Observing Behavior

Gaining experience in observation is essential for you to develop the skills necessary to making good, reliable, and valid observations in order to record behavior correctly. Without such data, you are less likely to have the ability to develop effective intervention plans nor track their effectiveness.

For this Assignment, you will conduct a 5-minute behavioral observation in a public setting. This Assignment may very well be the first time you have ever conducted a systematic behavioral observation. As you complete this Assignment, think of aspects of the behavior that may be important, even if you are not recording that information.

Resources

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity. Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.

WEEKLY RESOURCES

To Prepare

· Review the meaning of “frequency measurement,” as addressed by your Learning Resources this week, including the video  Observational Systems.   Note: It is critical for you to review all media programs for this week before completing this Assignment.

· Review the Learning Resources video  Observing Problem Behaviors,  which shows a child exhibiting a target behavior. Apply observational systems to the behavior by doing the following:

· Restate the target behavior as defined in last week’s Assignment.

· Conduct a simple frequency measurement. That is, count the number of times you observed the target behavior occurring on the video.

· Select a public venue to conduct a brief 5-minute behavioral observation (e.g., grocery store, coffee shop, park, mall, etc.). Apply observational systems to the behavior by doing the following:

· Identify a target behavior (e.g., number of times sipping on a drink) as defined in last week’s Assignment.

· Select a subject or subjects.

· Conduct a simple frequency measurement for each subject (if there is more than one, do this concurrently). That is, count the number of times you observed the target behavior being performed by each subject.

Assignment (1 page)

· Write a description of your experiences conducting your simple frequency measurement of the behavior you selected from the public venue (e.g., ease of assignment, difficulties encountered, etc.).

· Include your simple frequency measurement chart or table in your paper.

Be sure to support your Assignment with specific references to behavior-analytic theory and research. In addition to the Learning Resources, search the Walden Library and/or the internet for peer-reviewed articles to support your Assignment. Use proper APA format and citations, including those in the Learning Resources.

By Day 7 of Week 2

Submit your Week 2 Assignment.

Submission Information

Before submitting your final assignment, you can check your draft for authenticity. To check your draft, access the  Turnitin Drafts from the  Start Here area.

1. To submit your completed assignment, save your Assignment as  WK2Assgn_LastName_Firstinitial

2. Then, click on  Start Assignment near the top of the page.

3. Next, click on  Upload File and select  Submit Assignment for review.

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