BAS Research Methods and Evidence 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following graphs would BEST display cumulative frequency data over time?
- Bar graph
- Pie chart
- Cumulative record (Correct answer)
- Scatter plot
Correct answer: Cumulative record
A cumulative record plots the running total of responses over time, never decreasing, and its slope reflects response rate.
Question 2: A supervisor wants to evaluate whether a skill trained in one setting transfers to a novel setting. This evaluation is assessing:
- Maintenance
- Stimulus generalization (Correct answer)
- Response generalization
- Discriminative control
Correct answer: Stimulus generalization
Stimulus generalization occurs when a behavior trained under one set of stimuli appears under different but similar stimuli or settings.
Question 3: A researcher reports that an intervention produced a statistically significant effect with p < 0.05. What additional information is most important for evaluating the practical significance?
- The sample size
- Effect size (Correct answer)
- The p-value threshold used
- The confidence interval width
Correct answer: Effect size
Effect size quantifies the magnitude of the treatment effect, providing practical significance beyond what a p-value alone can indicate.
Question 4: During a study, observers know when conditions change and begin recording differently as a result. This threat to internal validity is called:
- Observer drift
- History effect
- Demand characteristics
- Instrumentation (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Instrumentation
Instrumentation refers to changes in measurement procedures or instruments over time that can confound results, including observer behavior changes linked to condition awareness.
Question 5: A supervisor reviews a line graph where data points in the treatment phase are consistently below the projected trend line from baseline. This visual analysis indicates:
- No treatment effect
- A contratherapeutic change
- A therapeutic treatment effect (Correct answer)
- High variability in baseline
Correct answer: A therapeutic treatment effect
When treatment data fall below a projected worsening baseline trend (for a behavior targeted for decrease), it indicates a therapeutic effect.
Question 6: Which of the following is a defining characteristic of single-subject research designs?
- They require large sample sizes to achieve statistical power
- Each participant serves as their own control across conditions (Correct answer)
- Results are generalized using inferential statistics
- Random assignment to groups is required
Correct answer: Each participant serves as their own control across conditions
Single-subject designs use each individual as their own control by comparing behavior across experimental conditions within the same participant.
Question 7: A behavior analyst is assessing whether an observed behavior change is due to the intervention and not to external events. This is primarily a concern about:
- External validity
- Social validity
- Internal validity (Correct answer)
- Measurement validity
Correct answer: Internal validity
Internal validity refers to the degree to which observed behavior changes can be attributed to the independent variable rather than extraneous factors.
BAS Research Methods and Evidence 3
Which of the following graphs would BEST display cumulative frequency data over time?