Week 3 Graphing & Monitoring Behavior Change

Vocabulary flashcards focusing on definitions, designs, data characteristics, and research metrics from EPY 6113 Chapter 3: Graphing and Monitoring Behavior Change.

Single-Subject Design

A wide variety of research designs that use baseline logic to demonstrate the effects of an independent variable on the behavior of individual subjects, where each subject acts as their own control.

Independent Variable

An event or treatment condition that is systematically manipulated to determine its influence on a target behavior.

Dependent Variable

The target behavior being measured to determine changes resulting from the introduction of an independent variable.

Baseline Condition

An experimental phase in single-subject research where no intervention is present and the target behavior is recorded until stability is achieved.

Treatment Condition

An experimental phase in single-subject research where an independent variable is manipulated and the target behavior is recorded until stability is achieved.

Datum

A single data point representing one measurement of a participant's behavior.

Data

Multiple measurements of participant behavior collected sequentially over time, forming a series of data points.

Level

The average or general value of a measured behavior within a phase or data series.

Trend

The overall direction of change in data points from the beginning to the end of a series.

Variability

The degree of spread or scatter in data points around the level and trend line.

Simple Phase Change Design

A quasi-experimental design consisting of one baseline phase ($A$) and one treatment phase ($B$).

Follow-up Phase

An assessment phase added after treatment has ended or clinical sessions have ceased to evaluate the long-term maintenance of treatment effects.

Return to Baseline Design

An $ABA$ design consisting of an initial baseline ($A$), a treatment phase ($B$), and a withdrawal of treatment returning to baseline ($A$).

Withdrawal Design

An $ABAB$ single-subject design featuring repeated baseline ($A$) and treatment ($B$) phases to demonstrate functional control and establish internal validity.

Combined Simple Phase Change Design

An $ABAC$ design used to compare two distinct treatments ($B$ and $C$) against baseline ($A$) and directly against each other.

Parametric Design

A design in which different parameters, intensities, or dosages of a single treatment (such as $B$, $B'$, and $B''$) are systematically evaluated across phases.

Changing Criterion Element Design

A single-subject design where progressive performance criteria or step-by-step goal levels are established within the treatment phase.

Alternating-Treatments Design

A design where two or more conditions or treatments are rapidly alternated within the same phase to assess differential effectiveness by observing data divergence.

Multiple Baseline Across Participants Design

A design where baseline and intervention conditions are systematically staggered across two or more individual subjects for the same target behavior.

Multiple Baseline Across Behaviors Design

A design where baseline and intervention conditions are systematically staggered across two or more distinct target behaviors for a single participant.

Multiple Baseline Across Settings Design

A design where baseline and intervention conditions are systematically staggered across two or more settings for the same participant and target behavior.

Inter-observer Agreement (IOA)

A measure of reliability evaluated by determining whether two independent observers monitoring the same behavior at the same time agree on its occurrence or nonoccurrence.

Internal Validity

The extent to which a study rules out alternative explanations or extraneous variables for observed behavior change, primarily strengthened through experimental replication.

External Validity

The degree to which experimental findings generalize across subjects, settings, behaviors, or change agents.

Treatment Integrity

The assessment of whether an intervention is occurring as designed, typically evaluated using checklists or direct observation during $25\text{--}33 capsule$ of sessions with an expected threshold of $80\%$ or higher.

Components of a Line Graph

The required structural elements of a behavior graph, including the vertical y-axis, horizontal x-axis, axis labels, numerical scales, data points, phase change lines, and phase labels.