Experimental Design
Demitri is a BCBA®. He wants to design an experiment to determine whether a new mobile app helps increase increase reading comprehension skills in 3 middle-schoolers who are diagnosed with ADHD. Which experimental design is Demitri likely to use for this scenario?
a. A group research design
b. A double blind research design
c. A single-subject research design
d. A randomized block design
c. A single-subject research design
A behavior analyst is working with a student who raises his hand too often in class. Which procedure would be the best option for decreasing his hand-raising behavior?
Martin is a BCBA® who started employment with a new company. Before providing supervision to a BCBA® candidate at his new company, Martin should provide:
a. a written description of the purpose of providing supervision.
b. the requirements and expectations of the supervisee.
Jared hates being tickled. When his parents tickle him, he tells his parents to stop and they grant his wish. Today, his father kept on tickling him even after he asked him to stop. Jared yelled at his father, called him a bad name, and kicked him in the groin. His father continued to tickle him. What is Jared’s behavior today an example of?
a. Extinction
b. An extinction burst
c. Response blocking
d. Imitation
b. An extinction burst
All of these are examples of the 6 attitudes of science, EXCEPT:
a. Replication
b. Experimentation
c. Determination
d. Empiricism
c. Determination
You read a research article on a particular intervention. Then, you use that intervention with your own client. By repeating the intervention with your client, you are helping to determine the original study’s:
a. external validity.
b. accuracy.
c. confounding variables.
d. sequence effects.
a. external validity.
If a scatterplot’s data indicate that there is no pattern for when the behavior occurs, the function of the behavior is likely:
a. automatic reinforcement.
b. play.
c. attention.
d. escape.
a. automatic reinforcement.
A behavior analyst determines that his client is engaging in a problem behavior because it results in attention from his peers. The behavior analyst is familiar with two interventions that could address this behavior. The two interventions would likely be equally effective. Which consideration(s) could the behavior analyst use to determine which intervention to use.
a. Which intervention would be the cheapest to run
b. Which intervention would likely have the least side effects?
c. Which intervention does the guardian prefer?
d. (All of the above)
d. (All of the above)
Beth is in 3rd grade. She is the biggest bully in her class. She frequently makes fun of her classmates because she thinks it is funny. She doesn’t care what others think about her. Sometimes she even makes fun of the teacher when she is alone with her teacher during detention. What is a functionally-appropriate replacement behavior a behavior analyst could teach Beth?
A.) Teach Beth how to gain attention in an appropriate manner.
B.) Teach Beth how to make her classmates laugh in an appropriate manner.
C.) Teach Beth how to entertain herself in a more appropriate manner.
D.) Teach Beth how to appropriately ask for a break when necessary.
C.) Teach Beth how to entertain herself in a more appropriate manner.
Kerry wants to track how many times her husband washes the dishes this week. Which measurement procedure should she use?
a. Frequency recording
b. Partial-interval recording
a. Frequency recording
In the interobserver agreement chart below, what is the interval-by-interval percent of agreement between the two observers?
a. 40%
b. 20%
c. 60%
d. 80%
d. 80%
During the contingent attention phase of a functional analysis, what should a therapist do prior to the target behavior occurring?
a. The therapist should be in the same room but withhold attention by engaging in an activity such as reading a book.
b. The therapist should not be in the room unless the target behavior occurs.
c. The therapist should provide attention to the subject until the target behavior occurs.
d. The therapist should deliver prompts to complete a task until the problem behavior occurs.
a. The therapist should be in the same room but withhold attention by engaging in an activity such as reading a book.
Geneva is a BCBA® who has opened a small center-based program in an under-served community. She was delighted to learn that the local newspaper would write about her work and about ABA. The article is very flattering with some bold wording choices e.g., (calling her center “a revelation” or “cure for those afflicted with ASD.”) What should Geneva do?
a. Geneva should be happy with this article which speaks favorably of ABA.
b. Geneva should correct the author on some of the content that is an inaccurate representation of ABA (i.e., calling it a cure).
c. Geneva should ask for a retraction to be printed from the deceptive statements and should clarify expectations with all prospective clients.
d. There is nothing for Geneva to do accept continue to use bold language when trying to increase ABA awareness in a community where there has previously been no services.
c. Geneva should ask for a retraction to be printed from the deceptive statements and should clarify expectations with all prospective clients.
A teacher scolds a student for belching in class so he never belches in front of her again. During recess, the student asks his friends, “Wasn’t that hilarious how mad Ms. Meanface got when I burped?” All of his friends thought it was hilarious and said he should be a standup comedian when he grows up. The teacher’s scold is a(n):
a. negative punisher.
b. positive punisher.
c. positive reinforcer.
d. neutral stimulus.
b. positive punisher.
Radical behaviorists believe that private events, such as thoughts, should:
a. not be analyzed since they are not observable.
b. be regarded as equally important as observable behaviors.
c. not be discussed within the realm of behavior analysis, since other branches of psychology already focus on these phenomena.
d. be analyzed only if they can be objectively measured through the use of medical technology, such as brain image scanning.
b. be regarded as equally important as observable behaviors.
A behavior analyst is using an intervention with a client that includes 3 different procedures: a DRO, a DRA, and a token economy. The intervention has been effective so far. He wants to see which part of this intervention is responsible for controlling the behavior, so he systematically removes one part of the intervention package at a time until it is determined which particular part(s) of the intervention package are effective. What type of procedure is this?
a. A parametric analysis
b. An independent variable effectiveness analysis
c. A dependent variable effectiveness analysis
d. A component analysis
d. A component analysis
Larry and Mary are both 4-year-olds with autism who are in the same preschool class. Every time Larry engages in a tantrum, Mary does as well. You conduct a functional behavior assessment for Larry first and it determines that his tantrums are maintained by escape from demand. Based on these findings, we can also determine Mary’s tantrums are maintained by:
a. escape from Larry.
b. escape from demands.
c. attention
d. (None of the above)
d. (None of the above)
Walden is a worker at a warehouse and performs his job each day without complaint. He shows up on time, works hard, and helps his coworkers as needed. However, he does not enjoy being supervised by his foreman and watched while he works to perform his job. Walden prefers to work on his own whenever possible. What would be the best method for the foreman to monitor Walden’s performance?
a. Infrequent performance feedback
b. Discrete trial training
c. Role-playing
d. Permanent product assessments
d. Permanent product assessments
Maxine wants to stop biting her nails. She tracks how many times she catches herself biting her nails in a day. All of the following statements are TRUE regarding this graph, EXCEPT:
a. The intervention is successful
b. The behavior's level is higher in the baseline phases than in the intervention phases.
c. This graph demonstrates a functional relation.
a. The intervention is successful
A father is tracking how often his daughter says “please.” During the first 15-minute interval, she said “please” 13 times. During the second 15-minute interval, she said “please” 17 times. She did not say “please” during the third or fourth intervals. What is his daughter’s rate of saying “please”?
a. 30 instances
b. 30 instances per hour
c. 7.5 instances per session
d. 1 instance per minute
b. 30 instances per hour
A changing criterion experimental design would be most beneficial to use for which of the following behaviors?
a. Decreasing the amount of times an adult curses per day
b. Teaching a child how to appropriately wash his hands
c. Teaching your grandfather how to use a smartphone
d. Decreasing a toddler's self-injurious behaviors
a. Decreasing the amount of times an adult curses per day
You are teaching a client how to make a call on their new cell phone. To make a call, your client will need to unlock his phone, dial the correct phone number, and press “Call”. You are using a backward chaining procedure to teach your client this skill. What would be the first thing YOU need to do?
a. Unlock your client's phone.
b. Prompt your client to unlock his phone.
c. Prompt your client to press the "Call" button.
d. Use hand-over-hand prompting to help the client press the "Call" button.
a. Unlock your client's phone.
Jannis works as an aide in a school. One of the students she works with has a behavior plan, written by a BCBA®. One of the components of the behavior plan is that the student can earn crackers. One day, the student kicks another student in class, so Jannis takes away a cracker, just as the behavior plan states to do. It works very well and the student stops the aggression immediately. Therefore, Jannis begins taking crackers away from the student whenever he does anything she does not want him to do, despite what the behavior plan says. Why did Jannis begin to take crackers away from the student for behaviors that weren’t being targeted in the behavior plan?
a. What was believed to be a reinforcer was actually a punisher.
b. She lacks the education and training to implement a behavior plan accurately.
c. Her behavior of taking a cracker away had powerful negative reinforcement effects that have generalized to other stimuli because the effects were so powerful.
c. Her behavior of taking a cracker away had powerful negative reinforcement effects that have generalized to other stimuli because the effects were so powerful.
Clay engages in verbal aggression towards his mother. He engages in this behavior because it usually results in his mother giving him money. A behavior analyst wants to decrease Clay’s verbal aggression. Which of these options is the most appropriate replacement behavior a behavior analyst can teach Clay?
a. Teach Clay how to talk nicely to his father.
b. Teach Clay to stand in front of a store and ask strangers for money when they walk by.
c. Teach Clay how to maintain a job.
d. Teach Clay how to count money.
c. Teach Clay how to maintain a job.
Crimson made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more. He keeps a cumulative record of the number of miles that he runs. On which day did Crimson run the most miles?
a. Day 8
b. Day 7
c. Day 10
d. Day 1
a. Day 8