week 5.2 discussion responses

Please write a response to each discussion.

Sperry 5.2

Changing criterion is an experimental design in which an initial baseline phase is followed by a series of treatment phases consisting of successive and gradual changing criteria for reinforcement or punishment. For example, a client expresses that they would like to stop smoking because it makes their home smell unpleasant. They state they are smoking a pack a day (baseline). My recommendation would to be cut one cigarette out every week till eventually they are no longer smoking at all. I also recommend that for each week they achieve the goal of cutting one cigarette that they deposit twenty dollars into savings for a new couch. Once, they are no longer smoking they would purchase a new couch.

Alternating treatment design is used when two or more treatments are being used on one dependent variable (Eford, 2015). For example, I want to know if my daughter gets better grades on her homework if she does it right after school, or if she does it immediately after her after-school snack. I alternate weeks for a whole semester and then with the teachers help compare her homework grades.

Multiple baseline design is two or more replicated simple phase changes, duplicated across two or more series categorized by time, setting, participants, or any combination (Eford, 2018). For example, a doctor wanted to know if weight loss support, such as Jenny Craig, would help obese patients to lose more weight over a course of a year. He has three groups with twenty people in each group. For the first 3 months there is no treatment. After the third month only the patients from group one start attending Jenny Craig meetings. After sixth month group two starts attending Jenny Craig meetings, so now both group one and two are attending meetings. After the ninth month group three starts attending Jenny Craig meetings, now all three groups are attending meetings. After the twelfth month the doctor would examine all the results gathered.

 Lendensmith 5.2

Multiple Baseline Design

Multiple baseline designs show the relationship between behavior and intervention by staggering the results of two or more baselines with a single intervention. This intervention allows the researcher not only to see how effective the treatment was for one area but can compare treatment effectiveness across baselines and treatment outcomes. These baselines can be done with multiple behaviors, subjects, or settings.

Child does not want to use the potty at home, school, or in public settings

Setting #1

A: Observed behavior is a three-year old child who does not want to use the potty by themselves anywhere; not at home, not at school, and not in public settings.

B: Intervention is to give the child an M&M when they use the potty at home.

A child starts to go in the potty when at home and is doing well with their reward system of a candy; however, still struggles at school and in public settings.

Setting #2

A: Observed behavior is a three-year old child who does not want to use the potty at school.

B: Intervention is to give the child an M&M when they use the potty at school.

Child continues the intervention at home and is now receiving the same intervention at school with a decrease in the amount of accidents in those two settings; however, the child is still having frequent accidents in public settings.

Setting #3

A: Observed behavior is a three-year old child who does not want to use the potty in a public setting.

B: Intervention is to give the child an M&M when they use the potty in a public setting.

The child continues their intervention at home and school and is, now, receiving the same intervention in public settings with a decrease in a number of accidents across the three settings. There are zero accidents at home, and minimal accidents in other settings. This may show that the parents are more consistent with the candy giving at home than the school or when the parents are out in public. It, also, shows that the intervention works in all settings for the child.