Fundamentals of Behavior Analytic Research

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Science and the Analysis of Behavior

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 1-10

3. Designing Experiments

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 11-31

4. Conducting and Socially Validating Experiments

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 33-54

5. Data Collection

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 55-77

6. Within-Subject Experimental Designs

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 79-102

7. Between-Subjects Designs and Nonexperimental Methods

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 103-127

8. Graphic Analysis of Data

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 129-160

9. Statistical Analysis of Data

   • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

   Pages 161-179

10. Disseminating Research Findings

    • Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

    Pages 181-208

11. Back Matter

    Pages 209-222

    PDF

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.

• Experimental Design
• behavior
• experiment
• research
• science
• statistics

• Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, USA

  Alan Poling, Laura L. Methot, Mark G. LeSage

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