Behaviour Analysis

1. A family has contacted you, a Behavior Analyst, to help their son Jimmy be more consistent in completing his homework. His parents are specifically concerned about reading and math. Jimmy’s parents want him to read for 20 minutes per weeknight and practice multiplication for 10 minutes per weeknight. Jimmy is currently reading once a week for 20 minutes and practicing multiplication once a week for 10 minutes. He is a typically developing child with normal intelligence and has the capability to read and complete math at grade level. He is choosing not to read and practice math and is instead choosing to watch television, play video games, and chat with friends online. You have decided that a contingency contract is the best plan to change Jimmy’s behavior.

2. You, a Behavior Analyst, have been contacted by the program director of a group home for 11-15-year-old boys. He describes the current environment in the group home as “chaos.” The boys are refusing to do household chores, complete homework, or clean their rooms. Staff members are having problems with “non-compliance” and “rowdy behavior” exhibited by the boys. You have been asked to develop a plan to bring order to this chaotic home. You have decided that a token economy is the best choice

Each evaluation plan must include:

The measurement system you are using to collect data on what specific behavior(s). Include the operational definitions.
How often you are collecting data
Who is going to collect that data
The research design you are using to evaluate your treatment
An explanation of why that research design was the best choice
How the research design would demonstrate functional control of the intervention over the behavior(s).
Describe how you will know if your treatment was effective – what would a visual analysis of the graphed data show? You do not need to create a graph, but you should describe what your graph would show if your treatment were effective.