PSYC 164

Introduction to Graphing and Research Designs in Behaviour Analysis

In this section, I will briefly talk about the components of a behavioural graph and go over some of

the most common research designs found in behaviour analysis.

In behaviour analysis, we are interested in the behaviour of individuals and therefore, rather than

taking group statistics and finding the average behaviour, we embrace the variety and diversity of

everyday human behaviour. To that end, behaviour analysts most often use single-subject research

design to study behaviour. That is, we study one person, across both baseline (before treatment) and

treatment conditions.

The following is an example of the kind of graph you might see as a result of behavioural research:

On the horizontal axis, the measurement is time. On the vertical axis, it is some measure of a

dimension of behaviour (frequency, duration, ratio of intervals). You’ll also notice that the graph is

divided into what are called “phases” – the baseline phase is the observation of behaviour before any

treatment is implemented. The treatment phase occurs as soon as the researcher implements the

intervention. The line that separates the two is called the “phase line”. Data points are plotted, just as

on a regular graph, and a line connects the data points within a phase, but not across phases – so you’ll

see 4 different data sets on one graph. The advantage to this is that you can get a pretty good idea

about how well the treatment is working by taking a quick look at the graph. It is a strong visual

presentation of intervention success or failure.

Proceed now to the power-point presentation on graphing and research methods in behavioural

psychology. 