rules; telling yourself to relax, count to ten, pay attention. Imagining yourself or another person performing skillfully or appropriately.

Imagining yourself in a pleasant situation or telling yourself that you are noble, brave, virtuous, and in command, contingent on imagining or actually performing the desired behavior. Imagining yourself escaping from an aversive or anxiety-producing situaation when you imagine you are performing the desired behavior, or when you actually perform the behavior. Imagining that the behavior (eating, drug-taking) is emitted but is not followed by the usual reinforcing consequences. Imagining yourself engaging in the problem behavior until it is no

longer enjoyable (eating forbidden food until you feel stuffed, sated.)

Thinking an unpleasant thought or imagining an aversive consequence, contingent upon emitting the problem behavior or upon the urge to do

Arranging to be embarrassed: confessing to someone important; wearing a sign on your back or a glove on one hand that will make people ask why. (Not recommended for self-esteem projects.) Subtracting tokens or points from those earned, contingent on the problem behavior.

so.

Omission Training

Reinforcing the failure to emit the problem behavior for a specified period of time. (Behavior may be omitted altogether or in a specified situation.)

Imagining a reinforcing event, contingent upon real or imagined omission of the behavior for a specified period of time.

DRL

Reinforcing a specified low rate of the behavior.

Imagining a reinforcing event when the behavior reaches a low rate.

Reinforcement of

Reinforcing behavior that prevents or competes with the problem behavior.

Imagining a reinforcing consequence for overt or covert competing behavior, e.g., imagining a pleasant situation following resisting the urge to eat by leaving the table.

Response Cost

Alternative Behavior

(Alt R)

Telling yourself you’re stupid, slovenly, gluttonous.

Imagining the loss of a valuable possession, contingent upon overt or covert problem behavior.

eee Source: Reese, 1978, p. 234.

272

Date

Due

Name

Ill. FIELD ACTIVITIES: A. Preliminary Recordings for a Self-management Project Goals By the end of this activity, Participants should be able to 1, Prepare a sequence analysis of one or more classes of behavio r. 2. Use at least three different recording procedures to monitor their own behavior. 3. Analyze the data and identify behavior that would be suitable for a self-management project. 4. Identify measures that would be appropriate to monitor changes in the behavior, having carefully considered the feasibility, validity, and reliability of the measures. 5. Collect sufficient baseline data to assess the current strength of the behavior. 6. Identify some goals for a potential self-management program. Instructions

A. Goal or Goals: Indicate one or more tentative goals for a self-management program:

B. Sequence Analysis: 1. Conduct a sequence analysis of the behavior that is related to one of your goals. Use Table 11.5 or devise one that is more suitable for your purposes. 2. Include covert as well as overt behavior and products of behavior where applicable.

For example, if you are trying to raise your self-esteem, you will want to describe the occasions you feel adequate and inadequate as well as such overt behavior as the com-

pliments you give and receive. You should also describe any products of your behavior

that raise your self-esteem: anything you have written or constructed, including the data you collect. If you are trying to lose weight, enter everything you eat, and also describe urges to eat and whether or not you succumb. 3. Continue the sequence analysis for at least three days, making additiona l copies of Table 11.5 as necessary. Attach the analysis to your preliminary proposal. C. Other Records:

1. Review Table 11.3, and select three or four procedures that would be appropri ate for recording behavior related to your goal. If you want to get more exercise, you might

record the number (frequency) of pushups or laps you swim in the pool and the time (duration) you spend swimming, jogging, or doing calisthenics. You could also record the number of times you talk about getting more exercise and the percentage of those

times you plan to exercise that you actually do. It might be interesting to take your pulse after a set amount of exercise and to devise a subjective scale to measure how fit or how tired you feel.

&

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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-Date =

ee Due

__._

Name

Table 11.5. Sequence Analysis Antecedents or Context

Time

Place

Company

Behavior

Consequence and Comments

Incident | (Include number, duration) | (What happened next)

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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Due

RED

Se

le

ee

If you are concerned about studying more — or more efficiently — you could record the time you spend reading, writing, or doing other assignments; the number of Pages or articles you read; and the latency between settlin g down to study and actually : starting to work. You could also have a friend do some time sampling: just glance at you at irregular intervals when you are supposed to be studying and calculate the percentage of samples when you appear to be at work. You or a friend could also do a little narrative recording to see what you're really doing when you think you are studying. This would help identify competing behavior and the sorts of distractions you would later want to control. It is not very difficult, and sometimes it is very informative, to keep track of what you do throughout the day. Table 11.7 shows what one student did on a typical day while she was collecting baseline data before designing a self-ma nagement program for studying. Below the daily schedule is a summary of what she accompl ished in the way of academic work. Formal academic appointments, such as labs and classes, are included because some days allow more time for studying than do others. By including all of her academic commitments, she reduced day-to-day variabil ity and also got a better picture of her academic activities. At the end of each day, she could calculate the time she spent working on various activities and the number of pages she read or wrote, Later, when she planned what she would do each day, she could calculate the percentage of planned activities that she actually accomplished. Table 11.6 is a blank record form that can be adapted for any project involving the manage ment of time. Space is provided at the bottom to summarize activities relevant to the particular project. 2. Attach the records you collect to your preliminary project proposal, along with your sequence analysis. 3. Analyze the recording procedures you have used according to the following criteria. Write in the procedures that seemed most or least difficult, valid, and so on. Criterion eee Difficult

Pec a ee

Most

ee ee ae eo eee ed

Valid Reliable

Interesting or Informative

Useful in selecting a project

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

275

Least

Date Se A)

Due oes ee

Name

4. Based upon the above and (if appropriate) consultation with your instructor, what procedures will you use to record what data for your project?

Recording Procedure(s)

Behavior LRT

ee

ve

5. Collect baseline data for at /east five days, including the data you have already collected if they are adequate. Plot these data, and attach copies of the graphs to your proposal. (You will want to keep up the graphs while your instructor is reviewing your proposal.) 6. Evaluate a. Are the data relatively stable? MW _____ yes no b. Ifno, can you identify variables responsible for the inconsistencies (e.g., less study or more calories consumed on weekends)? yes no no yes c. Does what seemed to be a problem still appear to be one? d. Do you now feel that you have selected an appropriate self-management project?

yes

no

7 ,

:

D. Preliminary Self-management Proposal Complete the preliminary proposal. Either submit the proposal and your records to your instructor, or make an appointment to go over the proposal and your plans for your project.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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¢

mide.

=

Table 11.6.

Due

Name

Daily Record Form for Time Management or Related Projects.

Baseline

Program —___.

11

®

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

277

Maint. ___

12

e

Table 11.7. Example of a Daily Record Form Used ina Self-management Program for Studying. Day Wed. Date 10/3,

Baseline

x

Program ____

Maint. ___

11

coffee — Jane, Leslie, Wendy

breakfast

Talked w/ Laurie + EPR — may change project!

: dinner —

T© Amherst

Studied with Kent

bed

Kent,

12:30ish

Leanna

(about one hour)

Time

Accomplished

Reading

Thr?

pages

10? |

Total Time

i MY

pts.

Writing

Tee

pages:

2

Accomplished 19P: = ___

pts

Other

Subtotal

/

Classes

2h

Labs

eles

Conference (etc.)

Sa Mie

Subtotal

TOTAL After Reese, 1978, p. 218.

10

Comments

Forgot dorm

meeting at &

_6 hr

7 279

Liens

Table 11.8. Example of a Self-Management Contract

General Goal:

Name:

Time Management

Duration of Contract (dates) 9/25 to 70/7 . Data: Keep daily records of Time: academic activities

Time procrastinate

"other commitments (choir, yearbook)

Percentage time planned actually did

"Social activities (incl. meals)

# urges to break contract

Data will be analysed and plotted:

Every night

_ Consequences

Program (Contingencies) Behavior Record and plot data Schedule activities for next day Compute percentage accomplished

20 pts 10 70 90-100% 80- 89% 70- 7996

50 pts 25 70

(0-50)

Stimulus Control Study in library Get Terry to go with me Alternative behavior (If applicable)

10 = €

Covert (behavior, consequences) Urges to break contract — if more than 5/day, revise

Bonus?

If points, possible

90-100% accomplished whole week: 100 pts

daily TOTAL

700

Exchange (e.g. price and cost of reinforcers or punishers) Reinforcers

Punishers

Phone call: 5 min. free then 10 pts/min Buy record, poster, clothes etc: 100 pts/$1.00

less than 50 pts/day, can’t open mail til 5 P.M.

Signature

Date

280

€

Date

Due

B. Preliminary Self-management Proposal Before turning in your final self-management proposal, complete this form. Either turn it in to your instructor or bring it to a conference along with your sequence analysis and the data you have collected. 1. Identify the problem you feel you would like to tackle, and present a rationale for selecting that problem.

. Specify the precise behavioral objective toward which you wish to work. (Or specify a few alternative objectives, discussing the pros and cons of each.)

. Do you have any questions or issues you want to discuss prior to completing your selfmanagement proposal? If so, note them here.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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Date... .. .. . . Due...

Nami ee a

Feedback from Instructor ______

Your objectives seem reasonable. Proceed with your proposal.

You may want to consider the following modifications of your objectives:

Your objectives probably need extensive revisions for the following reasons:

See me before proceeding.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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€

IV. SELF-MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL AND CONTRACTS In the interest of efficiency, we suggest that you read through this complete form before planning your project. Use scratch paper to rough out your plans. This form should be used for your “‘official’’ proposal. A. Preliminary 1. In conjunction with program: a. Learn about behavior analysis (class, readings, workshops, and so on). b. Refer to self-management literature (for example, Watson and Tharp, 1972;

Williams and Long, 1975; Mahoney and Thoresen, 1974). c. Read relevant studies in area of project. (See Reese 1978; Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer, 1977; references in above texts, behavior modification bibliographies, Psychological Abstracts, and recent indices of relevant journals.) d. Learn more about the variables relating to the particular problem you select (for example, for weight, learn caloric content of various foods and low calorie substitutes). 2. In case you get discouraged while contemplating what appear to be your inadequacies, make a list of things you are good at. Include attributes such as persistence and sense of humor as well as social, verbal, and motor skills. (If you haven’t mentioned at least five things, ask a friend.)

3. Choosing a problem: a. Make a list of possible self-management projects: behavior you might want to change, either to increase, decrease, or restrict its occurrence. Increase

Decrease

(study, exercise, pleasant remarks,

(weight, smoking, biting nails, exaggerating, procrastinating, and so on)

assertive behavior, and so on)

cs)

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Datesae2

2

IN

Die

nt Seale

b. Go back and rate the above projects in terms of importance. Put an (H) beside those of high priority and an (M/) beside those of medium priority. c. Now narrow the list to two possibilities:

(Tp eee ee

(2) 4. Reasons What are your philosophical, ethical, practical, or personal reasons for wanting to control these classes of behavior?

5. Now select a general goal that you will refine as you complete this proposal. You may want to combine two goals. For example, “‘Lose weight by consuming fewer calories and exercising more’ or ‘Replace ten hours of watching television per week with ten hours of studying.’”’

General goal

6. Name one or more people you might work with or who could help you in other ways:

de

2.

3.

B. Sequence Analysis Before starting baseline, try to reconstruct from memory (1) the situations in which the relevant behavior is likely to occur and (2) the situations in which it generally does not occur or occurs at a low rate. You will need this information whether your goal is to decrease something you do too often or to increase something you do too seldom. In some cases, you will want to analyze several classes of behavior. If the goal is to be more assertive, for example, you might describe occasions when you do (and don’t) refuse unreasonable requests, ask reasonable favors of others, make positive statements about yourself, terminate conversations gracefully, and so on. You might also

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Datei ee 1 Dues ee 2

SName

describe situations in which you feel intimidated and those you don’t. For weight, you might separate eating sensibly from eating junk food or eating and drinking other high calorie substances. 1. Situations in which behavior is likely to occur Consequences

Antecedents (Where, when, with whom, after what?)

(Are there any immediate reinforcing or aversive consequences you can identify?)

Behavior

re ee ee

A

eee

Examples: with children

talk easily, fluently

enjoy myself

in room, alone at night

eat junk food

gain weight, disgusted w/self

. Situations in which behavior is NOT likely to occur (be specific) Se ce end 8 ge pe eg ey 8 Re eg * in psych seminar

w/Tom, regular meals

ee

talk easily, fluently

poor grade; feel stupid

eat junk food

Tom pleased; lose weight

3. While you are completing this proposal and for a period of at least three or four days, keep records for a more accurate analysis. Follow the instructions for Field Activity A, pp. 275-278. Use or adapt Table 11.5 or Table 11.6, and consider one or more of the recording procedures suggested in Table 11.3. Submit a sequence analysis with your proposal. @

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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Datecs 8 1

ID

ee eee

Sore

C. Motivation to conduct a self-management project 1. Identify ultimate aversive consequences /f you don’t conduct a program.

ee Se SO

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a

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SSS

ES

2. Identify some ultimate reinforcing consequences of success. a

(When you suggestions 3. Recall some (You don’t

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SS

have listed everything you can think of, ask your friends and add any that are appropriate.) incidents that made you decide a self-management project was necessary. have to write down any that are too personal.)

4. At this point, reconsider your objectives. Do you really want to change your behavior, or do you want to fool around with self-control procedures? Before answering, consider the implications of changing your behavior with respect to your future life-style. Weight control, for example, is likely to be a lifelong proposition. Js your goal reasonable? Is it ethical, in terms of yourself___-———— SSS; thers? D.Specific Goals 1. For this section, list as many classes of behavior as you can that are relevant to your project; state the context in which they should (or should not) occur, and state how you could measure the behavior. Try to include overt behavior, covert behavior, and

products of behavior. (You may wish to add to this list later.) Behavior

Context and Criteria

Measures

Reduce long-distance calls

only 2/wk; after 9 pm

number, duration, phone bill

Set alarm, get up 6:30 A.M.

Mon.-Fri,

Freq. set alarm; latency get up

Example:

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286

Name

Behavior

Context and Criteria

ee

Measures

be

. Now expand or revise your goal, and present it as a formal behavior al objective.

E. Literature 1. What general information should you have about the problem? (for example, caloric value of different foods and different kinds of exercise; physiological variables associated with anxiety or depression).

. Search the literature for behavioral studies related to your goal. Attach a list of references. (Be sure to use A.P.A. citation form, for example, “Smith and Brown (1980) found that . . .""; The application of cold water (White and Green, 1982) ...”). You should try to find about ten. Your instructor or project supervisor will assist you If necessary. Scan the abstracts of these articles and books, and select three to five that appear to be of particular relevance. Read these carefully, and make notes describing how each is relevant to your proposed project. F. Method 1. Client. Describe yourself briefly, emphasizing your history in relation to your goal. Consider previous attempts to manage the behavior, and note what was successful and what was not.

®)

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

287

Dates a

Dueta

4 22

eee Name

Sg, oe se RN he Be ae i OP eg a

2. Setting. Describe those places in which the management of your behavior will take place.

3. List any consultants, educational resources, accomplices, and materials to be involved in your project. Explain the function of each.

4. Baseline On the basis of the preceding and your current sequence analysis, select at /east three classes of behavior to record during baseline. You may want to start with more; you _may want to add more later. (Baseline need not continue for the same length of time for all classes of behavior.) Again, try to select at least one class of overt behavior, one covert, and one product of behavior. a. Now state what you will record and how it will be recorded. (Refer to Table 11.3.) You might want to record the frequency, duration, or latency of some activity or the intervals between occurrences of the behavior. You might want to devise a subjective scale of the intensity of some covert behavior. Behavior and Context

Recording

Examples: Contributions in each class (separately)

Frequency

Urges to smoke; anywhere

Frequency and intensity

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288

8

Date

Due

Name

Behavior and Context Se

Recording

a

a,

eee

Se

ee

Ries

ee

ee

ee

ee ee oy

ee

ee

a

oe

ae ee

ee oe

ee

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. How can you demonstrate the reliability of at least some of your recordin gs? Who will record what, and when? St es a Ce

a

eee |

ES

. Managing the behavior. Designing a possible program. Your program will depend upon what you discover during baseline, but it is not too soon to think about possibilities. a. Stimulus Control

(1) Reducing stimulus control Does the problem behavior seem to occur in specific situations? (Times, places, with specific people, and so on). If so, is there any way you can remove or attenuate the discriminative stimuli?

(2) Establishing Stimulus Control Is there some way you could establish stimulus control, either to restrict unwanted behavior to particular situations or to establish other behavior in its place?

e

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

289

Date son es Jee LS

__

Name

b. Competing behavior (1) If you are trying to decrease some class of behavior, is there some other behavior you could establish in its place? ee

i

ee

(2) If you are trying to increase some class of behavior, can you think of some of the things you often do instead of the desired behavior? If so, can you remove the opportunity or restrict their occurrence to other situations? Can you use them as reinforcing activities, contingent upon the behavior you want to strengthen?

c. Managing the consequences Identify some possible reinforcers and punishers that you might use to modify the behavior of concern or behavior that competes with it. Chapter 5 III (pp. 128-130) includes a questionnaire to determine appropriate reinforcers for a client. If you have completed this questionnaire for yourself, select some of the reinforcers you have already identified and assign them point values. (1) To assist yourself in identifying potential reinforcers, list at least six specific activities, six specific things, and three privileges that you like. Perhaps you will want to exchange points for them. If so, estimate the number of points that you think would be a fair exchange. (Include some “inexpensive”’ items

so you can earn them quickly.)

Points

Activities

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

290

Privileges

To assist yourself in identifying potential punishers or response costs, list six to

eight events that would be aversive. Try to include both activities (doing

pushups, cleaning your room) and fines or loss of privileges (loss of points, can’t open mail, can’t receive phone call at the usual time).

Now select

Possible Reinforcers

®

Possible Punishers

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

291

Due

:

__. Name

Possible Punishers

Possible Reinforcers

(4) If you haven’t included any ‘‘easy,’’ short-term events that you could earn quickly, add them now.

(5) How about some covert possibilities (events you will imagine, statements you will make to yourself)?

. Procedures Outline some of the things you might do to manage the behavior you are concerned about. See Table 11.4 for examples of several overt and covert procedures that may be used in self-management projects.

Remember to START WITH THE POSSIBLE: You can always raise the criteria and demand more of yourself as you continue the program. State the contingencies as precisely as possible, and include contingencies that might apply to anyone helping you.

(1) Stimulus control Consider both reducing stimulus control over behavior you want to decrease and establishing stimulus control over behavior you want to increase.

Behavior (What will you

Consequences (If points,

do or not do?)

how many?)

no food in room

won't eat

5 pts/day no food in room

Library 8-10 P.M.

will study

% gal. gas per hour study

Setting Examples:

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292

7

€

Ws

Name ne

Behavior

Setting

ei

setae et a

ee

Consequences

(What will you do or not do?)

(If points, how many?)

(2) Additional procedures Procedure

Behavior and Setting

Consequences

Reinforcement

Pleasant remarks to Mary

FR 10: Poster or record

DRL

30 min. between drinks, 9-17 P.M.

7 phone call

a ee

Se

a

ee eee

Se

(3) Are other people involved? If so, what will they do, and how will you reinforce their help?

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SUMMARY OF SELF-MANAGEMENT PROGRAM H General Goal: ae es SS

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. Definitions and Measures of Target Behavior: ae a Pires

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. Relevant Antecedents:

a. Situations in which the behavior is likely to occur:

b, Situations in which is it unlikely to occur:

. Procedures:

State all the contingencies, including any bonuses or penalties Behavior and Setting

Consequences

oh Baseline Data and Early Results Attach copies or prepare transparencies to project during the workshop. Try to fit on one

page all graphs that one would want to compare. (See Figures 14.2 and 14.3 for examples.)

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

303

Date ins

lt

tt

oe eee ane Dues

©

WORK SHEET: POSSIBLE REVISIONS OF SELF-MANAGEMENT PROGRAM Goals and Objectives: Definitions

Additional Behavior to Monitor

Measurement (who does what and when):

Procedures: Stimulus Control

Consequences

Exchange value of reinforcers

Programming

Possible Designs to Evaluate Effectiveness of Program (Specify how to implement):

Programming for Maintenance and Generalization:

Features of Tentative Maintenance Contract:

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304

é

® Individual Projects: Workshops, Research, and Projects in Practicum Settings

Required

Optional

Date Due

To the Instructor Timetable for Individual Projects I. Introduction

A. Selecting a Project 1. Projects with clients 2. Educational programs outside of classroom settings 3. Workshops 4. Research . Ethical Responsibilities 1. Confidentiality 2. Possible conflicts of interest 3. Mutual responsibilities . Selecting Goals and Procedures

.

E. IP: G.

1. Informed consent 2. Practical considerations Evaluation and Accountability 1. Objective data 2. Subjective reports 3. Consumer satisfaction 4. Supervisor and self-evaluation forms Project Notebook or Daily Log Project Proposal Oral and Written Reports

. Field Activities

A. Introduction to a Field Setting (Chapter 4,

III C)

B. Adaptation C: Recording in Conjunction with an Individual Project (Chapter 4, III F) . Identifying and Assessing Reinforcers (Chapter

5, Ill A) . Preliminary Project Proposal

a

305

Il. Workshops Analysis of Preliminary Project Proposals Planning Experimental Designs for Projects with Clients (Chapter 6, III) Programming for Generalization and Maintenance

uae €

(Chapter.7, III C) Planning Reductive Procedures for Projects (Chapter 9, II C) IV. Project Proposals

A. Final Proposal, Projects with Clients B. Research Proposal C. Proposal for Workshops, Symposium, Other Projects Consent Forms

To the Instructor The activities in this chapter are intended to help the student design and conduct a program that incorporates and coordinates the entire behavioral model. We hope that most will already have done this in conjunction with a self-management project. Now they — and you — are assuming the responsibility of applying the principles with others. Different instructors will be operating under different constraints, especially with respect to time, the number and variety of practicum settings that are available, and the amount and quality of supervision that can be provided. So, partly to provide flexibility and partly to indicate the range and diversity of applications of the model, we are suggesting several different sorts of projects ranging from workshops for one’s peers to projects with clients in practicum settings. If different students undertake different sorts of projects and if they share their experiences and their data in workshops and in a symposium or poster session at the end of the course, they will be able to assess the usefulness of the model in achieving a variety of goals. And not only will they discover and strengthen their own special abilities by virtue of conducting their own projects, but they will also have occasion to discover and admire the abilities of their colleagues. No matter what the duration or complexity of the project and no matter who the client, the fact that the students will be examining and attempting to change the behavior of others places a special burden on the instructor. As we noted in the preface, much is at stake: both the quality of service provided the clients and the quality and credibility of the training program. Even when we conduct a workshop with our colleagues, we run a certain risk. The workshop on anxiety reduction, for example, is designed to alleviate anxiety in conjunction with taking tests. But there is always the possibility that participation in such a workshop may increase the test anxiety of a particular student. If, while constructing the anxiety hierarchy, anxious students come across a scene they have never thought of before, we will have suggested yet another source of anxiety and thereby added to their misery. If the subsequent exercises in relaxation are not properly conducted, the net effect may be to exacerbate, rather than alleviate, anxiety in conjunction with taking tests. There are three ways to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of conducting individual projects: adequate preparation, careful supervision, and frequent, precise feedback. In one sense, all of the workshops and field activities in this manual can be considered preparation for conducting a project. Beyond that, this chapter includes additional field activities and workshops, as well as proposal forms for different sorts of projects. Supervision is essential and has been discussed in the preface and in our message to you in Chapter 11. Feedback must be frequent and with minimal delay. Fortunately, feedback on the progress of a project comes from many sources, including the supervisor, the subject, and the data. Samples of evaluation forms for instructors and field supervisors are included pp. 323-325, along with a selfevaluation form for the student. The data that allow for accountability in behavior analysis are probably the most reliable source of feedback, but unfortunately, students are not always able to read the messages contained in their data. It is essential to plot and examine the data every day and to look not only at the progress made but also

306

7

@

for indications of possible problems. Students should bring all of their data to conferences with their

supervisors as well as a project notebook that contains potentially relevant information such as the fact that, on a given day, the child was late to school or there was a substitut e teacher in the classroom. One thing you can do to reduce the difficulty of supervising a large number of Projects is to encourage students to work in pairs. In some cases, for example, workshop s, the result is likely to be better if it is the product of more than one person's imagination and energy. We have also suggested that students share in designing one another’s projects. In Chapter 11 they contribu te to each other’s self-management projects, and in Chapter 6 they collaborate on the selection of appropri ate experimental designs. We believe that both the giving and receiving of help to a colleague is beneficia l. And to the extent that they contribute to one another’s projects, your students will gain experience as behavioral consultants. The “Timetable for Individual Projects’’ (p. 310) is provided to help you and your students keep up

with their projects. It lists the major activities that will occur in conjunction with different kinds of projects. As not all activities are appropriate for all Projects, we suggest that in your first conference with your students you discuss the various activities and, together, decide which would be appropriate for the Particular project. You could then work out at least a tentative timetable for when each activity should be completed. In some cases, it may be valuable for students to design a program that could reasonably be

conducted in a practicum setting. Even though there may not be sufficient time to carry the program out, they could still participate in all of the activities in the timetable, and perhaps they could conduct their programs in another semester. Assuming that you plan to have students present their project reports orally (see Chapter 14), you will want to schedule sufficient time for that activity. We recomme nd approximately 15 to 30 minutes per presentation, including at least five minutes for discussion. Presentations of workshops by students will require scheduling longer time periods. It is suggested that schedule s be specified and that students practice in advance to avoid their running into the time scheduled for other presentations. Another excellent format for presenting the results of project activities is the Poster session. Poster sessions permit several projects to be presented simultaneously. (See Chapter 14 for a description of how a poster session is organized.) Should you decide to plan a poster session, you should allow enough time for presenters to describe their projects and for them to circulate and find out about the projects that the other participants have conducted. It takes an average of ten minutes for a poster to be discussed, but more than one person may be listening, so plan your time accordingly. For each group of approximately 15 people, you'd probably want to allow about two hours.

l. INTRODUCTION This chapter provides a set of guidelines and activities that will help you design and conduct a behavioral program with a client. If you elect this option, you are assuming a great responsibil ity. You must be sure that ethical standards are scrupulously upheld and that the client is served as effectively as possible. Even if you select another sort of project, you have many responsibil ities to your clients or subjects. It may not be unethical to bore your peers in a workshop or otherwise waste their time, but it certainly isn’t sound educational practice. We will return to ethics and accountability later on in this chapter; but first let us describe some of the kinds of projects that, given your particular situation, may be possible for you to undertake.

A. Selecting a Project 1. Projects with Clients a. Practicum Settings. If you have the opportunity to work and learn ina practicum setting, it is essential to establish and maintain good relations with the institution or agency. Don’t take it upon yourself to call up the chair of the school board and the director of the veterans hospital and announce that you want to “‘do a project’’ with their people. Even if you are already tutoring a child in conjunction with another course or volunteering your services to a community or-

307

Table 12.1. Timetable for Individual Projects. Activity

Required

ile Read introduction. De Conference with instructor or supervisor. a. b. c. d.

Discuss possible project, clients. Arrange placement in practicum setting. Discuss arrangements for supervision of project. Discuss which of the following activities are appropriate for project and fill in due dates. e. Discuss readings. . Obtain and read available literature on practicum setting. . Optional: Conference to complete any unfinished business from

first conference (or to change to a different project). . Field Activity A: Introduction to a field setting (Ch. 4, III C).

. Field Activity B: Adaptation.

. Proposal for Recording in conjunction with Project (Ch. 4, III F). . Conference. a. Discuss field activities and other progress.

b. Discuss evaluation forms (Tables 12.6-12.11) and when and how often they should be completed. . Field Activity C: Recording in conjunction with an individual project (Ch. 4, III F).

10. Field Activity D: Identifying and assessing reinforcers (Ch. 5, III). We

Field Activity E: Preliminary project proposal.

We, Individual or group conference with supervisor. . Workshop: Selecting procedures (Ch. 5, II B).

14 . Workshop A: Preliminary project proposals. 15. Prepare a form for informed consent. 16. Design a way to measure ‘‘Consumer Satisfaction.”’ We Complete final project or research proposal. 18. Conference. a. Discuss project proposal, instructional plan, or research. b, Discuss possibility of negotiating a contract with client. c. Arrange schedule for future conferences.

. Workshop B: Planning experimental designs for client projects

(Ch. 6, III).

. Workshop C: Maintenance and generalization (Ch. 7, III Bye . Workshop D: Reductive procedures for projects (Ch. 9,11 C). . Conference a. Discuss data. b. Plan for oral report.

. Submit “Call for Papers” for oral report (Table 14.1)

24. Oral report or poster session (see Ch. 14). 25. Written report (see Ch. 14).

BRING PROJECT NOTEBOOK

(including all data) TO ALL CONFERENCES

Optional

Date due

ganization, it is important to work through channels. The first thing you should do is meet with your instructor or supervisor and discuss possible locations. You can expect to spend several weeks in a practicum setting, helping out where you are needed, before you decide what might be a constructive and feasible project. After you have begun to learn something about the program and the people it serves, you can begin to think about specific clients, goals, and procedures. Seek the advice of clients and staff so that your participation will be valuable for all of you. The first two field activities will help you reach these decisions. (You should also review Table 4.8, which offers some hints for interacting effectively with community agencies.) Our students have conducted several kinds of programs in practicum settings. (See Table 12.2 for examples of possible programs.) Although it is difficult to specify exactly what will be done in conjunction with any particular program, Table 12:4 offers some guidelines for conducting a project in a practicum setting, and we hope it will be helpful in preparing a project proposal. To complete the first steps suggested in Table 12.4, you may want to interview teachers or staff members connected with the program. Discuss this possibility with your supervisor, and be sure to include a summary of all interviews and conferences in the notebook you will keep for your project. (See Table 12.12.) b. Other Projects with Clients. You may want to conduct a project in conjunction with something you do outside of a supervised practicum setting. Perhaps you are a student adviser, a regular baby-sitter, a tutor, or a teaching assistant. If so, you are undoubtedly responsible to someone in addition to your potential client; and this person, as well as your course supervisor, should be consulted before you undertake a project. Alternatively, some of you may know people who would appreciate help in modifying behavior that they themselves would like to change. In that case, your client might be a member of your family, a spouse, a roommate, or another close friend. If you undertake such a project, you must discuss every possibility at length with the person involved, including alternative procedures and the cost/benefit ratio of all aspects of the program you conceive. You must also be particularly careful to select goals and procedures that do not jeopardize other aspects of your relationship. In any project involving another person, you must make it clear that you are not licensed to practice psychology (unless, of course, you are). State that you will help as best you can, and state the nature of the supervision you will receive, but be sure it is understood that you are not

a licensed clinician.

2. Educational Programs Outside of Classroom Settings If you participated in the activities described in Chapter 8, you have already designed and conducted a program to teach your colleagues. You might want to develop a more elaborate program or one that would require more time of the learner. (Tables 12.2 and 12.3 summarize possible projects.) When designing a teaching program for your peers, refer to Chapter 8, and prepare to conduct a dry run with a few of your friends.

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Table 12.2. Examples of Projects Conducted by Students of Applied Behavior Analysis Client Population

College Students and Adults Academic

Sports, Recreation, Hobbies

Speed reading Math section of GRE Small-group discussions Creative writing Sheldon’s Model of Temperament (programmed text vs. lecture) Time management Calligraphy Foreign language Playing piano, flute Israeli folk dancing Teaching ‘‘the hustle”’ Performing magic Sailing, kayak, sculling Golf, tennis Wrestling, judo

“Normal’’ Children

Clients with Special Needs

Subtraction, multiplication Using abacus Writing paragraphs Reading Cursive writing Labeling a set of pictures Completing assignments Planning time Tutoring peers

Writing letters (including digit reversals) Arithmetic Auditory memory Completing tasks, assignments Tutoring peers Helping a prisoner to pass a high school equivalency test °

Length, form discrimination

Dancing Playing games Sports Music

Swimming Social

Problem-solving strategy

Skills

with parents Answering politely

Reducing Problem Behavior

Forgetting things Losing temper

Self-help

Taking turns Aggression (reinforce using hands for work or play) Disruptive classroom behavior

Selecting, laying out clothing Cleaning room

Community living

Other

Drafting with LeRoy pens and templates Federal broadcasting license Eating nutritious meals Plumbing and wiring a house Dormitory: keeping

Following instructions Feeding, grooming pets Taking care of siblings

kitchen clean Gourmet cooking Desensitization of a bird phobia Migraine headaches Dog obedience training Schooling a horse

310

Smiling, saying, “Hi” Taking turns Speaking politely Sharing

Dressing, buttoning, zipping, tying Washing Feeding Selecting Clothes Completing chores Making bed, setting table, dusting Cooking eggs Labeling coins, making change Reading and ordering from menu Dialing, answering telephone Arriving home on time Weight control (Downes syndrome) Workshop skills Walking on crutches Riding a tricycle

Table 12.3. Examples of Other Kinds of Projects

Workshops (for classmates or - other groups of students) Anxiety reduction Biofeedback Conservation of natural resources Creative behavior Designing a treatment program for psychiatric patients Interviewing for jobs or graduate programs Negotiating skills Social skills and assertiveness training

Symposia

Research

Autism Behavioral medicine Biological variables affecting learning Learning disabilities

a

Assessing the reliability of observational recording after taking different numbers of courses in child psychology An incentive program to increase social skills in bank personnel Increasing social skills in geriatric patients Teacher attention to ‘“‘model” and “problem” eighth-grade students Physiological correlates of errors in discrimination training (people) Physiological correlates of errors in discrimination training (pigeons) A comparison of size- and color-fading for a FAST-SLOW discrimination in pigeons ee eee ee eee

3. Workshops The main features of a workshop are (1) that the participants do something (besides listen to the

leader of the workshop) and (2) that the leader of the workshop evaluates what the participants have learned. Some of the workshops in this manual have been developed from ones originally designed by students as projects in the course. There are several possibilities for projects that use the format of a workshop:

1. You could design, conduct, and evaluate a new workshop. 2. You could conduct one of the workshops in this manual. 3. You could design (or revise) and conduct and evaluate a workshop for people other than those in your course.

The preparation for a workshop can be extensive. It is not enough to do a task analysis of whatever you want to teach and then program the instruction according to the prerequisite skills of the participants. If you are not already an expert, you should also acquire a good deal of background information about the subject matter, and you may have to spend a lot of time practicing what you intend to preach. If you were to conduct the workshop on anxiety reduction, for example, you would probably have to spend several hours going through a manual of relaxation procedures and listening to professional tapes. You would also have to become proficient in diaphragmatic breathing and in recognizing when others were doing it correctly. In some cases, a workshop requires advance preparation by the participants. After a conference with your instructor (during which you both consider the other demands upon the students’ time), you might assign some readings, or you might take over the class before the workshop and give a lecture on the topic. Or you might hold a session at which the students presented papers on the topic, as we did in Chapter 6 for within-subject experimental designs. For ideas about programming different skills or discriminations, recall what you and your friends did for the workshop in Chapter 8. The workshops in this manual use several different formats, one of which might be appropriate for your project. The format used by two students who conducted a workshop on the conservation of natural resources required the participants to design programs to solve common problems on campus. After designing programs to conserve gas by using public transportation,

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Table 12.4. Guidelines for Conducting a Project in a Practicum Setting After arranging placement in a practicum setting:

1. Identify the goals or objectives of the program. ; (Some programs have prepared written objectives. If there are written objectives for your program, see if they are stated in behavioral terms so that they can be evaluated. If not, translate them into behavioral objectives.) a. What skills are to be taught? (social, motor, intellectual) b,. What maladaptive or unwanted behavior is to be changed? (if appropriate) 2. Identify and describe the current educational or therapeutic procedures. a. How are the behavioral skills and deficits currently defined and measured? b. What attempts are being made to create a favorable situation for learning? c. What are the physical limitations of the situation? d. What sorts of controls are used: incentives, reinforcers, punishers, others? e. What attempts are being made to program behavior and consequences? f. What sorts of records are kept? g. How is the effectiveness of the program evaluated? 3. Assess the baseline strengths and weaknesses of one or more individuals. a. Define each class of behavior objectively. b. Devise a way to measure and record the behavior. c. Try to identify the antecedents and consequences of important classes of behavior. (You might use narrative recording first, to identify potential strengths and weaknesses; then some other sort of recording to determine whether or not something really is a problem; then narrative recording again to identify the conditions under which the problem exists.) 4. Outline a program that might be effective with the particular individual or individuals in the Particular situation. (If you don’t actually carry out the program now, you might next semester or next year.) . Select goals, and be sure they meet the ethical criteria summarized in Figure 2.1 and Table 2.2 of Chapter 2. . Identify any prerequisite skills, and assess their strength. . Specify how the behavior can be measured and what sorts of records to keep. . Suggest reinforcers and how they might be managed. 2Aada Tm . Describe a feasible progression of procedures that might achieve your goals, incorporati ng those procedures that are currently effective. —h. Describe any stimulus materials or other resources you would need and how you would obtain them. g. Describe how the effectiveness of the program could be evaluated. h. Describe the measures you would take to ensure maintenance and transfer of gains, and describe the nature and timing of follow-up measures. i. Incorporate the preceding information in the project proposal form. j. Prepare an informed-consent form. k. Write a contract (see Chapter 2). |. Consider ways to measure consumer satisfaction. 5. If time permits, carry out your program when your proposal is approved. 6. If you actually conduct the program, evaluate its success. If you don't conduct the program, then evaluate the success of the current procedures by taking another baseline by the end of the course. a. Quantify any changes. b. Identify specific procedures that were effective. c. Identify specific skills of program personnel that are responsib le for the gain. _SSSR aS

Canna

RL

REI

Te

i

participants analyzed the solutions and discussed the applied research in this area. The Participants were then asked to design a program to conserve electricity on campus. The workshop was evaluated in two ways: (1) The solutions to the second problem were compared to the first with respect to feasibility and to how closely they followed the model for applied behavior analysis. (2) We monitored the number of lights left on in the psychology laboratory before and after the workshop. (The workshop was follow ed by a modest reduction in this number for a period of about two weeks.) 4. Research

We hope that some of you will be interested in research and will be given the opportunit y to conduct a project in this area. You might desig n your own project, explore some area of the

312

literature that interests you, or you might join a project being conducted by a staff or faculty member or by a graduate or an advanced undergraduate student. As one example, some of our

Students have joined our program of research on the role of errors in learning. This is a series of parallel studies with pigeons and people in which we teach a complex visual discrimination with

either errorless (fading) or conventional (trial-and-error) training procedures. We are particularly interested in what happens after learning has taken place: in retention, generalization, and the acquisition of new tasks. Other students have studied peer tutoring and some of its ‘‘spin-off’’ benefits. Usually, the students who join someone else’s research conduct their own project the following year or semester. The design of a follow-up study might be required as part of your project for this course. Find out what your instructor is up to and what else is going on in your department.

As an alternative to designing an experimental study or a program of research that is already in progress, you might take a rat or a pigeon and develop your skills in shaping and discrimination training. If, for example, you taught a pigeon to “read” the words peck and turn (as defined by the fact that it responded appropriately to these written commands), you might also put on a demonstration for your peers or for children in an elementary classroom. B. Ethical Responsibilities In undertaking an applied project, you are assuming a number of responsibilities. Whenever you conduct a program to change some aspect of someone’s behavior, you must carefully weigh the potential costs and benefits to the client, to the family and others concerned with the client, to any agency or institution that may be supporting your efforts, and to society at large. You also have a responsibility to the profession you represent as a student or intern, and you must abide by its standards for ethical practice. You must protect the rights of the client and other people concerned, ensuring /nformed consent to all goals and procedures and guaranteeing the right to privacy and the right to terminate treatment at any time. And you must also serve the client as efficiently and as effectively as possible, making sure that the potential benefits of the program outweigh its costs, as determined by objective evaluation of progress. Informed consent and the objective evaluation of progress are discussed further along in this chapter. First, there are some general ethical considerations in the conduct of an applied project. 1. Confidentiality Because your project will probably be conducted in conjunction with a training program, you will need to be especially careful about the issue of confidentiality. Your client, or advocate, should be consulted about who will have access to information about the progress of the program and who will not. Usually, this program would be discussed with supervisors, instructors, and fellow students, but not with other friends or members of the public. Unless the client has given specific permission, all information about the program is confidential and can be discussed only when the client's identity has been disguised beyond possibility of recognition. You can use a pseudonym or alter the client's initials; but even with this minimal protection, nothing about the project may be discussed outside the training program. It is very tempting to share with friends information about a client’s problems and progress, but this is totally unethical behavior and constitutes ample grounds for dismissal from a training program. You simply do not discuss a client in the elevator, hallway, restaurant, bus, or anywhere else outside of the classroom, institution, clinic, or other community agency setting.

2. Possible Conflicts of Interest When you practice applied behavior analysis, you serve as the agent of the client or advocate. If you work in a field agency, you are also responsible to the supervisors and administrators of that agency; and, as a student or intern, you must depend upon your instructor and training supervisor for a grade, evaluation, or recommendation. You also have a certain responsibility to

313

yourself in that the experience should be beneficial for you. Nonetheless, your first responsibility is to your client, and any question about any aspect of the program must be resolved to the client's benefit. Goals, for example, should be those that enable clients to maximize their physical, social, and intellectual abilities, taking into consideration the future consequencesof their behavior for other people and for the environment. Procedures should be designed for the particular client in the particular setting. Procedures and settings should also be appropriate for accomplishing goals while placing the least necessary restrictions on the client’s freedom. If you do not agree that the goals and procedures are in the best interests of the client and society and if persuasion, negotiation, or arbitration do not provide a solution, then you should take steps to terminate your participation in the project. If this should happen, you will, of course, do your best to see that the client is referred to alternative services. Occasionally, students or interns find themselves in situations that do not appear to provide the clients with appropriate treatment. What does one do in that case? Usually, there is a plausible and acceptable explanation: inadequate funds or personnel; a phase of treatment such as a return to baseline, the rationale for which is not immediately clear. If the problem persists, a polite question made in private to the field supervisor will often clarify the situation. On the rare occasion in which serious neglect or abuse is observed, you should discuss the matter privately with your instructor, who has the professional training to know what steps should be taken. 3. Mutual Responsibilities A service agency that has agreed to allow you to practice your skills in behavior analysis has the responsibility of providing you with some supervision as well as the time and place for you to conduct a program. You, in turn, have the responsibility of conducting the program as it was accepted by all parties concerned. If the data indicate that changes are advisable, you will obtain informed consent before making such changes. Procedures and schedules should be clearly specified in writing; and your progress, as well as the client's, should be monitored. It’s one thing if a client stands you up, but if you are late or if you fail to keep an appointment, this can create confusion or resentment on the part of the client or agency. It might even leave an institutionalized client unsupervised or unprotected.

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C. Selecting Goals and Procedures

7. Informed Consent We have stated repeatedly that goals and procedures should be mutually agreed upon by all parties coricerned with a program. For consent to be truly informed, it is essential that a/ternative goals be considered and that the likelihood of achieving them be discussed. It is also essential to consider and plan for the possible “‘side effects” of achieving the goals. For example, what will be the effects upon other members of the family if a submissive woman learns to assert herself? Similarly, before consenting to a given procedure, all parties should review a/ternative procedures, their possible side effects, and their costs in time, money, emotion, or stress. Before they can give informed consent to a program, all parties must also consider how the program can be evaluated and who will be responsible for collecting what data. You have practiced negotiating goals and procedures in the workshop in Chapter 2, and you will want to review that chapter before embarking on a real project. When all of the details of a program have been worked out, it is a good idea to put in writing the responsibilities and privileges of everyone concerned. Chapter 2 contains several examples of client contracts, and your text may contain others that might be adapted for your particular study. If your project is one that involves research, you will describe your provisions for ethical standards of practice in your research proposal, and you will prepare a consent form for your subjects. Like client contracts, informed consent forms describe the purpose of the study and the responsibilities

314

é

of the subject. Examples of consent forms are included at the end one for the project on nutrition requires the subject to paraphrase of participation. When a client or subject can paraphrase what the wee x are in a little better position to say that the consent is, in Whee

of this chapter. Note that the the goals and requirements

therapist or experimenter has fact, informed. (See Stuart,

2. Practical Considerations Here we are concerned that you select a project that is likely to succeed. Your own performance as a behavior analyst is being shaped, and the successive approximations should be reinforced

along the way: by the client's Progress as well as by the comments of your instructor and supervisor. A few guidelines may be helpful: a. The client should welcome the project. b. Your own commitment should be serious and enthusiastic. This means that you should have sufficient time to plan, conduct, and evaluate the program and that you are willing to spend a good deal of effort toward making the project a success. Our own students have spent anywhere from three to 20 hours a week on these projects. (Those who have spent more than five hours a week have received additional course credit.) c. Select a simple goal — one that is not too far from the client's current repertoire . For example, if the individual wishes to work on a recreational skill such as swimming or playing the piano, make sure that he or she has a reasonable background of prerequisite skills or that the goals are set at a very elementary level. d. Use procedures that are apt to achieve rapid results. This means finding and using effective reinforcers and carefully selecting the settings, materials, and other resources that will permit ready progress. If you are helping a client to improve study skills, first determine that there is an appropriate place to work, that the necessary materials are available, and that the work is either inherently interesting or will lead to important consequences. e. Be practical. Select a client who is near enough for regular meetings, and count on only minimal resources. Many agencies lack monitoring equipment, special supplies, and personnel with extra time to assist you. f. Be as knowledgeable as possible about behavior modification procedures, and seek help or advice as you need it. g. Collect and plot your data each session, and show them to your instructor or supervisor regularly. This will enable you to identify any problems quickly and to develop strategies for avoiding further complications. h. Don’t be discouraged if, despite all your best efforts, the goal is not accomplished. There is still much to be learned about teaching, and many of us fail to achieve the degree of success we are hoping for. The important thing is that you plan a sensible and constructive program and that you do your best to carry it out.

D. Evaluation and Accountability

No matter how noble the goal and no matter how well-documented the procedure, ethical and humane considerations mandate that when a procedure to change behavior is introduced, its effects must be monitored. Accountability requires objective data to ensure that good intentions have beneficial effects.

1. Objective Data. Chapter 6 discusses several experimental designs that are appropriate for many projects and many areas of basic and applied research. Their essential feature is replication, both within and across conditions. There are, however, many worthwhile projects where repeated measures of individual

315

performance are impractical. To evaluate a workshop, for example, one could assess the extent to which the goals of the workshop were met by measuring the participant’s performance before and after the training program. If a workshop is designed to teach participants how to wire a certain apparatus or use a particular piece of equipment, one would hope that by the end of the workshop they could do so by themselves. To determine whether or not a program has lasting benefits, one should also collect follow-up data. In one version of our workshop on observational recording, we concentrate on interval recording from film, and we can raise participants’ interobserver agreement scores from approximately 50 percent on the first segment of film to 85 percent on the fourth segment. There is

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good transfer to in vivo recording of similar classes of behavior in a preschool setting as assessed

within a week of the training program. Students who record in the preschool setting a year after the training program usually require only one three-minute sample to check their definitions before they can reach 90 percent agreement while recording three classes of behavior. (Field Activity D in Chapter 4.) As a general rule, select as many measures as you can handle; and, where appropriate, plot the data following every session. Suppose you are tutoring Henry in math and are concentrating on correct solutions to problems. If you have designed a good program, you will find that the percentage of correct solutions is increasing nicely over time. But what if Henry takes longer and longer to solve each problem? What if he starts coming late to your appointments or takes more and more time to settle down to work? We like to plot several graphs on the same page, so we can easily compare changes in several dependent variables. Sometimes improvement in one measure will presage improvement in another; sometimes a decline in one measure alerts us that something is amiss, and we can revise the program before performance in other areas is impaired. There are a great many ways to evaluate performance; and when goals are stated as behavioral objectives, the evaluation is contained in the objective. Table 3.1 (p. 45) summarized Bloom’s “Taxonomy of Educational Objectives,”” which is a hierarchy of educational goals ranging from

“knowledge’’ items to such creative activities as synthesis and evaluation. We have illustrated the

hierarchy with examples from behavior analysis, and we hope that they will suggest ways you might evaluate your own project. Although most of the examples in Table 3.1 involve written performance, some of the higher-order cognitive skills of synthesis and evaluation include other components. Additional alternatives to written evaluations are suggested in Table 12.5.

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2. Subjective Reports. We have suggested that everyone monitor at least one subjective or covert activity in conjunction with a self-management project. Subjective data are often useful supplements to objective data when we are working with other people. Many of our students devise scales to assess their selfconfidence or physical well-being and then relate changes in these measures as well as changes in objective data to the procedures they introduce in a program. One student who was working on weight and exercise ran a constant short distance each day and then recorded his pulse, his breathing rate, and how tired he felt on a seven-point scale. As he ate less and exercised more, he felt less tired after the test run, and his pulse and breathing were less elevated than during baseline. Subjective data can also facilitate communication in a project with a client. When you are negotiating contracts with clients, you can ask them to record the number of times they think of breaking the contract. These data can provide an early warning that a revision is in order, even before there is other evidence that the program is in trouble. Objective data are essential to evaluating the progress of a program; and subjectiv e data, of the sort just described, are often useful. There are two other approaches to program evaluation, neither of which is adequate alone, but each addresses an important area that is not directly assessed by the client’s progress toward a goal. One of these ancillary measures is consumer satisfaction, the other is a composite evaluation of the student or intern’s performance while

316

.

&

Table 12.5. Alternatives to Written Evaluations. (Criteria for an acceptable performanc e can be set ahead of time.)

A. Evidence of Learning from a Lecture, Film, or Workshop 1. Repeat a demonstration that the teacher gave. 2. Devise a new demonstration to illustrate the point. 3. Design and/or produce audio or visual aids to illustrate the point. 4. Teach the material to another learner. 5. Operate or demonstrate equipment to others; the equipment works as it is supposed to. 6. Design an experiment to investigate a variable. B. Discussion or Seminar . The proportion of time that the Participants, rather than the teacher or leader, are talking. . The number of people in the group who Participate. . The number of people attending to the discussion at any given time (as measured by time sampling). . The number of constructive comments offered (these could be relevant variables, procedure s, questions, reinforcing comments, and so on). . At the end of the discussion, members could summarize the main points; or they could state o1 PWN concrete conclusions, proposals, or unresolved questions. C. Plotting Data 1. The coordinates and conditions are labeled so that someone unfamiliar with the study can describe what happened and when it happened. 2. There could also be time, accuracy, and neatness criteria. 3. The units neither exaggerate nor minimize the effects of the dependent variable. 4. The appropriate sort of graph is drawn, for example, a histogram is used if the independent variable is discrete rather than continuous. 5. Data are plotted during or following each session. D. Motivation 1. When the participants or clients arrive at a scheduled appointment and how long they stay. 2. The number of smiles, complaints, positive and negative comments. 3. The amount of optional outside reading on the subject. 4. Voluntary attendance at related lectures, films, exhibits, professional meetings, and so forth. E. Originality 1. The product is accepted for publication or exhibition or as a paper to be presented at a meeting. 2. The instructor wishes he or she had thought of it first. — E TF ee

conducting the program. When objective data demonstrate that a program is successful, it seems reasonable to suppose that the client is satisfied and the student is doing a good job; but it would be better to get an independent assessment.

3. Consumer Satisfaction. The client and the other people who are intimately concerned with a given program may be considered the ‘‘consumers’’ of the behaviorist’s services. As these consumers have agreed to the goals and procedures, we tend to assume that they view convincing progress toward the goals with satisfaction. But do they? Wolf (1978) has argued that consumer satisfaction should be measured rather than taken for granted. Satisfaction is usually measured during interviews or by having the consumers use a rating scale to evaluate different features of the program. At the start of a program, the consumers might rate the importance of several goals, including some that will not be incorporated into the

program. They might then rate their satisfaction with the progress toward these goals at several points during the program as well as at the end. We suggest that the consumers evaluate progress in several areas because changes in one class of behavior are almost invariably accompanied by changes in others. If these side effects are beneficial, well and good; if not, revise the program. A program that reduces Cindy’s whining, arguing, and complaining by reinforcing cooperative behavior and the social graces could also result in less nagging from her parents and less teasing from her siblings. And maybe Cindy’s grades will improve. (Spending less time arguing and

317

Table 12.6. Sample Form to Assess Consumer Satisfaction (Client Project)

This form would be filled out at the start of a program after the goals and procedures had been mutually agreed upon. (See also Table 12.7.) Name

Date eee 2-2 ee

Phone

Role in Program client

_____

teacher

_____

advocate

_____

training supervisor

PE

mother

_____

school counselor

father

____

other (

The following goals have been specified in our contract with

)

Larry

. Please indicate

their importance to you, personally. Use a 7-point scale where (1) means that the goal has a relatively low priority and (7) means that the goal is very important and has a very high priority. 6_

1. Larry will study two hours each weekday night unless he completes his homework unless a different schedule is mutually agreed upon.

6

2. He will feed the dog before dinner.

in a shorter time or

7

3. Hewill be home from school by 5 P.M. unless he calls by 4:30 and receives permission to stay out later. Now please list any other goals that you think are important but that have not been specifically incorporated into the program. Again, use a 7-point scale where (1) is low and (7) is high.

7 5

He will stop arguing with his father. _ Put his dirty clothes in the hamper.

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a complaining gives her more time to study.) On the other hand, if Cindy or her family report that some problems have gotten worse or that new problems have arisen, the program should be revised accordingly. If you are conducting a project with a client, draw up a form that will help you assess the

degree to which the various consumers of your services are satisfied. Sample evaluation forms are shown in Tables 12.6 and 12.7. Table 12.6 might be used at the start of the program; and Table 12.7, during and after the program. Table 12.11 is a sample evaluation form to assess consumer satisfaction with a workshop. See also the feedback forms in Chapters 2, 10 and 13. 4. Supervisor and Self-evaluation Forms. The client’s progress is the most important measure of the student’s or intern’s progress, but

additional evaluations can be helpful. The three evaluation forms in Tables 12.8-12.10 provide students or interns with feedback about their general performance as responsible practitioners. The self-evaluation form should also reflect the particular areas of competence a student may wish to develop. These evaluations can serve another function. The self-evaluation form constitutes a checkli

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318

Table 12.7. Sample Form to Assess Consumer Satisfaction During and After a Program. (See also Table 12.6.) cere ae a Rr ee Nae eee eS ON SUNS aa

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E. What aspects of the program do (did) you particularly like?

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after

9. Your attention while | was speaking C. Please add any additional comments and suggestions:

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367

the presentation.

Psyc. Either a list of references in the format specified by the Publication Manual (1974) of the American referinclude could which latter, The readings. of list chological Association or (preferably) an annotated ences you have not cited, gives a brief description and evaluation of each reading. 4. Prepare any other audio or visual aids. (See Chapter 14, III, C.) 5. (Optional) Prepare a form to evaluate the effectiveness of your presentation. The example shown in Table 13.3 is an attempt to evaluate what the listener learned as well as the oral presentation per se. Be sure you show the form to a friend to see if the instructions, questions, and any rating scales are clear. 6. Rehearse your presentation before a friend. This is partly to check your timing and to practice showing any audio or visual aids, including directing the listeners’ attention to a table in a handout. Rehearsing with a (reasonably critical) friend will also provide feedback on the clarity of your presentation and suggestions as to what might be expanded and what condensed or deleted. (Chapter 14 has many suggestions you might find

helpful.)

111. WORKSHOP: PRESENTING AN ORAL REPORT ON A TOPIC IN APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS 1. If you will be distributing a form to evaluate your presentation, give the audience you start speaking. (People won't be listening if they are reading.) 2. Give your oral presentation at the scheduled time. And don’t forget to collect the pleted! Check with your instructor to find out whether you must take time from to fill out the forms or whether there will be time between speakers. (If the forms of class, see if you can provide some contingencies for getting them back.)

368

time to look it over before forms when they are comyour presentation for people will be completed outside

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IV. Written Reports Goals A. General Instructions B. References C. Checklist for Written Reports V. Poster Sessions

To the Instructor Throughout this manual, we have described a model for applying behavior analysis. We hope that your students have acquired several basic skills by participating in workshops and field activities, and we hope that they have tested the general usefulness of the model by employing it in projects of their choice. This chap-

ter is designed to help your students carry out the final step in the model: communicating the results of a project. We suggest that students present their results both in oral reports, patterned after paper sessions

and symposia at professional meetings or in poster sessions, and in written reports, patterned after those published in professional journals. Some instructors will have given students the option of conducting

369

report library research on a current topic in behavior analysis (Chapter 13). For these students, a written ModifiBehavior in Progress annual, the or Bulletin l Psychologica the and would resemble a review article; cation, could serve as a model. We hope that all students will give an oral report on their individual projects, whatever form they have taken. For us, as for our students, the oral reports have always proved the high point of the course. They not only demonstrate the breadth of applications of the model, but they also demonstrate the capabilities of the student. It would be a shame for students to stretch themselves in a project and then not share their experiences with their colleagues. The instructor will undoubtedly brag about their work for years to come; the student deserves immediate reinforcement. A successful program of oral presentation or poster sessions requires a good deal of planning and preparation. Our experience in our own courses has made us reasonably confident in our suggestions to your students. But because we do not know the emphasis of your particular program, or the constraints under which you must operate, our suggestions to you must be more tentative. First, you must decide whether oral presentations will be required or optional and whether they will be assigned in place of, or in addition to, written reports. Then you will want to consider the number and timing of the presentations. Our courses differ with respect to the time, credit, and the background of the students enrolled. SulzerAzaroff offers a course for approximately fifteen graduate and advanced undergraduate students, many of whom have had no previous laboratory experience or courses in experimental psychology. Hers is a twosemester course that carries six credits a semester for those who attend the workshops and conduct projects. (Other students may read and master her text, Sulzer-Azaroff and Mayer (1977), and receive three academic credits; but they do not participate in the full course.) During the first semester, the students conduct a self-management project and write a proposal for the applied project they will conduct during the second semester. They present oral and written reports on their self-management projects at the end of the first semester and do the same for their applied projects at the end of the second semester. In addition, some students survey the literature on a current topic in behavior analysis (Chapter 13), and this library research is presented in symposia held early in the second semester. Reese offers a one-semester course for approximately 20 undergraduates with a good background in experimental psychology. (The prerequisites are the introductory course, which includes two animal laboratories on operant conditioning and discrimination, and an intermediate-level course in experimental methods, which includes further work with animals.) There are three 50-minute class meetings a week and two two-hour laboratories. The students receive four credits and conduct both a self-management project and another project that can be any of the formats described in Chapter 12. They must give an oral report On one project, and most elect to report on both. They write a “major” report, as described in this chapter, on one project and also a ‘‘minor” report, consisting only of the procedure and results, on the other. The oral reports are presented in the last seven classes of the semester and in a final three-hour symposium that is followed by a party. This constitutes an inordinate amount of work for four credits, and most instructors conducting one-semester courses will want to require only one project. We do hope, however, that they will recommend or require both written and oral reports. If you find that you have too little time for oral reports in class and if a lengthy symposium is not feasible, oral reports can be given in small groups rather than to the entire class. This would allow more students to give their reports within a given period of time, and the circumstances might be more relaxing. On the other hand, a given student would have fewer opportunities to learn from, and contribute to, the experiences of other members of the course. Ultimately, your decisions about requiring and scheduling oral reports will depend upon your time and upon the objectives that you and your students have for the course. We try to make our oral reports an approximation of paper sessions at professional meetings. Approximately one week before the first oral reports are scheduled, we distribute a ‘’Call for Papers’’ (Table 14.1). Our students do not prepare a long abstract, as they would if they were submitting a paper to a professional organization; and, needless to say, we reject no papers. We then prepare a program, and, when the time comes, we chair the sessions, introducing the speakers and encouraging questions and comments from the audience. Several students have subsequently presented at professional meetings, and they report that the experience was less intimidating than it might have been had they not already presented a paper for our course. We think that it is not just the practice that reduces the anxiety of presenting at professional meetings, though practice is undoubtedly important. The oral reports for the course have always been good, so the audience has always been enthusiastic, and the speakers’ behavior has always been reinforced.

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I. INTRODUCTION The final step in our model of applied behavior analysis is the communication of results. For both ethical and practical reasons, a Program is not completed until the results have been communicated to the clients and other consumers and — when a program has implicati ons for science or for society at large — to professional colleagues. A. Informal Reports

1. Reporting to Clients and Consumers. We assume that if you have been conducting a project with a client, the client (or advocate) has been continuously informed of the progress of the program, and (where it is ethical to do so) that the parents, teachers, staff, or other people intimately concerned with the project have also been kept informed. In self-management projects, whether for yourself or with someone else, this happens automatically when the clients plot their data daily and revise the program as needed. In other cases, the client or advocate and the other people concerned would review progress at regularly scheduled meetings. In addition to periodic assessment of the data, we have also encouraged periodic assessment of consumer satisfaction. Nonetheless, it is sound practice to review a project at the end to make sure the consumers understand how the gains were achieved and what must be done to ensure that the gains are maintained. In many cases it would be appropriate to give the client and the agency concerned a copy of the more formal report described in Section IV.

2

93

2. Reporting to Subjects or Participants in Workshops. Ethical standards for research demand that subjects be informed about the purpose of an experiment, the procedures, and any possible stress or discomfort they may experience.’ Although experimenters are not required to inform each human subject about the results of a study, the subjects should have the opportunity to obtain and examine the results. One way to do this is to invite subjects to an oral presentation of the study; another is to distribute copies of a written report. Similarly, leaders of workshops are not required to inform the participants as to how well the objectives were met, presumably because participants decide that for themselves. However, we believe that workshops should be evaluated objectively and that consumer satisfaction should be measured. It would thus be appropriate to evaluate a workshop in both a written and an oral report and to invite the participants to attend the latter.

B. Formal Reports

A few years ago, Sulzer-Azaroff, Thaw, and Thomas (1975) attempted to identify the skills, or competencies, that are necessary or desirable in applying behavior analysis. After compiling a detailed list (see Chapter 15), they submitted it to a large number of experts in the field. Virtually all of the skills that constitute the goals of this manual were strongly endorsed by a majority of the respondents. There was, however, one surprise. Even though the authors had assumed that skills in oral communication were very important, they had not predicted that this category would be among those that received the highest ratings. Written skills were also deemed essential, but oral skills headed the list, possibly because of their importance throughout the course of any program. As one of our former professors once said, ‘‘We don’t go through life passing notes.’”2 11m some areas of psychology, subjects are either uninformed or actually deceived about the purpose of the experiment, in which case they must be “‘debriefed”’ at the end of the study. This practice would obviously be counterproductive in applied behavior analysis, where the client or advocate helps design the program, and it is seldom employed in basic behavioral research.

2Remark made ina faculty meeting by Nadine Shepardson, now professor emeritus of Mount Holyoke College, when she was urging the faculty to allow academic credit for courses in speech.

373

Your oral and written reports are the culmination of your project. They serve to organize and summarize your work, and they are the means by which you can fulfill the final requirement of the model: communicating your results to others. In this chapter, we will assume that you are

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communicating your results to students and professionals in the field. For written reports, we

shall follow the format outlined by the Publication Manual (1974) of the American Psychological Association. Oral reports will be patterned after paper sessions, poster sessions, and symposia at professional meetings. We hope that many of you will actually present your findings at professional meetings, in which case your oral report for this course will constitute a behavior rehearsal. The most important feature of both reports will be your data, which will normally be shown in graphs. There are certain conventions for drawing and labeling graphs, and these are described in the next section. Section II describes oral reports, including the preparation of audiovisual aids, and Section IV describes the writing of reports that could be submitted for publication in professional journals. The final section provides instructions for organizing and conducting poster

sessions.

Il. PREPARATION OF GRAPHS A properly labeled graph describes the essential features of the study. Without reading the text, someone unfamiliar with the study should be able to examine the graph and describe the subjects, the procedure, the design, and the results. A. Proportions 1. Depend upon measures and experimental design (See Figures 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3). 2. Units on ordinate and abscissa should describe the relation between the variables as clearly as possible. a. If the units on the ordinate are too small, the effect will be to exaggerate the variability and obscure the trends in the data. b. If the units are too large, apparent variability will be minimized, but so will the apparent effect of the independent variable or treatment.

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B. Data 1. Points and lines connecting them. a. If a single curve is drawn, filled circles connected by solid lines are the most clearly visible symbols. (If you have a drop compass, circles are also the easiest to draw.) b. For two curves, open and filled circles are the convention. To provide redundancy and maximize clarity, you can connect the filled circles by solid lines and the open circles by dashed lines (Figure 14.1). As the solid lines and filled circles stand out more clearly, we used them for the experimental condition in Figure 14.1, and we used the open circles for the control condition. c. Overlapping points. If two points fall in the same place, they should be plotted in the same place. In Figure 14.1, for example, Jim’s data are the same as the class average on the first follow-up measure, so we filled in half of the circle. d. For multiple curves in a single graph (for example, Figure 14.1, but not Figures 14.2 and 14.3), use different symbols and different kinds of dashed and dotted lines. A classroom study might focus on a student’s ontask and disruptive behavior and on the teacher’s attention to these classes of behavior. If all four measures were shown on a single graph, the following symbols might be used: Solid symbols represent the students’ behavior, and open symbols the teacher’s behavior. Similarly, circles represent on-task behavior; and triangles, disruptive behavior. However, unless the data are widely separated, more than two curves on a single graph can be difficult to follow. It is often advisable to place graphs be— ® — on-task

— 4— disruptive -- O-- attention to on-task

— 4 — attention to disruptive

374

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Experimental and Control Data Family

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Figure 14.1. Percentage of homework assignments correctly completed by high school sophomore, Jim, through out study. Open circles show comparison data for rest of class. Base-

line: weekly allowance independent of homework; Contrac t: amount of allowance contingent on percentage homewo rk correct. Dependency of allowance on homework gradual ly eliminated between Days 20-40 (see text).

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Legend describes major features of study and explains bars that designate variability in measures of selfesteem.

Legend does not explain that the subject wanted to keep weekends free from work and therefore connected points for week days only nor does it point out that she pulled an all-nighter before the quiz dur-

ALE PAPE ET Units Subj.

ing baseline but got seven hours sleep before the quiz during the program. These details were described in the text.

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Figure 14.2. Increase in self-esteem accompanying a successful self-management program to increase sleep and academic work (classes, labs, study). Self-esteem monitored three times daily on six-point scale. Bars indicate range for each day. Note decrease in variability with increase in self-esteem.

375

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Time (Days)

Figure 14.3. Number of positive comments initiated during dinner in dormitory by a student working to increase social skills with friends, acquaintances, and strangers. Positive comments earned points toward skiing weekend. Missing points in lower graph indicate no strangers at dinner. Data collected by independent observer (x) indicate the reliability of recording.

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Case studies Evaluation

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Figure 14.4. Median ratings of 27 teachers and counselors after negotiating goals and contracts for selected case studies in workshop on ethics and accountability. Components of workshop rated on 7-point scale (7 high); bars denote first and third quartiles.

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- neath one another on the page, lined up so that one can compare the changes in various measures throughout the course of the study. (See Figure 14.2.) e. When a study includes more than one phase or conditio n, do not connect the points across the vertical lines that separate the conditions. When an abrupt change accompa nies the introduction of a procedure, the magnitude of the change is obscured if the lines are connected across the conditions. As a demonstration, connect the points for Jim’s data in Figure 14.1, and decide for yourself which version makes it easier to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. 2. Variability. Individual, as opposed to group, data are a hallmark of behavior analysis; and the points that appear on a graph often represent a single measure rather than an average. In Figure 14.2, for example, the time spent sleeping and the time spent engaging in academic work are plotted for each day of the study. In Figure 14.3, the number of positive comments is shown separatel y for friends, acquaintances, and strangers. However, there are occasions when even behaviorists average measurements and plot group data. In Figure 14.1, Jim’s data (averaged for all his courses) are compared to the mean for the rest of the class, and Figure 14.4 shows the group ratings of participants in a workshop . When data are averaged, it is informative to present the variabilit y as well as the measure of central tendency. This has been done in Figure 14.4, where bars denote the first and third quartiles, or the middle 50 percent of the scores.? This was not done in Figure 14.1 partly because the graph would have been cluttered and partly because the goal was to bring Jim's performance up to the level of his classmates. (However, if the standard deviation as well as the mean for the class had been shown, we would have a better indication of Jim's relative standing.) The variability of individual data is shown in the lowest graph in Figure 14.2. The points represent the mean of three daily ratings of self-esteem, and the bars indicate the range. A measure of variability does more than provide information about the reliability of the measure of central tendency. It is interesting in its own right. In Figure 14.2, for example, the wide fluctuations in the subject’s self-esteem during baseline are considerably reduced during the program, indicating more stable as well as more satisfactory feelings about herself.

C. Labels 8

2

1. Legend: a. Every graph should have a title, or legend, that describes the major variables and any essential features of the study that are not clear from the graph. b. Unlike tables, where the title goes at the top, figure legends go below the graph or picture. c. If the data are not your own, the proper place to give credit to the author is in parentheses at the end of the legend. 2. Coordinates a. The dependent variable is plotted on the ordinate (y-axis) and the independent variable is plotted in the abscissa (x-axis). The measure and the units should be clearly labeled, for example, Time (min); Accuracy (% correct); Anxiety Level (SUDs). b. Be sure the label accurately describes the measure. If data are based upon interval scoring, for example, the ordinate should read, “Percentage of Intervals,’ not “Time” or “‘Duration.”" c. Short lines are used to demarcate units along the ordinate and abscissa, with numerals indicating a few major divisions. d. Discontinuties along the scale of either axis are shown by a break in the line. (See Follow-up data, Figures

14.1 and 14.3.)

3. Conditions a. Different conditions or phases of a study are separated by vertical lines, and each condition is labeled above the data. These lines should be drawn between, not through, the points. Otherwise the reader cannot tell which condition the point represents. The labels should describe the condition. “Baseline,’’ ‘‘Tokens and Praise,’’ and ‘Praise Only” are more informative than “Phase 1,’’ “Phase 2,” ‘Phase 3’’ (Figure 14.1). b. When a multiple-baseline design is used, the condition treated first is placed at the top of the figure. A “dog leg” line shows when successive applications of the treatment were introduced and separates the major conditions of the study (Figure 14.3). 3The graph shows the median and interquartile range rather than the mean and standard deviation because the data were markedly skewed.

377

Ill. ORAL REPORTS Purpose

The purpose of this section is to enable students to prepare and deliver an oral report that resembles those given at professional meetings. Goals

Having conducted an independent project in behavior analysis, the student will be able to prepare and present an oral report that 1. Describes and evaluates the project. 2. Sustains the listeners’ attention. 3. Provokes questions and comments that reflect an understanding of the goals and methodology and of the speaker’s interpretation of the results.

A. General Instructions

An oral report of a case study or other project resembles a written report in that it describes the problem, goals, and methodology as well as the results and their implications. But listening to a report is very different from reading one, and speakers must adapt their material accordingly. For one thing, the language in a written report is formal and usually in the third person. You will be speaking to a live audience and are advised to keep them in that condition. Use the first person and the active voice. Elegance and clarity do not depend upon multisyllabic, hyphenated convolutions of our language. Use simple declarative sentences, or pose an occasional question to the audience if it seems appropriate. Model your presentation after a speaker you admire — and understand. Another difference is that a written report must include sufficient detail so that the reader could replicate the study. The procedure, for example, contains far more detail than most readers can remember, but they can flip back and check these details should the need arise. You can’t flip back a speaker, and you shouldn’t have to. In an oral report, stress the important or innovative features of the procedure, but give no more detail than is necessary to understand the results. You are under no obligation to describe the number of set screws in the apparatus or the color of the subjects’ hair — unless, of course, they constitute essential features of your study. In an oral report, order of presentation is also different. A written report is tightly structured ’ with all of the information packaged in neatly circumscribed sections. (This facilitates flipping.) In an oral report, on the other hand, it may make sense to save the details of an elaborate procedure until you are describing the corresponding phase of the results. (“In the next phase of our changing-criterion design, we made praise contingent on.. ."" “In Experiment 2, we continued to reinforce the left-right discrimination, but we added . . .’’) Summarize the procedure in the beginning, yes; but if you spell out every blessed detail, as one does in a written report, you will probably have to repeat yourself when you get to the results. Time is limited, and so may be the patience of your listeners who want to know what happened. Another section that may be shortened, or even interspersed with the procedure and results,

is the introduction. You don’t need to cite a multitude of references in an oral report. Naturally,

you will want to introduce your study, perhaps by relating how you became interested in the problem. And you should state its significance for the individual, for society, and for science. But you can be quite selective about citing previous contributions to the field, and you can mention references where they are most appropriate. (“Our apparatus was a simpler version of that described by Rube Goldberg.”’ ‘These results support Skinner’s [1953] suggestion that .. ."’) In other words, it just won't do to read selected excerpts from your written report. Besides,

378

when they’re not looking at your beautiful data, your listener s want to look at your face — not the top of your head. They expect you to talk to them, not to your notes. Before you make an outline for your oral report, take a few minutes to decide what is the most important or noteworthy aspect of your project. It could be the problem, the subjects, the apparatus, the task, or the procedure. It could be the trials and tribulations you have overcome in collecting reliable data, or it could be the practical or theoret ical implications of unpredicted results. Once you have made this decision, you will know what to emphasize as you prepare the listener to understand and appreciate your results. It is always difficult to know what to omit and what to include in an oral report. There isn’t time for everyth ing, and it is better to make a few points clearly and convincingly than to try to cover everything and, perhaps, lose half of your audience. We suggest you prepare more than you will probab ly have time to present and cut as necessary after you rehearse your presentation. Always have copies of any data you may not have time to describe. You could get a question — or you could even prime someone in the audience to ask you a question — about something you'd love to talk about, if only you had the time. There is one thing that is often difficult for students to apprecia te, but that is essential to remember as you prepare your presentation: You know more about your project than anyone e/se. This includes your instructor and any other faculty members or supervisory personnel who may be present. Assume only the most elementary theoretical and practical background. If you carefully, but briefly, explain something they already know, don’t worry about it. Think how pleased you are when an instructor explains something you already know. Aside from their relative ignorance of your project, your audience will have been listening to several papers, ‘‘switching gears’’ from one topic to another. Listening attentively to a series of papers is hard work, and your job is to make it as easy as possible. It may help if you pretend you are talking to your parents or to a friend who has little background in behavior analysis. How would you describe your study to them? How would you convince them that it was worth all your time and effort? If you have tried and their response was less than enthusiastic, where did you lose them? What could you have added or subtracted or explained more clearly? Did you mention the smile on your client’s face when he learned how to write his name? The compliments you have received from those who have noted your success in your self-management project? A final word of advice and encouragement. Most people feel anxious about an oral presentation, so we will mention a few ways to reduce or conceal any apprehension you may have. One is to rehearse your presentation ahead of time with a sympathetic friend. This allows some of the conditioned emotional respondents to extinguish. It also allows you to check your timing and make any necessary revisions in content. No matter how badly a rehearsal may have gone, the very fact that you have done this preparation should increase your confidence because you now know some concrete things you can do to improve your performance. You have probably already presented part of your project in a workshop or given a presentation in conjunction with one of the previous chapters. This final report isn’t all that different, and your audience will be even more interested in what you have to say. If you have participated in the workshop on anxiety reduction (Chapter 10), you will have learned something about the value of diaphragmatic breathing in combating anxiety. If not, look at Chapter 10 and practice relaxing. Then breathe from your diaphragm just before you start speaking and any other time you feel tense. Remember, you have done your project, and the chances are good that few in your audience could have done it as well. Other things you might do to prepare for your presentation:

Practice a little more. Make more audiovisual aids, including some cartoons. Write out your first couple of sentences and memorize them.

Try to get a good night’s sleep.

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B. Specific Instructions and Checklist The more specific instructions on p. 382 can also serve as a checklist in preparing your oral report: Checklist for Oral Reports 1. Submit your project for presentation by filling out Table 14.1. This table is patterned after the ‘’Call for Papers” of professional meetings, but it does not require the usual long abstract or summary of the study.

____ _______

2. Make an outline of yourpresentation. The checklist for written reports (pp. 391-394) can be a guide, but keep in mind the differences between written and oral reports. 3. Transfer the key points you wish to make onto note cards, writing legibly and large enough so that a glance will serve to cue your statements.

—__ ____

4. Include a brief summary for the end, reminding the listener of your goal and perhaps showing the criti cal data a second time. 5. Prepare your audio-visual aids or handout. The preparation and presentation of audiovisual aids is described in the following pages. If you will not be showing tapes, slides, or transparencies, prepare a handout for each member of the audience.4 Include: An abstract Illustrations such as the apparatus, flowcharts, a table summarizing the procedure (if appropriate)

Graphs Your instructor may ask you to distribute a handout even if you will be speaking primarily from audio visual aids. It gives the audience something to remember you by and allows them to refer to your stud at a later date. 6. Practice your presentation. Team up with a member of your group who is not too familiar with your project, or find a friend. One of the main reasons for this rehearsal is to check your timing to see if something must be cut. If you do not actually show your audiovisual aids, go through the motions, from turning on the equipment to describing what it means or shows. The rehearsal will also allow you to assess the quality of your presentation. The things you will want to check include: Timing. Clarity of presentation, especially the procedure and results. Language: direct and clear, with a minimum of technical jargon, slang, and filler words such as “uh” and “you know.” Enunciation and inflection. Voice level. Can you be heard from the back of the room? Appearance of confidence, seeming neither arrogant nor unsure. Eye contact with audience. Gestures, as appropriate. Enthusiasm.

aeae Ecchi ———

7. Optional: Prepare an evaluation form to distribute to your audience. This wil! not only give you feedback on your presentation, but it can also serve as a set of discriminative stimuli to help you focus on

all of your goals. See the sample evaluation form at the end of Chapter 13 (Table 13.3) for suggestions

4 Do not plan to draw your graphs and tables on the chalkboard unless you can do so before the session begins and can conceal them until you are ready to describe them.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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C. Audiovisual Aids

7. Rationale Audiovisual aids not only illuminate an oral presentation, but they also attract and hold the listener’s interest. In addition, they can reduce anxiety about giving an oral presentat ion because the listener is attending to the illustrative material rather than to the oral skills of the speaker. In some cases, the use of auditory or visual aids should be planned in advance. If you intend to illustrate performance before and after a program or progress during a program, you will probably have to make your slides or tapes along the way. There are a few ways to get around this problem if you failed to anticipate your needs. If you have permanent products of behavior, such as Billy’s attempts to write his name, then you can reproduce examples of his baseline performance and his progress throughout your program. Or perhaps, as did one of our students, you have designed a program to encourage students to keep the dormitory kitchen clean. If you forgot to take pictures of the filth and disarray before the program, it shouldn't be hard to reproduce these conditions at a later date — so long as you are willing to clean up the mess. a. Audio- or videotapes or film are useful in illustrating: Verbal abilities of a client. Noise level in a classroom. Antagonistic and supportive behavior in a discussion or negotiation. Teaching performance. Performances such as dance or dressage or dog obedience training that may be unfamiliar to the audience. Performance on a musical instrument. Stimulus materials (as in a program on observational recording or another situation in which the subjects judge aspects of taped or filmed material).

b. Slides and transparencies are appropriate when describing or explaining: Subjects (especially if they are enchanting puppies or baby ducklings). Vote: you must have permission to show a slide or picture of a human subject. Stimulus materials. (If appropriate, you might prepare a data sheet and let the audience judge examples of the stimulus materials you used in your program.) Flowcharts. A table of a complicated procedure. Behavior that can be captured in a “‘still’’ (for example, correct and incorrect posture, specified positions in dance, the proper way to hold a tool). Products of behavior (a client’s writings or drawings, constructions made with building blocks, a properly filled out application form). Physiological records. (You might show a section of an electrocardiogram while describing the characteristics of the wave or the way you calculated heartrate.) Contracts or forms to assess consumer satisfaction. Data.

c. Videotape and moving picture film require special equipment and the skill to use it. If you have access to the equipment, you will probably have to sign up for it well in advance, and you will probably have to hire someone to operate the camera. If you want moving picture film, you will also have to edit the footage. Furthermore, unless you have a camera that records sound directly onto film, you will have to edit separate tracks for the sound and picture and then pay a professional laboratory to put them together. The cost of film will be prohibitive for most people who do not have “home” movie cameras. Because of editing and laboratory fees, even a nonprofit university department will charge several hundred dollars a minute for a 16-mm. soundand-color print. (Professional companies charge considerably more. Videotape, on the other hand, can often be shown without editing. If you do not have to rent a camera or pay someone to operate it, the initial cost of ’%2-inch black-and-white tape is very low, and the tape can be erased and used again.

381

d. Audiotape and 35-mm. slides are inexpensive and are suitable when it is not necessary to

show movement. Coordinated tape and slide presentations can be very effective. If you plan to

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include pictures of your subjects, apparatus, or stimulus materials in your written report, we suggest you take 35-mm. slides. You can show the slides in your oral report and have prints made for the written report. If you have been teaching verbal skills or performance on a musical instrument, a tape recording can enhance your presentation of quantitative data and may help you describe the way you defined and measured your dependent variables.

e. Projectuals, or transparencies for overhead projectors, are probably the least expensive visual aids, and they allow one to program the material to be presented. They are particularly effective for presenting data because you can show only that portion of a graph that you want the audience to attend to at a given time. By adding overlays or by gradually revealing the data for successive phases of a study, you can emphasize a particular variable or condition, and you can direct attention to the comparisons you want the viewer to make. As we assume that those who will want tapes or slides can locate and operate a tape recorder or 35-mm. camera, we shall restrict our instructions for making audiovisual aids to the preparation and showing of overhead transparencies.

2. Preparing Transparencies for Overhead Projection. Several companies manufacture equipment for making transparencies, and you should check to see what equipment is available to you. Thermal copying machines produce transparencies in a few seconds at a cost of approximately 20 cents. The following instructions apply to the Thermofax copier and generally to other thermal copiers, but check them with someone knowledgeable about your equipment. a. Preparing the master (the original from which the transparency is made). Size: The overall size should not exceed 8 X 10 inches (20 X 25 cm.). Lettering and numerals at least *-inch (5 mm.) high.

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Datum points at least 2 mm. in diameter. Copy: Must be a single page. If you want to reproduce something from a book, xerox it first. Cut off any material you do not want to show, and add credit to the author if it is not your own work. Lines and lettering must be carbon, for example, soft pencil, xerox copy, news print, India ink. Thermal copiers do not accept colored pencil, most inks, or lines printed on graph paper or strip charts. Draw coordinates on graphs in pencil before making transparency, or Xerox a copy of Hi Original, and use the Xerox copy as a master (in which case all the printed lines will show). Color can be added after the transparency is made. (See item c.) Graphs: See Section || for instructions for preparing graphs. Avoid clutter:

No more than two or three curves on a single graph. Omit the legend (cover it when making the transparency ). The scales on the axes will be clear if you label only three or four units (for example, 25, 50, .75, 100 percent). If you plan to add color after the transparency is made, use open circles and dotted lines for the curves that will be colored. For histograms, use open or striped bars for those that will be colored. (Color will not project through black.)

382

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Tables: Elite type is too small, and even pica is difficult to read from most projection distances. A ‘primer typewriter is good for main headings, but the size will allow relatively few entries in the body of the table. Therefore: Print your table on ruled paper. (The lines won’t show, and the usual * -inch spacing is

good.)

Make numerals and capital letters at least % -inches (5 mm.) high. Use the full width of the page, but only 8 inches (20 cm.) of the length. When making the transparency, cut off or fold under the extra length, and make the width of the original the length of the transparency.

Layout: ; For clarity and emphasis, use size of lettering, color, underlining, arrangement, indentation,

and (if appropriate) horizontal and vertical lines. b. Making the transparency. Check the instructions, including the film and timing, for the equipment available to you. c. Adding color. Thermofax copiers do not accept color, nor do they produce color, but you can add color after the transparency is made. (The film that produces color on a clear background produces only the single color specified. 1t does not produce black and one or more colors.)

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Ordinary colored pens and pencils that are designed for writing on paper are not suitable for film or plastic. Pens that produce translucent color and translucent colored tapes, useful for histograms, can be obtained from most companies that sell audiovisual aids. d. Overlays. A major advantage of overhead transparencies is that they allow you to program the material. One way to do this is by the use of overlays; the gradual addition of transparencies that, together, present the entire graph or table. Perhaps you have compared the effectiveness of two innovative procedures with a standard, or control, procedure and found that although both are superior, one is markedly so. You could make these points by showing all three curves at once, as in Figure 14.5A, but you might want people to concentrate on the effectiveness of each procedure before drawing comparisons between them. To improve the chances that the audience will attend to what you are saying while you are saying it, you might first show and describe the coordinates and the data for the standard procedure (Figure 14.5B). Then, when these essentials seem clear, you could present the data for one of the innovative procedures as an overlay. You would probably first add the less successful (and less innovative) procedure, praise (Figure 14.5C); and you would save the more successful procedure, the opportunity to tutor other students, for a final overlay (Figure 14.5D). As color helps to differentiate curves and as red shows particularly well on transparencies, the control procedure might be black; the first innovation, blue; and the triumphant second innovation, red. (You then retire gracefully to thunderous applause.)

Figure 14.5 illustrates the preparation of a transparency with overlays. The original graph, as it might appear in a written report, is shown at the upper left. (To avoid clutter, the legend has

been omitted. This information would be described by the speaker.) Using the original, composite figure as a guide, you would prepare the transparency as follows:

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383

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aph is shown in (A). When the overlays (C and D) are placed over the static (B), they show all of the informanN given in the original.

. Tape the original to a flat surface, a light-table if one is available. . Place a piece of tracing or drafting paper over the original, and trace the coordinates and the curve you want to show first. (Figure 14.5B). . Label everything that applies to all of the curves and anything that applies to this first curve. This is the “static,’ or permanent, graph that will be attached to a frame or “mount.” . Lift the “static” from the original, and line up a piece of clear acetate (film) in exactly the same place. This will be your first overlay (Figure 14.5C). . Using a colored pen that marks on plastic, trace only the data for the curve you want to show second. In the same color, write the label for this curve. Put small marks on the axes to help you line up the overlay when you put the composite together. . Repeat this procedure for any additional overlays (Figure 14.5D). (It is usually unwise to have more than four overlays, if only because each cuts down the light projected onto the screen.) . Print the static as described above (item 2b.). The overlays have been drawn in translucent color on clear film,

NO —

so they need not be printed.

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8. Tape the static to a mount. (If none is available, tape the left edge of the static to the underside of a %-inch strip of cardboard.) 9. Line up the first overlay, and tape the left edge to the top surface of the mount. You want to be able to fold the overlay back, out of view, until you are ready to project it. (Special hinges are available for attaching overlays to cardboard mounts, and they can be stapled with a special, heavy stapler. These refinements are convenient when you plan to store and show transparencies repeatedly, but not at all necessary.) 10. Line up any additional overlays, taping them to the mount one at a time.

3. Showing Transparencies. Overhead projectors are designed so that you face the audience while the image appears on a screen behind you. The advantage is that you don’t talk with your back to the audience. The disadvantage is that you are not looking at the projected image, so you must line up the transparency carefully. Place the transparency on the projector right side up so that it reads correctly as you face it. (This is an advantage over slides which must be inverted when placed in a slide projector.) General Rule: People don’t listen when they are reading. Therefore program your presentation so that the only information visible is what you want the audience to attend to. The rest is concealed or has already been explained. Programming: fo) .

Introduce what you will show before you show it: ‘‘First we'll look at the data on accuracy.” b. Reveal only that portion of the graph, table, or flow chart that you want people to attend to at a given time. (Cover the rest with a piece of paper.) c. First name the coordinates: “This is percentage correct (point to ordinate) during baseline sessions (point to abscissa).”’ d. Briefly describe the data: ‘You can see that the data are variable, but percentage correct averages about 50% during baseline.” e. If not obvious from the graph, state what the maximum possible score would be. . Explain any deviant points: ‘This is right after Christmas vacation.” ““There was a substitute teacher this day.”’ oc + . Gradually reveal what you want people to look at next. (Move the Opaque paper across or down the graph or table, exposing the information you will describe next.) Phases of a reversal or multiple-baseline design, e.g., Figures 14.1 and 14.3: reveal across the graphs. A series of graphs lined up vertically, e.g., Figure 14.2. Reveal down. A table. Reveal across or down, whichever appropriate. As noted, overlays accomplish the same thing, but they take more time to prepare.

Other Suggestions a. Use a pointer to designate what you are talking about. Place pointer firmly on transparency, then lift it and place it firmly somewhere else. If your hand is shaking, no one will ever know. (Nothing is more distracting than the shadow of a pointer or a hand waving above a transparency.) b. Tape your notes to the margin of the transparency, balancing the weight by placing notes on both sides. (You will appear to be concentrating on the data, not reading from notes.) c. If appropriate, underline key words or numbers in translucent color as you refer to them. (Don’t do this too often or it will be distracting.) d. BE ENTHUSIASTIC.

385

IV. WRITTEN

REPORTS

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to enable students to prepare a written report of their research according to the standards of the American Psychological Association. Goals

Having conducted a project in behavior analysis, the student will be able to prepare a written report that 1. Follows the conventions of the American Psychological Association. 2. Is presented in sufficient detail so that the reader could replicate the study.

A. General Instructions

The standards for a report of research that would be published in an American journal of psychology are described in the “Checklist for Written Reports.’’ The format is illustrated in Table 14.2, a hypothetical report. 1. Read through Table 14.2 and the ‘‘Checklist for Written Reports.”” If you have any further questions about content, style, or format, see the Publication Manual of The American Psychological Association, 1974 edition. 2. Review some of the articles you have read for your project, particularly those from behavioral journals. If you are writing up a self-management project or a project with a single client, you will probably want to follow the format for case studies. 3. Review your project proposal, and note any comments made by your instructor or supervisor. Also review your project notebook and other records you may have kept. 4. Prepare your graphs according to the instructions in Section II, ‘Preparation of Graphs.’’ Keep them in front of you, and refer to them continually, as you write the section on results. 5. Keep the checklist beside you as you write the report, making sure you have included the appropriate material in each section.

6. 7. 8. 9.

Write the easiest or most enjoyable sections first. (For many of us, this is the section on results.) Write the abstract last when it should be easier to summarize the main points. Check each item on the checklist in the self-check column, or mark the item NA (not applicable). Attach the checklist to your report when you submit it.

B. References

(These instructions cover only the more usual kinds of references cited. See the Publication Man-

ual of the American Psychological Association (1974) for detailed instructions.) 1. References within the text

Cite author’s last name and year of publication. For multiple authors, keep the order given in the publication. Howard (1980) compared two methods, but Tuckerman and Hager (1981 )

When citing a series of publications, list them in alphabetical (not chronological) order according to the first author. Several studies have reported this effect (Di Gregorio & Spencer, 1 979, 1980; Rezzani & Van Vleck, 1976; Schulenberg, 1968).

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When the reference is part of the running text, the date is given in parentheses and multiple authors are connected by the word “and.”

As Fischer (1948) suggested and riflis, Snyder, and Reed (1973) later

When a series of references is given in parentheses, the name is followed by a comma and the date; references to different authors are separated by a semicolon; and for multiple authors, an ampersand (&) is used instead of the word “and.”’ This phenomenon has been widely studied (Jones, 1980; Nelson & Hubner, 1978, 1979; Watt, Beebe, & Hil-

pert, 1977), but thus far

For a reference with more than two authors, name all authors the first time the reference is cited. Thereafter, cite the first author and add the abbreviation “et al.’”’

Gavlick, Torres, McDonald, and Giovanniello (1981) have reported This supports the findings of Gavlick et al, (1981 ) Use reference notes instead of references for material that is not easily available: papers presented at meetings, other unpublished manuscripts such as dissertat ions, and for personal communications. When references and notes appear together, list the referenc es first and then the notes in numerical order. (Feindler,

1975, 1977; Regan & Weinberg, 1981; Langdell, Note 2; Slate, Note 4)

Cite the page reference for a direct quotation and when giving the source of a graph or table that you have reproduced. As Baer and his colleagues have noted, “generalization should be programme d, rather than expected or

lamented”’ (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968, p. 97).

Table 11.4, Self-management Procedures, (Source: Reese, 1978, p. 234)

. List of References Reference notes are listed separately from references, and they appear first. (See Table 14.2.) All references cited in the text must appear in the list of references, and each entry in the list must be cited in the text. References are listed in alphabetical order, according to the first author, and they include the following information in the order given.

All authors, with surnames and initials (not full names) in inverted order Title: article, chapter, or book. Capitalize on/y the first letter of the first word. (Exceptions: proper names, German nouns, first word after a colon or dash.) Underline (italics) title of a book and the name of a journal but not the title of a journal article. Do not enclose titles in quotation marks. Journals: Journal name in full, date of publication, volume number, inclusive pages. Underline (italics) name of journal and capitalize major words. Books: City of publication, publisher’s name, date of publication

387

Examples (See also references in Table 14.2, and note punctuation.) Journal article Ayllon, T., & Skuban, W. Accountability in psychotherapy: A test case. and Experimental Psychiatry, 1973, 4, 19-29.

Journal of Behavior Therapy

Magazine article Miller, G.A. On turning psychology over to the unwashed. Psychology Today, December 1969, pp. 5354; 66-74.

Chapter in a book Reese, E.P., Howard, J/.S., & Rosenberger, P.B. Behavioral procedures for assessing visual capacities in

nonverbal subjects. In B.C, Etzel, |.M. LeBlanc,

& D.M. Baer (Eds.), New Developments in behav-

ioral research: Theory, methods, and applications. In honor of Sidney W. Bijou. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1977.

Book Sulzer-Azaroftf, B., & Mayer, G.R. Applying behavior-analysis procedures with children and youth. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.

Note: The references shown in Table 14.2, both those within the text and those in the list of references, are in APA format. Otherwise, the references in this manual (or most other books) are not to be used as a guide.

388

Table 14.2. Format of Written Report (Hypothetical Study).

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Title page (left) Title

(center) Authors and Affiliation

(center) Running Head

(here and on top right

of all pages) Abstract (right) (new page; 200 words) Double space throughout entire paper

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Applying behavior Having agreed to write a book together, two practicing behaviorists recognized the need for devisinga program that would maintain their friendship as well as a reasonably high rate of writing. The program followed their model for applying behavior analysis . . .

Applying Behavior Analysis in the Writing of aManual on Applying Behavior Analysis

Ellen P. Reese Mount Holyoke College and Beth Sulzer-Azaroff University of Massachusetts

(and so on)

Running head: Applying Behavior

Applying behavior Introduction

(new page; no head) Double space through-

out (Single spacing here is to reduce length of our example) Use 1-inch margins.

Method Main Head

Applying Behavior Analysis in the Writing of a Manual on Applying Behavior Analysis Behavioral procedures have been applied to several dimensions of the complex class of behavior called writing. Some authors have been concerned with specific skills and format, such as the proper way to fill out job-

application forms (Clark, Boyd, & Macrae, 1975) or to write articles that will

be acceptable for publication in behavioral journals (Ramey, Souweine, Peters, Bernal, Sulzer-Azaroff, & Johnson, Note 1). Others have sought ways to encourage and maintain writing, whether by elementary school children (Vargas, 1978) or college instructors (Nurnberger & Zimmerman, 1970; Stevens,

1978)... . (and so on.)

Method

(center) Side head

(left margin)

Side head

(left margin)

Subhead

(run-in lead)

Subjects and Setting The subjects were two professors, each of whom had spent several years developing and evaluating a course in behavior analysis. They decided to combine their courses into a manual of workshops and field activities. Each had written books and articles; each had served on editorial boards of behavioral journals; and each had previously worked with coauthors. One was organized, efficient, and capable of turning out several pages a day. The other was inefficient, a “‘perfectionist” about her writing, and occasionally capable of turning out one paragraph a day — but only if it had already been rewritten four times. They were also good friends and wished to remain so. . . (and so on).

Apparatus and Materials Equipment and materials were of two sorts: those designed to favor the behavior of writing and editing and those required to conduct the workshops and field activities.

To facilitate writing. \n addition to serviceable typewriters with (in one

case) interchangeable type or (in the other) interchangeable ribbons of differ-

ent colors, both subjects acquired a variety of pens that differed with respect to color and to the width and style of the writing point. The opportunity to change writing instruments was not specifically programmed (for example, if | complete a whole paragraph with no more than four revisions, | can use the blue Osmiroid pen with the medium italic tip for the next paragraph), but the splendid array of options was conducive to sitting down at the desk.

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For conducting workshops. Aside from data sheets and optional films and videotapes, only the workshop on anxiety reduction required materials that are not readily available at most schools and universities. The equipment for monitoring physiological activities included two polygraphs and two pieces of biofeedback equipment. A Stoelting, Model . . . (and so on).

Side Head

(left margin)

Procedure® After agreeing upon a model or general procedure for applying behavior analysis, the subjects further agreed to follow this model in writing their book. One of the first steps in ensuring informed consent was a contract

with their publisher... (and so on). Subhead

(run-in lead)

Subhead

(run-in lead)

Task analysis. The general goal — the manual of workshops and field activities — was initially statedin terms of chapters and their content. Asa first step, the subjects exchanged copies of the manuals each had already written for her own course. Reading each other’s manuals proved to be a more arduous task than anticipated, so .. . (and so on).

.

Contingencies, deadlines, and other procedures designed to promote harmony and reduce avoidance behavior. Several steps were taken to nourish the subjects’ affability and productivity. In meetings to discuss progress (or the lack thereof), both practiced deep-muscle relaxation and diaphragmatic

breathing .. . (and so on). Results Main head

(center)

Results

The primary data are shown within the covers of this book. Auxiliary measures include phone bills, Xeroxing charges, travel to meetings to evaluate workshops, and a file of increasingly irate letters from assorted editors as deadlines were stretched to the breaking point . . . (and so on).

Discussion Main head

(center)

Discussion

The most important finding, which has implications far beyond the narrow limitations of the present study, is that two strong minded people can

collaborate on a book and yet remain friends . . . (and so on). Reference Notes Main head (new page, center) (number notes)

Reference Note

1. Ramey, G., Souweine, J., Peters, J., Bernal, G., Sulzer-Azaroff, B., & Johnson, K. Development of guidelines for rating and preparing research articles in applied behavior analysis: A preliminary report. Paper presented at the meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therpay, New York, December 1976.

References Main head

(center)

References

Clark, H.B., Boyd, S.B., & Macrae, J.W. A classroom program teaching disadvantaged youths to write biographic information. Journal of Applied Be-

havior Analysis, 1975, 8, 67-75.

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Nurnberger, J.1., & Zimmerman, J. Applied analysis of human behavior: An alternative to conventional motivational inferences and unconscious pete teak in therapeutic programming, Behavior Therapy, 1970, 1,

Stevens, V.J. Increasing professional productivity while teaching full time: A case study in self-control. Teaching of Psychology, 1978, 5, 203-205. Vargas, J.S. A behavioral approach to the teaching of composition. The Behavior Analyst, 1978, 7, 16-24. 31n different studies, subheads might include: definitions of classes of behavior, recording procedures, methods of assessing interobserver agreement, measures to assess the effectiveness of different Procedures and their generality, and the specific procedures used in different phases of the study.

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C. Checklist for Written Reports SelfCheck

Instructor Check

Title: Summarizes the emphasis or special characteristics of the study. These might include the population of subjects, the behavior, the setting, supporting personnel, apparatus, procedures, the experimental design, or innovative ways to measure validity, reliability, or generality. Author: States the name and affiliation of the authors.

Running Head: Indicates the key words to be used as a heading on each page. Abstract: Summarizes, in approximately 200 words, the problem or purpose, the variables investigated, the results and their implications.

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Introduction: Informs the reader about the nature of the problem and its significance. Presents and analyzes the re/evant literature. Discusses any theoretical, legal, or ethical issues related to the topic and justifies the research in terms of its implications for science and society. The introduction closes by describing the purpose of the study in terms of the goals, variables, procedures, and methods of evaluation.

Statement of the problem

Its significance (for the individual, society, science) Theoretical, ethical, legal issues

Review of relevant literature References according to APA format. Statement of purpose, including goals, variables, procedures, and methods of evaluation.

Method: Describes exactly how the study was conducted in enough detail so that it might be replicated. Includes subjects, setting, personnel involved in the study, apparatus and materials, independent and dependent variables, procedures, and experimental design. The “Method” section should be organized according to the format outlined in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Asso-

ciation (1974) and illustrated in Table 14.2. (Not all of the sections described will be appropriate in all reports.) .

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

391

Date

Duper ee

Name

Format and Headings, organized according to APA Manual. Subjects: Age, sex, educational or other relevant background, special skills, deficits, problems. Species (if not human). How selected (if appropriate). Ethical provisions: informed consent to goals, procedures. Methods for insuring confidentiality, right to withdraw; participation of client, parents, agency personnel or others in selection of goals and procedures.

Setting: location (and rationale for selection); times, schedules (where relevant); relevant physical aspects of the setting. Experimenters and other personnel involved in study (where relevant): skills, training, responsibilities; previous experience with subject; extent of knowledge about design and procedures of the study; instructions, contingencies governing their participation.

Apparatus and materials: Name and source (manufacturer) of equipment; details of stimulus materials and how they were constructed and presented; description of validity and reliability of apparatus, materials, or test instruments. Include illustrations and measurements where appropriate, using metric system. Definition and measurement of behavior: (If subjects’ task is simple — for example, pointing or pressing a lever — the behavior may be described under procedure.) Operational definitions of all classes of behavior, including context and criteria and how they were recorded.

Recording procedures, rationale for selection, and methods for ensuring continuing reliability of observational recording. (Include index-of-agreement scores and approval forms for observational recording — where appropriate.)

Training of observers (where appropriate). Experimental design and rationale for selection. Procedure: Precise description of treatment or level of independent variables or contingencies throughout all phases of the study. (If the procedure is complicated, include a table that summarizes the conditions.)

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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Serdte tes eee reDuet

|

Name

Length of sessions; duration of phases of study and criteria for preceding to another phase.

Instructions (to subjects, other personnel). Description of any unanticipated events that might have affected the results. Results. This section allows the reader to inspect and evaluate the data and to determine whether or not the author’s subseq uent interpretations and conclusions are justified. The data must be fully described. (It is not sufficient to say, ‘The data are presen ted in Table 1 and Figures 1-30” and proceed to the discussion.) In some studies, the results will be presented in sections, for exampl e, Acquisition, Retention, Generalization; or Baseline, Treatment, Follow Up. Use subheadings that will assist the reader.

Data are quantified and replicable. (Any informal observ ations should be included in a separate section.) Transformations of primary data are clearly described (and, if neces-

sary, justified).

Graphs and tables include legends (titles), are completely labeled, and are designed in accordance with APA format. (See Figure 14.114.4.) Without reading the text, a reader should be able to look ata graph and describe the subjects, procedures, design, and results. Descriptions of the results refer to the appropriate tables and figures. If group data are presented, representative individual data should also be shown. (If not, state the percentage of individuals who reached criterion or responded in a particular way.) If appropriate, statistical analyses and a justification for the particular analyses. Include name of test, test value, degrees of freedom, level

of significance.

Reliability and validity of recording procedures if not already reported in Method section. Discussion. The interpretation of the results, their implications for science and society, and their relation to the literature.

The extent to which the results answer the experimental question posed. (Any ambiguities in the data should be described and discussed.) r)

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

393

Datese 7

DUG ene ee

Name

Comparison with results of previous research (cited in introduction) and relation of results to one or more theories or issues.

Alternative interpretations of results (where relevant), with rationale for favored interpretation.

Generality and limitations of results. Implications for science, society, and relevant populations. Include, where appropriate, a cost/benefit analysis. Conclusions or recommendations that are not based upon empirical data should be identified as speculative.

Significance of study (data, design, procedure) for future research. Questions for future research. References

All references cited in text (none not cited) Alphabetical order, in APA format (APA Pub/ication Manual, 1974). Unpublished studies listed in Reference Notes, preceding references

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Appendix (If appropriate) Although not usually included in published reports, you (or your instructor) may want an appendix to your project report. An appendix could include your project proposal and form for informed consent, protocols or observational recordings, examples of clients’ work, “raw"' data, or tables of the data that you have presented as graphs. If you are evaluating a workshop, append a copy of the participants’ manual or handout. General Grammar, spelling, punctuation

(cf. Webster’s Third New Interna-

tional Dictionary, pp. 16a-51a). Proofed and corrected.

Generally active, not passive, voice. Written in third person.

Copyright © 1982 by CBS College Publishing.

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V: POSTER SESSIONS To the Instructor Poster sessions are an excellent forum for delivering reports of projects. If your students have had ample opportunity to practice their oral communication skills in conjunction with other activities or if your schedule does not permit sufficient time for every member to give an oral presentation, you may find this option to be just the right choice, Also, if the participants are likely to be presenting reports at professional meetings in the future, they will appreciate having this opportun ity to experience a poster session as part of their training. Your major involvement in this activity will be to plan a schedule , to arrange for assembly of necessary display materials (See p. 399), to serve as or appoint a floor manager, and to participate as an interested member of the audience. You may wish to plan the time so that individual presenters are permitted to close down their displays for a sufficient time to allow them to visit each of the other posters. Or alternatively, the session could be closed to others for a while following the regularly scheduled presentation to permit presenters to take turns seeing what the other members have accomplished. Unless the number of participants is quite small, you would probably want to schedule no more than one-third to one-half of the members to present during any given session.

A. INTRODUCTION You have just returned from a large meeting at which a few of your friends have presented papers on their projects. The papers were fascinating, and you enjoyed hearing what the speakers had to say. But as you listened, you noticed that some of the other members of the audience did not seem to be as attentive as you were. Although some were taking notes at a furious pace, others seemed to have detached themselves from the proceedings. One or two were doodling, one was reading a letter, and one looked so relaxed that you wondered if he were about to drop off to sleep. A girl turned to you several times with questions about the presenta tion, but she seemed reluctant to interrupt the proceedings. You tried to answer as briefly as possible, not wanting to miss anything but also not wanting to appear rude by pretending not to hear her questions. Perhaps it would have been better if the reports had been presented in a poster session format. A poster session is a meeting at which several presenters provide a visual display of the critical elements of their reports. Authors are available to describe their study informall y, to answer questions, and to engage in dialogue with the audience. The session usually lasts for sufficient time to permit both the audience and presenters to explore the projects of particula r interest to them. Usually about an hour and a half is sufficient for a display of about 15 posters. Presenters

usually have already written a formal report of the project and have it available for those who wish to study the project in detail. You can see that poster sessions may have much to offer as a means of communication. By participating in the process, the members of the audience are attentive, can inquire about details of interest, and have an opportunity to discuss issues and make suggestions to the author. Because of their informality, poster sessions are probably not as formidable to presenters. They also provide presenters the opportunity to display any artistic or creative talent they might possess. The preparation of posters does take time and careful planning if the essential elements of a report are to be adequately displayed. It helps if a set of large display boards (approxim ately 4 x 5 feet) are on hand and can be set up at eye level. The schedule must permit time to set up and to dismantle and for presenters to circulate and hear about the projects of the others in their session. The Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA) is one of many professional organizations that includes poster sessions in its convention program. ABA has found that the vast majority of attendees have rated the poster sessions very high (Sundberg, 1979). Among the reasons offered

395

were “high quality of interactions,’’ “better communication with authors,” and “ability to spend € time on subjects of interest.’” Probably one of the reasons why the poster session at the Association for Behavior Analysis Convention have been so enthusiastically received is the care with which they are planned. On pp. 399-400 we have summarized a portion of the instructions written by Mark L. Sundberg and distributed to presenters at the ABA meetings. The instructions below are more general and may be adapted to the needs of your program.

INSTRUCTIONS: Assuming that you have conducted a self-management, client, research, or other project, you should: 1. Review your written report of the project. (In the event that you have not been asked to prepare a formal written report, you will surely want to refer to the instructions in Chapter 14, IV, “Written Reports,’’ as they will help you organize your presentation.) 2. Reproduce your abstract in large size type, or print it in large letters. 3. Prepare your graphic materials according to the instructions in Chapter 14, Il. You may wish to display some drawings or photographs, although naturally if any clients are depicted, you must have received any necessary permission to do so. 4. You may wish to receive some feedback about the content of your project or your poster presentation. If so, prepare an assessment instrument similar to one you might prepare for an oral presentation. (You might adapt Table 13.3 for a poster session.) 5. Plan, and practice with a friend, a brief narration, using your visual materials to illustrate the essential elements of the project. 6. At the appointed time, set up your poster, following the guidelines offered by Sundberg (1979) or any others selected by your group. 7. As people approach your poster, ask them if they would like you to explain what you did and if they have any questions. Often when members of the audience show special interest in your work, they are familiar with the topic and may be able to share some of their experiences with you. Take the opportunity to inquire about their specific interest in the topic, and ask for reprints of their work. 8. When there seems to be a lull, or according to any preplanned schedule, visit the posters of the other presenters. 9. Distribute your assessment instrument or feedback form.

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INSTRUCTIONS ASSOCIATION

FOR POSTER SESSIONS for the FOR BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS CONFERENCE Mark L. Sundberg ABA Program Committee Western Michigan University

The Association for Behavior Analysis will again use the poster session format for the presentation of research papers at its annual convention. Basically, the author(s) post visual information relevant to their research on a4’ X 4’ board and remain available for extended discussions for 1% hours with interested attenders. This format allows the presenter to provide more in-depth informatio n than would be Possible via the traditional 10 to 15 minute oral presentation...

Setting

METHOD

Poster sessions will be held in _____. There will be about 30 posters per session. Each presenter will be allocated an area of approximately 6’ X 10’.

Apparatus Poster Board (4’ X 4'),a table, a chair, identification badges, and thumb tacks will be provided. Boards will have a number in the upper righthand corner which corresponds to the presentation number listed in the program booklet. No electrical outlets or other facilities for audio-visual equipment will be provided, so please come prepared to deliver your presentation solely on the basis of what will be directly mounted on your board.

Poster Board Materials and Design Five types of information seem essential to a successful poster: (1) title, (2) authors, (3) author’s affiliation, (4) abstract or summary, and (5) graphs or tables. All of these may not be relevant to your presentation, but make sure to include those which are. Authors should also bring 100 to 150 copies of an abstract and have these available for the audience. You also might want to bring copies of the completed paper, but this is optional. In order to make a successful visual presentation, your poster should have the following characteristics.

1. Your poster must be able to be read from six feet away. |t is recommended that the title be in 1 inch or

larger print. You can make the letters with stencils, helvetica style pressure sensitive letters, or press-on letters. The authors and affiliations should be about %-% inches in size. You probably don’t want to put anything on your poster in regular size type. Instead you might type the abstract, etc., in primary type (such as Orator IBM). Make sure to set up your poster and have someone else look at it to make sure all parts can be read from six feet. 2. Your poster should be able to set up in 5 minutes. You may wish to premount your poster on several large pieces of cardboard. These few pieces can then be quickly mounted on the poster board. 3. Your poster should be visually pleasing and professional in appearance. This can be done by using colors, photographs, diagrams, and by experimenting with the most clear and pleasing layout. Refrain from using hand lettering unless you're sure it will look neat. Instead, use stencils, stick-on or pressure sensitive letters. Don’t hestitate to be creative! 4. Parts of your poster must not be lost or damaged in transport. |f you do not have a large enough portfolio, construct one out of corrogated cardboard. 5. Bring co-authors to help present. This will enable more persons to interact with you, and you to view other presenters’ papers more easily. At last year’s convention there were many successful poster presentations. Some positive features of these are listed below to give you some ideas. 1. Mount all poster materials on two large pieces of cardboard. Then wire the two pieces together in the middle of your poster and put wire hooks on the top. You will then be able to hook your poster over the poster-board at the convention and be set up in thirty seconds.

2. Buy a folding fabric cutting board at a sewing store and paint it. Then permanently mount all information on It.

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POST-REINFORCEMENT

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Figure 14.6. Sample Poster Boards. (Source: Sundberg, 1979.) 3. Frame graphs or photos by mounting on larger pieces of cardboard. 4. Bring a roll of colored paper to serve as a background.

PROCEDURE Setting up The presenter(s) will have 5 minutes prior to the start of the session to set up the poster. This is 5 minutes prior to the time scheduled in the convention booklet. A poster session Floor Manager will be

present during set-up time to provide any needed assistance. They will have identification tags on and will be responsible for coordinating the sessions. If you have any questions or problems, they will help. (Please

note the short amount of time for poster set-up. This constraint is due to the addition of Poster session cohosts/chairs and allowing time for presenter interactions. Therefore, please make your posters accordingly.)

Sessions The poster session will last approximately 90 minutes. During this time the audience may read the board and ask the author(s) questions. Make sure that at least one author is present at all times. Co-authors should be encouraged to present.

Presenter Interaction Fifteen minutes at the end of each session has been set aside to enable presenters to interact with each other.

Note: The author would like to thank Brian Iwata, Mary Riordan, and Linda Parott for thier assistance in developing these guidelines and also Chris Cherpas for the graphics.

398

@ Epilogue: Competence in Applying Behavior Analysis

6

Having participated in these workshops and field activities, you have performed many of the activities that characterize a professional behavior analyst. You have applied the model under simulated conditions and, we hope, under real conditions during the course of a project. We also hope that you have become familiar with a body of literature in the field and that you have increased your proficiency in writing and talking about that research. Have these accomplishments combined to produce the “complete behavior analyst,” or is such a person a fictional character? Outside of fiction, one can become totally proficient in the skills of a discipline only if the discipline is static and inflexible. But applied behavior analysis, like all other human service endeavors, is dynamic and ever changing. There is no specified finite set of skills, nor can there ever be one. For applied behavior analysis is based upon empirical research, and empirical research continually yields new findings. The evolution of new findings must be accompanied by evolutionary changes in theory and practice. The model will evolve to subsume new findings — or it will be scrapped in favor of one that does. So rather than try to furnish you with a set of skills to permit you a lifetime of competent practice, we have sought ways to teach you those skills that are currently considered important for applying the principles of behavior analysis. To identify those skills, we have drawn upon a study by Sulzer-Azaroff, Thaw, and Thomas (1975). They selected and defined a list of concepts and skills, or competencies, which they then sent to a large number of recognized authorities in the field. These authorities were asked to judge which competencies were necessary or desirable for behavior analysts, defined as people who conceptualize, supervise, and evaluate behavioral projects and programs. A revised list of these competencies follows. (As we said, the field is continually evolving.) Categories in bold face type were judged necessary by at least 80 percent of the respondents. Roman type designates additional categories judged necessary or desirable by at least 80 percent of the respondents. Only six categories were judged necessary or desirable by fewer than 80 percent. (We have included three of these in parentheses.) The activities listed in italics are those we have added since the study. Although they have not been rated by our colleagues, they constitute important goals for this manual. Taken together, the activities and the criteria to assess competency can be considered an operational definition of applied behavior analysis, with the important exceptions that competence in history and theory and in administration have been omitted. Our list of competencies and criteria appears in Table 15.1.

At the right of the table we have provided space for you to check off the competencies you

have attained. (The relevant sections of the manual are given in parentheses beneath each competency.) Note that a passing grade for quizzes is 90 percent correct. Also, if a criterion calls for

9

7

399

demonstrating competence several times (for example, analyzing three articles on a topic) and you have done the activity less than the specified number of times, instead of a check mark just write in the number of times you qualified. If you are reading this early in a course, we hope that you will check off your areas of competency as you go along and have your supervisor initial them. If you are reading this for the first time at the end of a course, check them off now. Add any additional competencies in the space provided at the bottom of the table. When you have finished, we hope that both you and your instructor will view your accomplishments with considerable pride. If you are applying to a behavioral program, you may want to take your list when you go for an interview or enclose it with your résumé. Next, consider the competencies you have not yet attained. Some of these might be included among your short-term goals; others might be deferred; still others may not be relevant for your personal career plans. In any case, by keeping abreast of developments in the field, you can continually identify new areas of competence that will be important for you.

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409

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Note: We have prepared these ‘‘minicases’’ to serve as illustrative resource material for various activities in the manual. Their sole purpose is to furnish you with some content for simulated practice. Please think of them as flexible prompts and adjust the details to suit your own purposes. We do not expect you to use these cases as models, for formal case studies are prepared in much more precise detail and are broader in scope. (Should you wish to learn how to prepare a case study, consult a text on individual assessment.) These minicases are fictional and are not intended to depict any specific individual. Rather, they are composite sketches derived from our own varied observations and experiences.

Table A.1. Case Studies a Name Age Sex Setting

Descriptors

Paula

30’s

19

F M

Work

Fred Arthur

10

M

7

5

Elementary school Clinic, home

High ability and achievement. Question about social and physical activities Severe behavioral deficits and excesses (autistic)

Jan

16

F

Institution for retarded

Severely impaired development

Terry

14

M

School

Maria

University

Procrastination; aspires to promotion Underachieving; considering leaving school

Normal intelligence; poor grades; truancy. Uncooperative at home

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CASE STUDY: PAULA Age/Sex: Mid-thirties, woman Setting: Business Personnel Reports and Records: Aptitude and Ability: Capable of complex problem solving; very high in abstract reasoning ability; outstanding verbal skills. Letters of Reference: Emphasized ‘‘outstanding intellect,” ‘‘verbally facile,” ““gets along well with colleagues.” “Quality of work excellent although not always completed on time.”” i Notes from Interview: Interacts freely; appears confident. Has a broad range of interests; feels she has managerial skills and hopes to progress within the company’s management structure. History By her mid-thirties, Paula was reaching the point in her life when she felt that she should be promoted into upper level management. For many years, as she was growing up, she was told by her family, teachers, and friends that she would go far in the business world. But two opportunities for her advancement had occurred, yet she was passed over in favor of other people whom she judged were not half as capable as herself. As her disappointment increased, she decided to discuss the subject with the personnel manager. Conference with Personnel Manager Paula and the personnel manager conferred, and her performance was analyzed point by point. She was told that she had some excellent ideas and was quick to grasp new company policies, that she was friendly, and that it was nice that she volunteered for extra assignments so often. The major problem was that hardly ever were her routine assignments, particularly written reports, or the extra jobs for which she volunteered completed on time. It was explained this caused difficulties within the organization. Also, Paula was informed that she was rapidly beginning to gain a reputation for being unreliable. On balance, her performance in the positive areas was sufficient to compensate for the problem of procrastination, but unless that were overcome, her chances for advancement were slim.

Self-Assessment Initially, Paula felt angry and unfairly accused, but she decided to see if the personnel manager’s assessment were correct. So for the next month she kept a record of the tasks she was assigned and those for which she volunteered, including the date and time by which the task was to be completed. To her surprise, she found that only about 60 percent of her assigned tasks were completed on time. Among those, written reports had the most dismal record, with only two of 12 actually handed in by the due date. Paula began to try to figure out what was going on. First, she usually felt justified in handing in her work late because there was always a reasonable excuse. Sometimes the office phone wouldn’t stop ringing; other times her friends would stop by to chat. Then there were the ever-present emergencies that had to be tended to immediately. Why, Paula wondered to herself, were the others able to meet deadlines when they functioned under the same sorts of difficulties? She began to examine her performance more closely and found that she tended to schedule her writing activities on the afternoon prior to the due date. Others began theirs much earlier. So she attempted to try to start earlier, to allow for emergencies. But that didn’t seem to work either. Procrastination seemed to be a well-established behavior pattern. An intensive self-analysis of the conditions that might have promoted procrastination earlier in her life was undertaken. Among the factors she could identify were her ability to learn quickly and with minimal extra effort, when compared with that of her classmates, and her ability to write well under pressure. So as a schoolgirl she was able to put off her assignments until the last minute, pick up her text, skim it, and earn A’s on her exams. Her written reports were also prepared at the eleventh hour, and also tended to receive high grades. When an emergency interfered with the last-ditch effort, she was generally successful in charming her instructors into permitting her to hand her papers in late. In school, procrastination was clearly reinforced. In the world of business, where it was no longer adaptive, it persisted. The problem was to identify the conditions that maintained that behavior and to find ways to modify them.

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CASE STUDY: FRED _ Age/Sex: 19-year-old male Setting: University Student Counseling Office Reports and Records: High School Average B+ Secondary School Achievement Test Scores: Quantitive: 85th percentile; Verbal: 79th percentile Abstract Reasoning: 89th percentile Social, cognitive, motor development: Normal

Previous History As a high school student, Fred had performed well above the average, earning grades of A and B most of the time. Standardized tests had placed him well above the average, and he had been able to “‘test out” of a couple of his college courses. In high school, he had been actively involved in various extracurricular activities. He had played on the varsity basketball team and was active in the theatrical group, either as an actor or a technician. By simply reviewing his class notes and textbook the night before examinations, he had been able to perform very well. When Fred had arrived at Central U, he had involved himself full swing in college life. He decided to try out for the varsity basketball team and attended as many athletic events as he could. He also volunteered to work on the lighting crew of the Central U playhouse. Recognizing that college would be different from high school, Fred attempted to spend more time with his course preparations. However, the residents of his dorm floor were very sociable, and friends used to drop in regularly to chat and gripe. Weekends there seemed to be lots of parties, and often Fred and his friends would visit the local pizza parlor or bar. (Having once had too much to drink at a party during the first year at college, he became miserably ill. So Fred had been careful to limit the amount he drank.) Occasionally, at parties, he smoked marijuana, but reported that he did not use it heavily. At the end of the first year Fred’s cumulative record indicated that he had a C- average. He had failed calculus and barely passed his French course. The only A that he managed to earn was in rhetoric. His parents were quite disturbed as they knew that Fred had been hoping to major in either science or engineering. They were worried that his grade point average would interfere with those aspirations. Current Status : Now in his second year, Fred's record is declining further. He has had to drop calculus, and several of his papers in political science have been only marginal. He has failed to make the varsity basketball team and been given no encouragement to continue with the sport in any capacity. To make matters worse, the woman he has been dating regularly has abruptly terminated their relationship. During the past couple of weeks, Fred has been wondering whether he should drop out of school and try to get a job, whether he should try to transfer to another school, or whether he should stick it out. He has just decided to seek help from the University Student Counseling Service.

415

CASE STUDY: ARTHUR Age/Sex: Ten-year-old boy Setting: School; fifth grade Psychological Reports and Records: Test Scores: 1.0. 164; reading: Grade 9; math: grade 9; language skills: grade 8 Previous History : Arthur has always been an avid reader whose tastes run from The Little Engine That Could to War and Peace and from The Weekly Reader (a school periodical for children his age) to Time magazine and Psychology Today. He also plays the clarinet and is a member of the school marching band and orchestra. He has a younger brother and sister, with whom he gets along well, and there have been no reports of serious problems at home. Arthur spends most of his time at school in the library or talking with teachers and relatively little time interacting with other children. Although he attends required physical education activities, he does not participate in any extracurricular activities except the orchestra and marching band. He is physically well developed, and his social skills are more than adequate; but his parents sometimes worry about the amount of time he spends by himself in sedentary activities and whether his physical development and social development are being neglected. They also wonder if he will maintain his high interest in reading and other academic pursuits or whether, perhaps, these interests will wane and he will become disenchanted with school as has happened with so many other gifted children. Present Status Although most of the children in Arthur’s school are of average intelligence, there are several students who — like Arthur — have demonstrated superior ability on intelligence and achievement tests. The school has recently received a grant to develop a program for gifted children, and the funds have been used to provide a resource teacher and extra materials and supplies.

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CASE STUDY: MARIA _Age/Sex: Seven-year-old girl Setting: Family Guidance Clinic, home Family: Mother; Father; Brother, age two and a half (“‘normal’’) Psychological Reports and Records: Test Scores: 1.0. Not Testable Social Development — 25 months Vision, hearing: untestable but no suggestion of impairment Motor Level: Fine motor coordination: superior; gross motor coordin ation: superior General Assessment: No identifiable neurological or physical. impairments. At various times has received diagnoses of “‘severe developmental delay,” “childhood schizophrenia,” “brain damage,” and ‘‘autism”. Problem Owing to her many behavioral deficits and excesses, Maria had been excluded from school, causing her parents a great deal of concern. Her mother was becoming desperate and was considering placing Maria in a residential treatment facility. However, the parents wanted to keep her at home if they could work out some of the more serious problems. The parents reported that Maria failed to follow simple instructions, had unusual food preferences, slept poorly, and wandered about the house at night, frequently climbing into bed with her parents. She would stand for hours turning the water off and on or sit ina rocking chair repetitively twiddling her fingers before her eyes. She could make very high block towers, and once she removed several screws from the clock on the night table. Though not aggressive toward others, she did have unpredictable emotional outbursts: whining, crying, and making uncomprehensible “complaining” noises. Maria would not sit down at the table with the family to eat, but rather would go to the cupboard or refrigerator and select her own food, usually bread, cookies, or pieces of luncheon meat.

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Present Status Maria’s spoken language is repetitive and nonfunctional. For example, she repeats television commercials over and over, regardless of context, time, or place. She fails to answer appropriately when asked a question. When instructed to do something, with very few exceptions, she doesn’t respond. (One exception — she does get the newspaper from the porch when asked to do so.) She also parrots or echoes other people in a nonfunctional manner. Several extensive home and clinic observations and behavioral assessments have corroborated the parents’ reports.

Recommendations A number of behavioral goals have been considered: to teach Maria to follow simple instructions, to involve her more with play objects and activities, to teach her to reserve her emotional outbursts for appropriate circumstances, to teach her to interact with people, and to acquire functional language.

417

CASE STUDY: JAN Age/Sex: 16-year-old girl Setting: State Institution for the Retarded Psychological Reports and Records: Test Scores: 1.0.: “severely retarded” Vision, hearing: “‘untestable”’ (but apparently adequate)

Motor Development: slightly delayed Social, Cognitive Development: severely impaired Previous History Jan had lived at home until she was institutionalized at the age of eight when her parents reluctantly yielded to family pressure, medical advice, and their own frustrations. Jan had minimal language, had not been toilet trained, and was able to care for herself only in the most rudimentary manner. In addition, she had begun to hit her baby brother, and her parents were afraid to leave her unsupervised at any time.

Upon admission to the institution, Jan was given further testing (see records above) and assigned to a building housing 45 children between the ages of six and 16. The building was divided into three wards according to level of functioning. Most of the children in Jan’s group were not toilet trained, and few had functional language or self-help skills. Over the years, Jan received some informal instruction in dressing and feeding and was occasionally involved in recreational activities such as walks, playground activities, and short excursions off the grounds. Toilet training was essentially accomplished, with only occasional accidents at night. Her parents made monthly visits to the institution, and she has now made several home visits. Present Status Jan’s case has been reevaluated according to the requirements of a federal program designed to encourage individual educational programming for all handicapped children. The following summary will be presented at a core evaluation meeting which will be attended by Jan’s parents as well as institutional staff members and a member of the institution’s advocacy program.

Physical Development: Jan is physically mature and tall for her age. Her vision and hearing have recently been retested with operant conditioning procedures. Hearing appears to be within the normal range, whereas vision is slightly impaired in one eye. She can ambulate well, but her large and fine muscle coordination is poor. She can push and pull large objects but cannot pedal a bicycle or pump herself on a swing. Handling small objects is difficult, and she tends to throw or mouth them rather than use them for their intended purpose. Social and Intellectual Development: Jan spends much of her time rocking on a chair or running around the ward. She has occasional temper tantrums that include hitting or kicking anyone within range, as well as lying on the floor, hitting her head, and screaming. Her size and strength make the staff and the other children anxious to avoid her when she appears to be getting upset. Except for occasional accidents at night, Jan is toilet trained. She can also feed herself with a spoon, and she can put on her own underpants and slacks. She still needs help with shirts, socks, buttons, and tying her shoes. Jan has learned to say a few words and to communicate various needs by words or gestures. A student volunteer taught her to point to various pictures in magazines on cue and to say the names of a few common objects. | She also hums a familiar tune or two. Although Jan is usually by herself, she often approaches a visitor and smiles; and she has been seen pulling another child in a wagon. Once, when another child cried, Jan approached and tried to comfort her. Jan loves to

ride in the car and to visit her family. She is responsive to affection and seems to enjoy sweets and trips to the

store and soda fountain.

At the core evaluation meeting, which Jan’s parents will attend, the service personnel will attempt to design an individual educational plan for Jan. Even though the ward is seriously understaffed, things look brighter for the future. The federal program should fund several new staff positions, including teachers, trainers, and other service specialists. There should also be funds for building renovations and for supplies and other small items.

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CASE STUDY: TERRY Age/Sex: 14-year-old boy Setting: School; ninth grade Psychological Reports and Records: Test Scores: 1.0. normal; reading: Grade 4; math: Grade 6 School history: frequently tardy; absent one and a half days a week; grades borderline.

Previous Analysis and Recommendations (Summary) Terry isapparently having difficulties with his Parents, has a poor self-concept, is not achieving at his level of ability, and has problems adjusting socially. His teachers should work closely with his Parents, try to underst and his academic delays, and attempt to encourage his friendsh ip. Present Status

School. Terry usually receives the lowest Passing grade in social studies, science, English, and math. His grades in physical education are usually B or C. He appears to have fairly well-developed skills in competitive sports such as basketball, softball, and soccer. His grades do not reflect his athletic ability because he is frequently tardy and fails to follow the teachers’ instructions. During a recent conversation in the teachers’ lounge, Terry’s shop teacher was surprised to hear that other teachers were having difficulties with him. The shop teacher noted that Terry had ‘‘spirit’’ and that he had designed and executed some interesting woodwork pieces. Terry had earned a B as his semester grade, and he would have earned an A had his attendance been more regular. The other teachers were quite surprised to learn that Terry was seldom tardy in shop class and presented no discipli nary problems there.

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Home. Terry's parents are quite discouraged. They have been called to school repeatedly to discuss his truancy, tardiness, and lack of cooperation. They have tried to cope with the situation in various ways, general ly threatening to take away his allowance, nagging him to do his homework, and forbidding him to go out on week nights. When they attempted to restrict his activities, Terry simply left the house without permission, often staying out most of the night. Recent attempts by the school counselor to have the Parents come to school have been frustrated by broken appointments. When the counselor finally succeeded in making an appointme nt at the parents’ home, they described how discouraged they were with Terry and said they had given up trying to cope with the situation. They were particularly distressed because Terry had not always been a difficult child. When he was younger, he used to enjoy helping his mother with projects around the house and helping his father repair things. The father once bought a ship model, and they worked on it together a few times until the father found he was too busy. (Terry did not have the interest to complete the model by himself.) Terry’s parents are now worried that his younger brother, who used to be a fairly good student in school, is beginning to imitate Terry. He has skipped school at least twice and has started talking back to his parents and teachers. Interview with Terry In an interview with the counselor, Terry said that he hated school and couldn't wait until he was old enough to leave once and for all. He hoped to get a job in a local factory; but if that didn’t work out, he’d just see what

happened. When questioned on the topic, Terry was reluctant to say how he spent his time when he was not in school. During the conversation, however, he did mention the names of two friends, one of whom was relatively successful in school. Terry said that on weekends he sometimes went out and shot baskets with this friend, and sometimes they joined a neighborhood soccer or softball game.

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158.3 Su59 c.1 Sulzer-Azaroff, Beth Applying behavioral analysis : a program

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Sulzer-Azaroff, Beth ° Appl ing behavioral analysis.

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