Running Head: MEASURING BEHAVIOR 1

Measuring Behavior

Name of Author

Institutional Affiliation

Course Name and Number

Date
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Behavior

Humans have a typical life course with a series of successive growth phases characterized

by a set of Behavioral, physical, and physiological features. These phases include childhood life,

during adolescence, and lastly old age (adulthood). Development psychology tries to explain

human behaviour changes, emotional, and functioning over the whole lifetime from childhood to

adulthood (Birch, 1997). Therefore, behavior is how an individual conducts towards other

situations and impacts the environment. Environment influences behavior. Understanding one’s

behavior is essential in various ways. For example, an employee’s behavior can determine the

success of a company. Destructive Behaviors result in failure in organizational development,

while good Behaviors result in an organization’s productivity. Behavioral assessment is crucial

in making consequential decisions. Knowing how an individual behaves in different

environments can help identify environments or situations suitable for oneself. Behavior can be

observed, recorded, and explained by the observer.

Human being exhibits different Behaviors of different categories, some are good, while

some are not pleasing. According to Cooper, Heron, & Heward (2007), various features must be

provided when writing Behavior descriptions. Giving useful Behavior definitions entails

providing an accurate, complete, and concise explanation, which is, therefore measured

(Hawkins & Dobes, 1977). There are three ways of testing definitions of the target behavior as

per Morris (1985). the three ways include counting the number of Behavior occurrence, is the

definition of providing sufficient information for a stranger to know what is going on, and is the

target behavior breakable into specific portions.

Subject 1
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The first subject observed is a young man in her early twenties, and He is sitting at the

meeting table with his colleagues. The office is average with a table set up in a “U shaped” for

the leader’s easy visibility during conferences. He continues to scratch his head during the

meeting; therefore, this is the observed behavior and will be recorded for analysis.

Subject 2

The second subject to be observed and recorded is an old aged man at his 60’s sitting at

the presentation desk facing the employees. The older man is continuously touching his beards.

The young man and the older man does not know they are being observed, and the duration for

the observations is 20 minutes.

Definitions. Scratching the head is the act of using fingernails or claws to scrape the head due to

thinking hard, puzzlement or perplexity, and can also be caused by mental mystification.

Touching beards is the act of putting a hand, finger or giving a slight tap on your beards with a

hand. Beards are the growth of hair on the chin and lower cheeks of a man’s face.

Data recording methods. Estimating an individual’s behavior entails identifying data

recording techniques; recording the event, timing, and time sampling. Event recording

measurement contains guidelines used in determining how often the behavior occurs. Timing

procedures covers identifying different aspects of behavior connected to time, including

duration, inter response time, and response latency. Time examining or sampling is similar. It

records a behavior in-between time breaks or minutes through three structures; momentary time

sampling, whole-interval recording, and partial-interval recording (Repp et al., 1976). Entire

span recording measures predictable conduct, partial interval checks whether the conduct took

place between the time interval, and momentary time ascertains if the behavior occurred at the

interval’s finishing point. (Cooper et al., 2007)

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The two methodologies above were utilized in timing the conduct by measuring when the

behavior happened between the intervals. According to Cuunings & Carri (2009), a constant

estimation creates a powerful overall Behavior example. The Behaviors shown by the two

subjects were not continuous, which made data recording to be event recording. Therefore, event

recording can be utilized to record the period the subjects perform the behavior being examined.

Hence, tally marks can be made on the sheets every time the subjects perform the behavior.

Event recording records the frequency of the behavior rather than the duration of the conduct.

Event recording enables the analyst to identify how often the behavior happens within the time

intervals. The two subjects’ durations did not seem critical as the observation focused mainly on

the subject’s behavior and frequency.

The subjects were observed in three consecutive days at the same time in 20 minutes at

the meeting. The duration and frequency between the time intervals were recorded in sheets of

paper with tally marks. The young man recorded ten times scratching his head the first day,15

times on the second day, and six times on the third day. Subject 2 recorded touching his beards

20 times the first day, 30 times a second day, and 15 times the last day.

Observation Tables

Table 1. Subject 1

Date Setting Day Observation Behavior Frequency Total Before

Time number During
of times After
Intervention
01/09/202 Meeting Day 8:10 AM to Scratching 11111 10 Before
0 1 8:30AM Head 11111
01/10/202 Meeting Day 9:00 AM to Scratching 1111111 15 Before
0 2 9:20 AM Head 11111111
01/11/202 Meeting Day 10:00AM Scratching 111111 6 Before
0 3 to Head
10:20 AM
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Table 2. Subject 2

Date Setting Day Observation Behavior Frequency

Total Before
Time number During
of After
times Intervention
01/09/202 Meeting Day 8:10 AM to Touching 1111111111 20 Before
0 1 8:30 AM beard 1111111111
01/10/202 Meeting Day 9:00 AM to Touching 1111111111 30 Before
0 2 9:20 AM beard 1111111111
1111111111
01/11/202 Meeting Day 10:00 AM Touching 1111111 15 Before
0 3 to beard 11111111
10:20 AM

Validity, Reliability, Accuracy

Collected data should be useful for concluding. To ensure data corrected is helpful, it

must have validity, should be reliable and accurate. Also, the data should be free from errors

which require data examination. Using inappropriate data would result in erroneous results,

which will draw the wrong conclusions. Besides, inaccurate data is not productive when working

with real-life tasks that require accurate and reliable data. Validity, accuracy, and reliability are

components that will mark measurement reliability in which each component depends on the

other. Therefore, for the data to be reliable, it must be accurate and valuable, and consequently

quantifiable information (Cooper et al., 2007).

Estimating reliability and validity is prominent in ensuring the outcomes are valid and

accurate. Reliability can be measured by making a comparison of different versions of the same

recordings. As shown in the data above for subject 1, the frequencies change from 10, 15, 6.

Therefore the next day cannot be predicted using the data recorded. Insufficient data gives wrong

information due to the changes that occur in different time intervals. Also, on subject 2, the data

records a frequency of 20, 30, 15, which is not enough for drawing inferences. The data
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For research with high validity, its outcomes correspond to fundamental characteristics,

variations, and real properties. If the data is unreliable, it means the information is not valid,

therefore wrong research outcomes. Reaching inferences requires close data examination to

ensure its free from errors and accurate from which the viability of Behavioral intercessions are

drawn. Utilizing inaccurate data to draw Behavioral inferences will result in wrong assumptions

about the subject being observed. Therefore, from the above data, building mediations off data

would not be enough because the data is not consistent in the first place. Thus, to draw accurate

inferences, the data should be consistently showing an increasing or steady figure. Also, the

analysis data should not show a significant fall or increase between the consecutive time

intervals.
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References

Birch, A. (1997). Developmental psychology: From infancy to adulthood. Macmillan

International Higher Education.

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied Behavior Analysis (2nd ed.).

UpperSaddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. ISBN: 9780131421134.

https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC1285958&blobtype=pdf

Cummings, A. R., & Carr, J. E. (2009). Evaluating progress in Behavioral programs for children

with autism spectrum disorders via continuous and discontinuous measurement. Journal

of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42(1), 57-7.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649845/

Repp, A. C., Roberts, D. M., Slack, D. J., Repp, C. F., & Berkler, M. S. (1976). A comparison of

frequency, interval, and time‐sampling methods of data collection. Journal of Applied

Behavior Analysis, 9(4), 501-508.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1312027/