Creation of a Basic Line Graph: Case Study

Introduction

In the case study, Martin is a behavior analyst who intervenes to conduct a functional analysis intends to reinforce necessary behavior on Sara. Sara is a client who is 14 years and has developmental delays and self-injury. In his intervention program, Martin studies superstitious behavior with the help of the single design that was initially designed by Skinner (Uhl, & Skinner, 1948). The design could help Martin extract superstitious behavior and reinforce the right behaviors. In his approach, Martin could try out various experiments where he introduced and remove treatment to observe any changes in the behaviors. Together with the changes observed in the environment, Martin was able to decide on whether the type of treatment intervention introduced was proper to handle the case of Sara.

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Research Design

For successful intervention in Sara's case, Martin had to choose on a research design that was convenient in the current setting. AB design remains one of the most relevant in this case considering that its focus is one's behavior based on a single subject. The AB design as well is defined by two phases, baselines, and treatment (Shayne, & Miltenberger, 2013). So, the particular design makes it easy to make a comparison between a baseline and treatment to establish the effectiveness of the treatment process in terms of changing the behavior of the client. As a single-subject design, AB design entails multiple goals that make it more suitable when used by Martin in the case of Sara. Some of these goals involve the focus by the behavior analyst to control the environmental factors that might have an influence on the current process and ensure that a treatment plan has been developed before dependent variable changes (Shayne, & Miltenberger, 2013). Similarly, the two conditions A (baseline) and B (treatment) have differences, and they need to be chosen well and that the analyst has the task of eliminating any factors existing between the subjects when he engages only a single participant.

The AB design is best due to its characteristic of using one subject in the reversal process what is referred to as a single-subject reversal design. This expresses the reaction of a single subject to any factor used in the experiment. This gives this design advantage over others, which tend to focus much on the rate of people who react to factors in the environment and rate of those who did not react (Shayne, & Miltenberger, 2013). Thus, the design is effective in ensuring that there is a focus on behavior changes and makes its data recording the simplest. However, the AB design has been used on rare occasions due to its failure to replicate and demonstrate the modification of behavior. Most researchers do not regard it as a research design and for those who decide to use it as Martin do so in situations that do not involve research. Martin is only using the AB design since he has an interest in examining and ensuring there is a change in behavior of Sara. The behavior analyst applied the design in implementing a behavior change procedure and wants to find out whether there has been a significant change in behavior where he can manage it himself (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). Considering that the AB design is only effective when the subject is one, this also defines the limits of the design, considering that some experiments may involve a larger population. Demonstrating data from such a study may be a challenge.

Effectiveness of the Intervention

The intervention method used by Martin was effective in helping to modify the self-injurious behaviors of Sara. This is evident from the data presented in the graph, which indicates that in situations where the score for baseline occurrences increased, the responding desired behaviors continued to increase. For instance, the average rate of biting, hair pulling and head banging was 22, 25, 27 and 26, respectively while a noticeable consequent deduction followed this in scores for the reacting behaviors at 5, 5, 3 and 2 rates. The fact that the increase of scores in the baseline led to decreasing of the behaviors in the treatment line shows that the intervention approach selected was effective.

ABAB Reversal Design

Martin uses the ABAB reversal design though it poses some ethical implications considering that this design has some potential consequences. Following Sara's behavioral problem, in case the behavior is not safe, then this approach is not the best when it comes to removing treatment and case from the second baseline (Shayne, & Miltenberger, 2013). Once treatment is withdrawn, there is the danger of reversing the initial behavior level or shows no functional relationship in case there is no behavior change. Similarly, in a situation where treatment has already been enforcing, it is difficult to remove it. Applying this design means that the same kind of response to the behavior will be introduced, this may lead to another behavior problem. The issue of accuracy in measure or degree of the program involved also raises ethical issues about the purity of the treatment process. At the same time, the behavioral analyst might be involved in unclear actions when using this design, considering that there are rules and guidelines one is supposed to follow.

Importance of Graphs in Behavior Change

When trying to modify behaviors, graphs play a critical role in behavior evaluation. The nature of the graph is such that they can give a visual image of how behavior change occurs. In the graph, there are various aspects which show behaviors before treatment, during treatment, and after treatment. This allows the analyst to make a follow up what changes occur, which makes the process of decision making appropriate, especially when it pertains the continued use of treatment. For instance, in the current case, the Y-axis of the graph shows the intensity of the self-injury Sara caused to herself while X-axis shows the outcomes of the number of observations. This makes it easier for anyone to comprehend the graph and tell the pattern of the individual behavior change.

Graph and Functional Relationship

Factors in any experiment show a functional relationship, and the graph proves effective in demonstrating this relationship. The graph does this by indicating how the researcher can demonstrate that a factor, independent, can cause change to another factor, dependent. For instance, in the current case, the researcher needs to show that the procedure of behavior change results in the change in the target behavior (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). The created graph, in this case, showed a functional relationship since the ABAB professional could use the understanding and knowledge of the relationship of the intervention to decide the right treatment based on the occurring behavior change.

Conclusion

The assignment involved the creation of a basic line graph using Microsoft Excel to show the provided data for the study. This considers the AB design that Martin selected for the study due to the advantage it has for using a single subject. This design proved effective in establishing the right treatment to Sara, especially when it comes to desired behavior change. Like in any experiment, things such as treatment purity and accuracy are among the ethical issues likely to arise.

References

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied behavior analysis.

Shayne, R., & Miltenberger, R. G. (2013). Evaluation of behavioral skills training for teaching functional assessment and treatment selection skills to parents. Behavioral Interventions, 28(1), 4-21.

Uhl, E. G., & Skinner, L. A. (1948). U.S. Patent No. 2,451,522. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.