Applied Behavior Analysis: Frequency and Point-to-Point IOA Methods

This assignment delves into the application of Inter-Observer Agreement (IOA) calculations within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). It presents two distinct case studies: one focusing on event recording, where the frequency ratio method is employed to assess the agreement between observers on the number of times a student attempts to answer a question; and another focusing on interval recording, utilizing the point-to-point agreement method to evaluate the consistency of observations regarding a student's reading behavior during self-reading classes. The assignment provides detailed explanations of both methods, including their respective formulas and advantages. The frequency ratio method's simplicity is highlighted, while the point-to-point method's depth in considering actual agreement is emphasized. The analysis concludes with a comparative summary, noting the specific applicability of each method to its corresponding recording type and suggesting the point-to-point method's superiority due to its comprehensive nature. The findings are supported by relevant references, contributing to a clear understanding of IOA in ABA.

Applied Behavior Analysis

Applied Behavior Analysis
Event Recording Case
A case of the number of attempts a student makes to answer a question in a mathematics
class was considered for this instance. Two observers made observations for the number of times
the student, Jake, raised his hands when a question was asked for 10 consecutive school days
from January 27 to February 7. The frequency measurement system was used for this case.
Frequency refers to the count of how often an event occurs during a given period.
The method used for calculating the IOA (Inter-Observer Agreement) for this case was
the frequency ratio method. The formulae for the frequency ratio method is as given below
(Pierce & Cheney, 2017):
IOAFrequency Ratio Method =
∑
for alli observation points
Smaller Frequenc yi
Larger Frequenc yi
Total number of observation points
Table 1: IOA (Frequency Ratio Method) below gives the results of the IOA calculations
for this case. (Source MS Excel). From the table we observe that the IOA in this case was 80%.
Table 1: IOA (Frequency Ratio Method)
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Applied Behavior Analysis
The frequency ratio method can be defined as a method for evaluating the IOA applied
for event recording cases that considers the percentage ratio of the frequency recordings made by
the observers in the form of smaller recording to larger recording (Pierce & Cheney, 2017). The
advantage of this approach to IOA calculation is the simplicity of the calculations, which are
direct arithmetic computations. This method is however, limited in the sense that it fails to
provide information on whether there was actually an agreement between the recordings made
by the two observers.
Interval Recording Case
A case of whether a student consistently reads during self-reading classes without getting
distracted was considered for this instance. Two observers observed the student, Christine,
during a 1hr 40 minutes self-reading class on February 3, in 10-minute intervals, recording
whether she read consistently during each of the intervals. The frequency measurement system
was similarly used for this case, with focus being on the number of intervals in which the two
observers had similar observations.
The method used for calculating the IOA (Inter-Observer Agreement) for this case was
the point-to-point agreement method. The formulae for the point-by-point method is as given
below (Pierce & Cheney, 2017):
IOApoiny−¿− point agreement method= Agreements
Agreements+ Disagreements ∗100
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Applied Behavior Analysis
Table 2: IOA (point-to-point agreement method) below gives the results of the IOA
calculations for this case. (Source MS Excel). From the table we observe that the IOA in this
case was 60%.
Table 2: IOA (point-to-point agreement method)
The point-to-point agreement method can be defined as a method for evaluating the IOA,
applied for interval recording cases, that considers the percentage of the number of times the
recordings of the two observers in each interval was similar (Kupferstein, 2018). The advantage
of this approach to IOA calculation is that it considers whether there was an actual agreement by
the observers on what was observed for the particular interval. The complexity of this approach
especially considering the extensions of occurrence and non-occurrence IOAs presents a
downside on time-consumed for computations.
Summary
From the findings in this project, we note that the point-to-point agreement method is
only applicable for interval recording cases while the frequency ratio method is also only
applicable for the event recording cases. Considering efficiency, the point-to-point agreement
method is more in depth and hence it is better as compared to the frequency ratio method.
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Applied Behavior Analysis
References
Kupferstein, H. (2018). Evidence of increased PTSD symptoms in autistics exposed to applied
behavior analysis. Advances in Autism, 4(1), 19-29.
Pierce, D. W., & Cheney, C. D. (2017). Behavior Analysis and Learning: A Biobehavioral
Approach (6th ed.). New York: Routledge.
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