Multiple baseline designs—both concurrent and nonconcurrent—are the predominant experimental design in modern applied behavior analytic research and are increasingly employed in other disciplines. In the past, there was significant controversy regarding the relative rigor of concurrent and nonconcurrent multiple baseline designs. The consensus in recent textbooks and methodological papers is that nonconcurrent designs are less rigorous than concurrent designs because of their presumed limited ability to address the threat of coincidental events (i.e., history). This skepticism of nonconcurrent designs stems from an emphasis on the importance of across-tier comparisons and relatively low importance placed on replicated within-tier comparisons for addressing threats to internal validity and establishing experimental control. In this article, we argue that the primary reliance on across-tier comparisons and the resulting deprecation of nonconcurrent designs are not well-justified. In this article, we first define multiple baseline designs, describe common threats to internal validity, and delineate the two bases for controlling these threats. Second, we briefly summarize historical methodological writing and current textbook treatment of these designs. Third, we explore how concurrent and nonconcurrent multiple baselines address each of the main threats to internal validity. Finally, we make recommendations for more rigorous use, reporting, and evaluation of multiple baseline designs.
The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a group contingency that reduces disruption and increases engagement in various contexts. In recent years, researchers have extended the GBG in at least 3 ways: (a) demonstrating its efficacy with novel populations, settings, and behaviors, (b) examining procedural variations that improve contextual fit, and (c) using more comprehensive data collection methods to explore the behavior of individual students and indirect effects. The purpose of the current review is to summarize recent advances, discuss implications of recent studies and potential mechanisms for the general efficacy of the GBG, and suggest future directions.
The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a classroom behavior management procedure that has been shown to be effective in reducing disruptive behavior across many settings and populations (Flower, McKenna, Bunuan, Muething, & Vega, 2014). We investigated the effects of the GBG on student and teacher behavior in two classrooms containing fourth- to eighth-grade students in an alternative school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Results indicated the GBG reduced disruption and increased the teacher's use of praise relative to reprimands. Social validity measures, collected from both teachers and students, indicated strong approval of the GBG.
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