Data Collection, Measurement, and Progress Monitoring
Data Collection, Measurement, and Progress Monitoring tests whether you can define behavior, choose a measurement system, and use data to make decisions. Expect questions on continuous and discontinuous recording, interobserver agreement, treatment integrity, and visual analysis.
Core rules
- Operational definitions are observable, measurable, and include examples and non-examples.
- Continuous measures include frequency, rate, duration, latency, and inter-response time. Use rate when observation time varies.
- Discontinuous measures include whole-interval (tends to underestimate), partial-interval (tends to overestimate), and momentary time sampling.
- Interobserver agreement can be calculated by total count, exact agreement, or interval-by-interval methods; train observers to prevent drift.
- Treatment integrity measures whether the plan was implemented as written.
- Graph data and analyze level, trend, and variability; collect a stable baseline before intervening.
Worked example
A 20-minute session records 8 hits, so rate is 0.4 per minute. Two observers agree on 10 of 12 intervals: interval-by-interval agreement is 83%. The graph shows a stable baseline, an immediate drop after intervention, and a slight downward trend. The team continues the plan and monitors fidelity.
Traps
Confusing percent of intervals with frequency; using frequency when opportunities vary; ignoring reactivity; accepting low agreement; and making decisions from a short or unstable baseline.