In a series of three studies, we evaluated simulated data with reversal designs to determine whether partial-interval recording (PIR) and momentary time sampling (MTS) detected changes that were evident with continuous measures. The results from Study 1 showed that MTS with interval sizes up to 30 s detected most of the moderate and large changes in duration events and MTS with interval sizes up to 1 min detected most large changes in duration events. By comparison, PIR with 10-s intervals detected approximately half of all changes in duration events. The results of Study 2 showed that only 10-s PIR reliably detected most small, moderate, and large changes in frequency events. The results of Study 3 showed that PIR with 10-s intervals generated a relatively high percentage of false positives for duration events, whereas MTS did not. As a whole, the results support previous findings, but also provide new guidelines for the use of PIR and MTS. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Despite the availability of computer programs (e.g., Kahng & Iwata, 1998; Sidener, Shabani, & Carr, 2004) and paper-and-pencil methods (e.g., Miltenberger, Rapp, &Long, 1999) for generating continuous measures of behavioral events, researchers and clinicians continue to use discontinuous methods to collect data on duration events and frequency events (Rapp, Colby, Vollmer, Roane, Lomaas, & Britton, 2007). Although such methods remain popular tools for applied behavior analysts (e.g., see Himle et al., 2006), little is known about whether these methods detect the same behavior changes that are detected by continuous measures of behavior (e.g., Johnston & Pennypacker, 1993;.From the standpoint of measurement sensitivity, a false negative is produced when behavior change is detected by a continuous measure, but is not detected by a discontinuous measure. Conversely, a false positive is produced when behavior
The extent to which a greater proportion of small behavior changes could be detected with momentary time-sampling (MTS) was evaluated by (a) combining various interval sizes of partial-interval recording (PIR) with 20 s, 30 s, 1 min MTS and (b) using variable interval sizes of MTS that were based on means of 20 s and 1 min. For each targeted percentage, low, moderate, and high inter-response times (IRTs) to event-run ratios were compared with reversal designs to determine whether sensitivity increased with either variation of MTS. The results showed that (a) combinations of 30 s and 1 min MTS/PIR yielded increased sensitivity over MTS alone; however, the increased sensitivity was offset by an increased probability of generating false positives and (b) variable-interval MTS produced comparable sensitivity to fixed-interval MTS. Thus, none of the methods increased detection of small behavior changes (decreased false negatives) without also increasing false positives.
Top-ranked items were identified during 30-min free-operant preference assessments for 9 individuals. Data from each session were analyzed to identify the item (a) that was engaged with first in each session and (b) to which the most responding was allocated after 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, and 25 min had elapsed in each session. The results indicated that the first-engaged item and the 5-min high-allocation item predicted the top-ranked item in 55% and 62% of the sessions, respectively. The results also showed that engagement with the top-ranked item from the first session decreased across subsequent sessions for 6 of the 9 participants. The implications of the results for brief versus extended stimulus preference assessments are discussed.
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