Evaluation of a self-instruction package for conducting stimulus preference assessments : a systematic replication

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2015

First Committee Member

Gould, Daniel

Second Committee Member

Graff, Richard

Third Committee Member

Karsten, Amanda

Abstract

"Research has shown that antecedent interventions, as well as consequence-based interventions, have been effective in training inexperienced staff to implement stimulus preference assessments. The benefit of using antecedent-only interventions is that a trained professional is not required to deliver feedback or give training. In the current study, we replicated and extended the study by Graff and Karsten (2012). We used an enhanced self-instruction packet to teach staff, whose first language was not English, to implement, score and interpret the results of paired-stimulus and multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessments. We used a multiple-baseline design across preference assessment types. We also addressed whether or not a sequencing effect would be seen in the participants who received the written instructions phase prior to the enhanced written instructions compared to a group of participants who receive only the enhanced written instructions. Accuracy was low for all participants during baseline (no instructions), low to moderate for written instructions alone, and 90% or higher for all participants after exposure to the enhanced written instructions phase. This suggests that an antecedent-only intervention in the form of enhanced written instructions is effective for staff whose primary language is not English, even when the enhanced instructions are provided in English."

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