Defense of Research in Behavior Analysis
You, a student of behavior analysis, are in a discussion with a general psychology student. The general psychology student asserts that research in behavior analysis is not “real” research because control groups are not used. Your friend says that since behavior analytic research does not use a control group, experimental control cannot be demonstrated. Compose a defense of research in behavior analysis.
Cover the following topics:
List and briefly describe the essential components of experiments in behavior analysis.
What provides the basis for comparison in single-subject experimental designs?
Discuss how experimental control is achieved in a single-subject research design.
List and describe the three components of baseline logic (also known as "experimental reasoning") used in single-subject research designs.
Unit 8 Discussion ABA II
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Unit 8 Discussion ABA II
While research in behavior analysis does not have a control group, it has measures to ensure internal validity. The essential components of experiments in behavior analysis include the research question, subject, behavior, setting, behavior measuring system, intervention/treatment condition, and the manipulation of the independent variable (Cooper et al., 2020). The research question stipulates what the researcher will seek to answer. The research should also have at least a subject or participant, who is exposed to conditions, and their behavior measured. The behavior is the dependent variable that the researcher seeks to measure (Madden et al., 2021). The setting is the subject’s environment, while the measuring system ensures that observation and recording are standardized. The intervention or treatment condition is the independent variable that the researcher manipulates (Cooper et al., 2020). The manipulation of the independent variable is done to dete...