Campus Access Only

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of University of the Pacific. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Matthew Normand

First Committee Member

Scott Jensen

Second Committee Member

SungWoo Kahng

Abstract

The field of behavior analysis has relied on the visual inspection of data to draw conclusions about the effects of experimental manipulations on dependent variables (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968; Baer, Wolf, & Risley 1987; Kazdin, 1982). Although previous researchers have consistently found low levels of interrater agreement when manipulating the statistical parameters of graphs (e.g., DeProspero & Cohen, 1979; Ottenbacher, 1986), research conducted by Kahng et al. (2010) disagrees with the finding that poor interrater agreement is common among applied behavior analysts. The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend the findings of Kahng et al. In Experiment 1, Editors of several applied behavior analysis journals and BCBA-Ds provided a dichotomous response and numerical rating to the question whether a set of simulated ABAB graphs displayed experimental. High levels of agreement were found for Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, Masters-level BCBAs were also asked to reply to a set of simulated ABAB graphs similar to those presented in Experiment 1. Low levels of agreement were found for Experiment 2. Additionally, In Experiment 3 the effects of multiple exemplar training on participant interrater agreement were examined. Improved performance across all three participants was observed. However, an increasing trend in responding was observed across baseline, training, and generalization suggesting repeated exposure to the ABAB graphs led to improvement. Taken together, the findings of Experiment 1 and Kahng et al. suggest that consistent analysis of intrasubject data is possible under certain circumstances.

Pages

129

ISBN

9781369498677

To access this thesis/dissertation you must have a valid pacific.edu email address and log-in to Scholarly Commons.

Find in ProQuest

Share

COinS

If you are the author and would like to grant permission to make your work openly accessible, please email

 

Rights Statement

Rights Statement

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).