摘要:

In most social evaluation research it is difficult to achieve the degree of experimental rigor possible in an applied behavioral study. This study illustrates how the evaluation researcher can increase experimental rigor in the analysis of social interventions. In the first evaluation, a variation of the time‐series design that offered maximum experimental control given the limitations of the situation, was employed to evaluate the effects of a specialized home‐burglary police patrol. This design revealed that no effects could be attributed to the patrol. In the second evaluation, a multiple baseline‐like design was possible in determining the effects of a police walking patrol. This design revealed that the patrol produced an increase in crime reporting but not in arrests. Social interventions often occur in a manner that allows varying degrees of experimental analysis. The evaluation researcher must attain optimal experimental analysis given the limitations of each social interve

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-353

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Sixteen classroom observational studies were conducted to determine natural rates of teacher verbal approval and disapproval in the classroom. Rates of teacher verbal approval and disapproval were measured by the Teacher Approval and Disapproval Observation Record (TAD) over Grades 1 through 12. Teacher verbal approval rates dropped over grade, with a marked drop after second grade. In every grade after second, the rate of teacher verbal disapproval exceeded the rate of teacher verbal approval. These rates are interpreted in terms of reinforcement theory.

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-367

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

After systematic attempts to increase a teacher's positive responding to her first‐grade students, a token‐economy system was implemented as a “last resort”. On‐task student behavior and relative frequency of positive and negative teacher comments were systematically observed. Data indicated that institution of the token system was associated with a relatively higher percentage of positive than negative comments. Termination and re‐implementation of the token system caused reversals of the teacher

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-373

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Unobtrusively marked items of litter were placed among existing trash on the grounds of a federal youth correctional facility. Inmates voluntarily collected trash and deposited it at a central location, where they were given money or special privileges for each piece of marked litter found. A multiple‐baseline design with litter counts in three areas revealed successive reductions of 55%, 88%, and 71% after 17, 22, and 36 days of baseline, respectively. A fourth area served as a baseline‐only control, and revealed no systematic changes. Advantages of the procedure over previously devised techniques were discussed and applications in other areas of pollution control sugges

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-381

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The effect of self‐management procedures on objective writing responses and on the subjectively assessed quality of children's writing was investigated. All experimental procedures were applied to each of the 37 children in a regular Grade 3 class, and 14 of these children were randomly selected for data collection. Following baseline conditions, self‐assessment plus self‐recording of writing responses was introduced. This did not increase the number of sentences, number of different action words, or number of different describing words, or improve the quality of the stories. Self‐determined and self‐administered reinforcement was added to the self‐assessment and self‐recording procedures contingent on each of the writing responses in turn. Rates of responding were substantially increased and the stories received higher subjective ratings of quality from two independent judges. An increase in on‐task behavior was correlated with self‐reinforcement of

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-387

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The use of primes, contingent attention, and training sessions to assess a child's engagement and skill in six large motor activities was examined using a combination reversal and multiple‐baseline design. Assessment was based on four levels: proximity to equipment, touching equipment, unskilled participation, and skilled participation. Before training, priming (suggestion to the child) was more effective than contingent attention for increasing the subject's engagement (but not skill) in five activities and for increasing skilled participation in one activity. Training of four activities in the natural environment effectively increased the subject's skill level in five activities. Thus, training appeared to generalize to one of these five activities in this setting and also to skillfully executed stair climbing in an adjoining setting. After training, primes and contingent attention were sufficient to maintain both the subject's skill level and engagement in all activities. Postchecks in the same setting the following semester with different teachers revealed only slight increases in participation, as compared to previous baselines, but all participation was at the skilled level. Social interaction, which was not experimentally manipulated, did not systematically vary in relation to changes in experimental condition

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-399

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

“Incidental teaching” denotes a process whereby language skills of labelling and describing are learned in naturally occurring adult‐child interactions. In the present study, 15‐min daily samples of the spontaneous speech of 11 children were recorded during free play over eight months of preschool. After incidental teaching of compound sentences, increases in unprompted use of compound sentences were seen for all the children, first directed to teachers, and then to children, in accordance with who attended to the children's requests for play materials. The incidental teaching procedure also stimulated spontaneous variety in speech, and appears to have general applicability to child learning s

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-411

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Two teachers who led regular third‐grade classrooms in a suburban elementary school were trained via role‐playing to use a broad range of social skills in dealing with group behavioral management in the classroom. Teacher training reduced disruptive student behavior during both seat work and group discussions in both classrooms. A measure of student productivity during arithmetic period in one classroom showed significant gains in arithmetic problems correct per day for the middle and bottom thirds of the class, with the bottom third increasing by

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-421

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The effects of several different schedules of primary reinforcement were compared in a picture‐naming task with retarded children. In Experiment I, number of correct responses and learning rate were higher under fixed‐ratio schedules than under continuous reinforcement. In Experiment II, number of correct responses and learning rate tended to be greater under intermediate than under low or high fixed‐ratio schedules. In Experiment III, number of correct responses was higher under interlocking schedules, in which the response requirement increased with time following the previous reinforcement, than under comparable fixed‐ratio schedules. Learning rates were generally low and, perhaps because of this, not very different under the two types of schedules in this experiment. Accuracy (i.e., proportion of trials on which correct responses occurred) was typically high and insensitive to variations in schedule and schedule parameter throughout each exp

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-435

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In the first experiment, after establishing baseline composition rates in each classroom, timing (announcing time limits) and feedback (student self‐scoring) were introduced followed by the introduction, removal, and reintroduction of public posting of highest scores. Timing and feedback improved story writing performance and public posting of highest scores improved performance even further in both classrooms. Teacher praise produced further improvement in one classroom but had no effect on performance in the other. Changes in on‐task behavior paralleled changes in writing rate. Comments made by children concerning their own work or work of their peers were recorded throughout the experiment. Although the baseline rate of performance comments was almost zero, the introduction of each variable markedly increased the rate of performance comments. In the second experiment, baseline rates on reading and language exercises were established in a fifth‐grade classroom. The entire performance feedback system was introduced on a multiple baseline across the two behaviors and then removed during the final phase of the experiment. Introducing the system improved performance on both tasks. These results further increased the generality of some of the findings of the previous experiment and of previous research on the efficacy of the experimental package of timing, feedback, public posting, and p

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-449

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1975

数据来源: WILEY