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The use of functional assessment and frequency building procedures to increase internal product knowledge and data entry skills among foremen in a large construction organization

Author

Ralph N. Pampino Jr., University of the Pacific

Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

David Wilder

First Committee Member

Ken Beauchamp

Second Committee Member

Carl Binder

Third Committee Member

Keven Schock

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to take a step towards conducting a functional assessment of an employee skill deficit in an applied, organizational setting and (b) to investigate the effectiveness of building response frequencies when training necessary skills to employees of an organization. A functional assessment procedure was administered to each participant and designed to identify the possibility of insufficient component skills that may have been responsible for employee ineffectiveness. Results of this assessment procedure identified two of the these targeted skill areas as deficient. Based on these results, two primary dependent variables designed to measure two component skills, See/Say 4-digit operation code descriptions (recall) and See/Type 4-digit operation codes (data entry) were established. During treatment, instructional and measurement procedures based on Precision Teaching and designed to increase rates of responding (i.e., frequency) were used to present the material, to guide instruction, and to record the results. A pair of multiple baseline across participants designs were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. In addition, three composite skill tests (pretest, midtest, posttest) were administered to measure and evaluate the application of each of the two component skills. The results of treatment suggest that the methods used in this study are a cost-effective way of training product knowledge and data entry skills for organizations. Implications for the field of Organizational Behavior Management are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

Pages

53

Recommended Citation

Pampino, Ralph N. Jr.. (2002). The use of functional assessment and frequency building procedures to increase internal product knowledge and data entry skills among foremen in a large construction organization. University of the Pacific, Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2616