PSYC 164

Module 2: Part 1

Introduction to Recording and Observing Behaviour

In part one, you had the opportunity to see how behaviour analysts

define behaviour. You practiced that skill with a video observation. In

part two, we talk a little bit about observation and about the research

side of behaviour management.

Behavioural Observation and Assessment

There are essentially two ways that we collect data about behaviour:

Indirect Assessment and Direct Assessment.

Indirect Assessment includes interviews, behavioural checklists, rating scales or questionnaires. This

allows the behaviour analyst to understand some preliminary details about the behaviour, the possible

contributions of environmental events and an overview of what the client is expecting. An example of

this might be a behavioural checklist to assess initial risk concerning Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder (ADHD). Here is an example that has been drawn up using the criteria for inclusion from the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Psychological Disorders (essentially this is THE diagnostic manual

for Psychology)

http://www.brightfutures.org/mentalhealth/pdf/professionals/bridges/adhd.pdf

While we use indirect assessments to gain preliminary understanding of the behaviour, we rarely stop

there. Take a look at the above link and the types of questions/behaviours the interviewee is asked to

rate. Also think about the last time you had a conversation with someone where you asked them to

recall information. Why is it that we would NOT want to stop at indirect assessment? What might be

the harm?

There are several potential difficulties with just using this approach. There are all sorts of biases that

come up when people are assessing behaviour – for example “excessive fidgeting” is very much open to

personal interpretation. In the absence of a normative measure, individuals will often use his/her own

behaviour as the norm, leading to wildly different accounts of behavioural excess or deficit. People also

experience emotional bias – in my own practice, I’m often called in when the staff has had a particularly

difficult week with the client, and emotions are often running high. This can easily result in an over-

estimation of the frequency or duration of behaviour. There are some situations where you can’t be

sure that the client is fully disclosing the nature of the behaviour, either intentionally or not, due to

embarrassment, guilt, or concern about being judged.

Due to these potential problems, we usually follow up indirect assessments/observation with direct

observations. In direct assessment, the observer watches a targeted and carefully defined behaviour in

the natural setting and records its instance immediately. The observer’s goal is to remain free of bias

and ONLY record instances that are seen and heard without an attempt to infer why the individual did

what he/she did. The more carefully constructed the definition (no labels, only descriptions of what is

said and done by the client), the more objective the observation can be.

Choosing a time for the observation depends, as one might expect, on when the behaviour is most

likely to occur. Please see the power-point presentation for factors surrounding when you might choose

a natural vs. contrived setting, a structured vs. unstructured observation and the nature of reactivity and

how to avoid it.