EDSP 363
CASE STUDY: MEASURING BEHAVIOR TEMPLATE
Using the STAR sheets that follow the cases, answer each case study question in the unit in the
template below. Keep the questions in bold. Format your answers in italics.
Level A: Case 1
1. Define each strategy:
a. Event Recording: is a way to measure the number of times a behavior occurs
within a given period
b. Interval Recording: is a method of documenting whether a behavior occurred
during a brief period (e.g., 10 seconds), referred to as intervals. At the end of
each of these intervals, the observer records whether or not a behavior has
occurred
2. Describe why each strategy is an appropriate way to measure Mark’s disruptive
comments.
Event Recording is an appropriate way to measure Mark's disruptive comments because
every time Mark makes a comment Mr. Greevy can initiate a tally mark system This is
something he can do over a period of time, for example, he could do it for a 3 weeks. At
the end of the third week, Mr. Greevy can see how many tallies he has, representing a
tangible piece of data showcasing how many times Mark made a disruptive comment.
Interval Recording is an appropriate way to measure Mark's disruptive comments
because this strategy can help Mr. Greevy find out what causes Mark to exhibit this
behavior more frequently. He will mark tallies during certain times, such as in the
morning or after a certain subject. This will allow Mr. Greevy to see if the behavior
increases due to any other circumstances.
Level A: Case 2
1. Define each strategy.
a. Duration Recording: is a method of documenting how long a student engages in
a specified behavior. Duration recording is appropriate for behaviors that have a
distinct beginning and end or for those that occur at such high rates that it would
be difficult to get an accurate frequency count
b. Interval Recording: is a method of documenting whether a behavior occurred
during a brief period (e.g., 10 seconds), referred to as intervals. At the end of
each of these intervals, the observer records whether or not a behavior has
occurred
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EDSP 363
c. Latency Recording: is a method of documenting the time between when a
direction is given and when the student complies
2. Describe why each strategy is or is not appropriate to measure Theresa’s out-of-seat
behavior.
Duration Recording is an appropriate measure because it would allow Ms. Lowe to
document when Theresa is out of her seat. She would record when Theresa gets up and
when she sits back down.
Interval Recording is not an appropriate measure because Theresa is described as
constantly being out of her seat. This would make it hard to document specific time
periods.
Latency Recording is an appropriate measure because it would allow Ms. Lowe to see
how long it takes for Theresa to get in her seat after Ms. Lowe gives instructions. It could
also be used to see how long Theresa stays in her seat after being asked to stay there.
3. Describe why each strategy is or is not appropriate to measure Theresa’s
procrastinating behavior.
Duration Recording is an appropriate measure because it would allow Ms. Lowe to
document how long Theresa procrastinates before taking out her work. Ms. Lowe would
record when the class began working on their classwork and when Theresa stopped.
Interval Recording would be difficult because of how frequent Theresa's behaviors are.
Latency Recording is an appropriate measure because it would allow Ms. Lowe to record
how long it takes Theresa to start her work after the instruction to start has been given.
This could help indicate why it takes her so long.
Level B: Case 1
1. Operationally define the problem behavior.
Johnny is pinching his teacher and biting classmates, especially his classmate Stephen.
After Johnny pinches or bites someone he laughs and yells "it hurts!".
2. Select the most appropriate observation method from the possible strategies listed
above to measure the behavior.
I would use Event Recording
a. Explain why you chose this method.
I chose this method because it would allow us to see the number of times Johnny
has behaviors during certain time periods
b. Explain why you would use this method to measure the problem behavior.
This method would allow me to see if the behaviors happen more often during certain
times of the day. I would tally how often he pinched or bit someone within a set time
frame such as after a subject is finished. Using this method will help determine if
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EDSP 363
there is a pattern as to when he is having these behaviors. This would allow us to see
if there is something that is causing them.
Level B: Case 2
1. Operationally define the target behavior.
Alex is not participating in group assignments and is not turning in his work or
homework.
2. Operationally define a replacement behavior.
Alex will participate in group assignments and turn in all his work
3. Select the most appropriate observation method from the possible strategies listed
above to measure the behaviors.
I would choose Duration Recording.
a. Explain why you chose this method.
I would use this method because it would allow us to see when Alex gets off task
and when he gets back on task.
b. Explain how you would use this method to measure the problem behavior.
When Alex got off task, I would start a stopwatch and when he got back on task I
would stop the stopwatch. I would then record the amount of time he was off task.
I would then do this again when he got off task. At the end of the day, you would
be able to see how often Alex is off-task
Level C: Case 1
1. Do you agree with Ms. Anderson’s data collection choices? Explain your answers
I agree with Ms. Anderson using Event Data to record when Howard is making
inappropriate comments. Ms. Anderson will measure the number of times Howard says
something inappropriate during a given period. For example, she may record it during
certain class periods to see if maybe the class is a trigger. I would agree with Ms.
Anderson's data collection choice of latency data to see how long Howard delays his
work. This data will allow Ms. Anderson to see how long it takes Howard to start his
work after being instructed which will allow her to see if an intervention is needed.
2. Complete the forms below by calculating the latency and frequency of Howard’s
behaviors. Next, analyze Howard’s data.
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EDSP 363
a. Are Ms. Anderson’s concerns about Howard’s latency behavior justified?
Why or why not?
Howard does seem to be procrastinating with starting his work with an average
of one minute. However, I do not think this is long enough to cause a need for an
intervention.
b. Are Ms. Anderson’s concerns about Howard’s inappropriate comments
justified? Why or why not?
The concerns about Howard's inappropriate comments are justified because he is
having more inappropriate comments than appropriate ones. This data shows us
that he is making inappropriate comments every day.
3. Based on the scenario above, do you think there is other information that Ms.
Anderson should collect? If so, list the behaviors that she might want to measure
and explain possible data collection methods.
Ms. Anderson could collect data on how often Howard is submitting incomplete
work. This could help her determine if there is an underlying issue such as
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33 seconds
125 seconds
28 seconds
91 seconds
45 seconds
65 seconds
8 .53 min
12 .80 min
7 .46 min
9 .60 min
3 .20 min
7.8 .52
min
1 0.7 min
0 0 min
2 .13 min
1 0.7 min
0 0 min
.8 .054 min
EDSP 363
difficulty understanding the material. Event Recording would suffice to document
this.
Level C: Case 2
1. Do you agree with Mrs. Patel’s data collection choices for each target behavior?
Explain your answers.
I agree with Mrs. Patel using both event recording and interval recording. By using event
recording the teacher can put a tally every time Rachel blurts out the answer which will
allow her to see how often this is happening. This is also a good way to track if the behavior
is increasing or decreasing over time. By using interval recording Mrs. Patel can track how
often Rachel is talking to her peers and writing notes during class time. Throughout the day
during intervals, Mrs. Patel can say whether she had a behavior or not.
2. Complete the forms below by calculating Rachel’s rate of calling out and her
occurrences of off-task behavior. Analyze Rachel’s data.
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1 .10 min
2 .20 min
0 0 min
2 .20 min
1 .10 min
1.2 .12 min
3 .30 min
5 .50 min
2 .20 min
6 .60 min
4 .40 min
5 .40 min
65 %
33%
EDSP 363
a. Are the teachers’ concerns about Rachel’s calling-out behavior justified?
Why or why not?
Based on the data Rachel is calling out often which is cause for concern. She is
calling out daily and during different times of the day.
b. Are the teachers’ concerns about Rachel’s off-task behavior justified? Why
or why not?
The teacher's concerns about Rachel's off task behavior is justified based on the
data. She has a higher percentage of occurrences of being off task then on task.
She is off task 65% of the time which is very high.
3. For each behavior listed below, identify an alternate method of data collection and
explain how Mrs. Patel would collect the data.
a. Calling-out behavior: Mrs. Patel could use duration collection as well to track
Rachel's calling-out behaviors. Through duration collection, she would document
how long Rachel engages in behaviors like calling out. This is helpful for
behaviors that occur at high rates such as Rachel frequently calling out.
b. Off-task behavior: Mrs. Patel could use event recording as well to track
Rachel's off-task behaviors. Mrs. Patel could measure how often off task
behaviors happen in a given period of time.
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