Fundamentals of Behavior Analytic Research

229 Pages·1995·7.013 MB·English

by  Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage (auth.)

Fundamentals of
Behavior Analytic
Research
APPLIED CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Series Editors:
Alan S. Bellack
University of Maryland at Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland
Michel Hersen
Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
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Fundamentals of
Behavior Analytic
Research
ALAN POLING, LAURA L. METHOT, AND
MARK G. LESAGE
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
On file
ISBN 978-1-4899-1438-5 ISBN 978-1-4899-1436-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-1436-1
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1995
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1995
10 9 8 7 6 54 3 2
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
Preface
By the end of his long life, B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) had become one of the
most influential and best known of psychologists (Gilgen, 1982; Heyduke
& Fenigstein, 1984). An important feature of the approach to the study of
behavior that he championed, behavior analysis, is the intensive study of
individual subjects over time. This approach, which is characterized by the
use of within-subject experimental designs, repeated and direct measures
of behavior, and graphic analysis of data, stands in marked contrast to the
research methods favored by many nonbehavioral psychologists. Skinner
discussed the advantages of his approach in a number of books (e.g.,
Skinner, 1938, 1953, 1979), but never devoted a book to methodology.
Sidman (1960) and Johnson and Pennypack (1993b) did devote books
to behavior analytic research methodology. These books are of excep
tionally high quality and should be read carefully by anyone interested in
behavior analysis. They are sophisticated, however, and are not easy reads
for most neophyte behaviorists. Introductory-level books devoted entirely
to methods of applied behavior analysis (e.g., Kazdin, 1982; Barlow &
Hersen, 1984) are easier to understand, but somewhat limited in coverage.
The limited coverage that most traditional texts on research methodology
devote to the Skinnerian approach may be accurate (e.g., Cozby, 1993), but
some badly misrepresent the approach (e.g., Christensen, 1994; Reaves,
1992). Given the texts currently available, there appears to be a need for a
simple and practical, yet wide-ranging, behavioral methodology text. Fun
damentals of Behavior Analytic Research is intended to be such a book.
Purpose of This Book
Our purpose in writing this book was to provide an introduction to
the use of scientific methods in the study of the behavior of humans and
nonhumans. Its primary strengths are in presenting these methods in a
v
vi
PREFACE
straightforward manner and in providing a wealth of practical guidelines
for beginning researches. These guidelines are intended to aid beginning
researchers in avoiding significant problems and in producing research
that will be acceptable as the basis for a thesis, dissertation, or journal
article.
We, the authors of Fundamentals of Behavior Analytic Research, are two
graduate students and a professor. Each of us has succeeded in some
research projects and failed in others. In writing the book, we constantly
asked: What should one consider at each step in designing, conducting,
and interpreting a study? How can problems be averted and the likelihood
of producing meaningful findings be maximized? There are no simple
answers. Research projects are different, and so are researchers. Nonethe
less, there appear to be some common strategies in the repertoires of most
successful behavior analytic researchers.
These strategies are best passed along through direct contact between
aspiring researchers and successful scientists. As best we know, the most
effective way to learn how to do research is to study with a good re
searcher who is dedicated to research training. Such a mentor will outline
good rules for conducting studies and will provide access to an environ
ment in which research skills can be acquired through trial and error. No
book can take the place of a skilled mentor. Fundamentals of Behavior
Analytic Research is intended to augment, not replace, a mentor's lessons. It
is also intended to be of some assistance to those unfortunate students who
are interested in research but have no productive research supervisors
available.
Organization of the Book
Fundamentals of Behavior Analytic Research comprises nine chapters,
each relatively short. Chapter 1 overviews science in general and the
science of behavior analysis in particular. Although there is no single
scientific method, there are limits to the kinds of phenomena that can be
studied from a scientific perspective, and there are some general charac
teristics of the scientific approach to studying anything. Chapter 2 con
siders the selection of general research topics, the derivation of experimen
tal questions from general topics, and the design of experiments that
address these questions. It provides a foundation for issues of design that
are covered more fully in Chapters 5 and 6, which cover within-subject and
between-subjects designs, respectively. Chapter 6 also summarizes some
nonexperimental approaches. As a rule, for reasons explained in these two
PREFACE vii
chapters, experimental methods are superior to nonexperimental methods,
and within-subject designs are superior to between-subjects designs.
Chapter 3 provides guidelines for actually conducting experiments
and discusses strategies for evaluating their importance. These are signifi
cant topics, in that every scientist wants to conduct studies that are impor
tant and to conduct those studies competently. Chapter 4 considers data
collection techniques, which are strategies for defining and measuring
behaviors of interest. Chapters 7 and 8 examine two alternative strategies
for evaluating the data obtained in a study, graphic data analysis and
statistical data analysis, respectively.
The culmination of the research process, sharing one's findings, is the
topic of Chapter 9. This chapter provides guidelines for making conference
presentations and publishing journal articles.
Throughout the book, material we deem to be especially important is
highlighted in italic type.
Fundamentals of Behavior Analytic Research is intended for undergradu
ate and graduate students with little practical knowledge of research
methods. It is no more than a primer and therefore does not cover compre
hensively any of the topics introduced. Scientific methodology, graphic
analysis, statistical analysis, behavioral assessment, research design, and
any of a score of other topics have each been the focus of complete
volumes. The material presented here may make those volumes easier to
understand, or at least prompt students to seek them out, and we will be
pleased if either of these outcomes occurs. We will be more pleased,
however, and our objective will be attained, if the book helps people to
conduct meaningful studies of behavior. In a world full of nonsense and
woe, such studies are sorely needed.
Many people contributed to this book, although they cannot fairly be
blamed for its weaknesses. Because we understand the research con
ducted by members of the Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory at West
ern Michigan University, because it is easy to get permission to reproduce
the research, and because the research is neither especially good nor
especially bad, we often make reference to that research. Over the years,
the members of the laboratory have included Ken Alling, Eb Blakely, Tom
Byrne, Linda Chapman, Rod Clark, Jim Cleary, Dawn Delaney, Sue Goe
ters, Deb Crossett, Earl Hall-Johnson, Maurie Holbrook, Kevin Jackson,
Kim Jarema, Cathy Karas, Kelly Kent, Kathy Krafft, Malath Makhay, Mike
Monaghan, Carol Parker, Vicky Pellettiere, Mitch Picker, Steve Ragotzy,
Hank Schlinger, Rob Sewell, Steve Starin, Steve Sundby, Scott Wallace,
Jason Wilkenfield, and Connie Wittkopp. Thanks to all of you. Dick Malott
and Jack Michael have sharpened our knowledge of behavior analysis and
viii PREFACE
have worked for many years to keep the field alive and well; we thank
them on both counts. We thank the students of Psychology 330, who were
exposed to much of the material as it was developed and refined. We hope
that it is better now.
Finally, this book would not have been completed without the help of
Locke Ridge Coal, chief pheasant finder and footwarmer, to whom it is
dedicated.
Contents
1. Science and the Analysis of Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Characteristics of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Science of Behavior Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. Designing Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Research Topics and Experimental Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Variables That Influence Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Researchers' Training and Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Practical Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Ethical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Research Consumers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Generality of Experimental Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3. Conducting and Socially Validating Experiments . . . . . . . . . . 33
Determining Intervention Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Flexible Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Pilot Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Extreme Values and Problems of Generalization . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Pursuing Serendipitous Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Social Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Subjective Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Social Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
ix