St Peter Claire C, Brand Denys, Jones Stephanie H, Wolgemuth Jennifer R, Lipien Lodi
Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States.
Department of Psychology, California State University, Sacramento, CA, United States.
J Appl Behav Anal. 2023 Apr;56(2):336-351. doi: 10.1002/jaba.974. Epub 2023 Feb 1.
Procedural fidelity is the extent to which independent variables are implemented as designed. Despite 40 years of discussion about the importance of procedural fidelity for behavioral research, reporting of fidelity data remains an uncommon practice in behavior-analytic journals. Researchers have speculated about reasons for underreporting, but the perspectives of scholars about when reporting is warranted or necessary have not yet been explored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate possible reasons for infrequent reporting of fidelity data in behavior-analytic studies. To address this purpose, we conducted focus groups with scholars in applied behavior analysis. Five themes emerged regarding why procedural fidelity data are not typically reported. We provide a discussion about how these themes are interrelated and offer suggestions and recommendations to assist with the collection and reporting of fidelity data.
程序保真度是指自变量按设计实施的程度。尽管关于程序保真度对行为研究的重要性已讨论了40年，但在行为分析期刊中报告保真度数据仍然是一种不常见的做法。研究人员推测了报告不足的原因，但尚未探讨学者们关于何时报告保真度数据是合理的或必要的观点。因此，本研究的目的是评估行为分析研究中保真度数据报告不频繁的可能原因。为了实现这一目的，我们与应用行为分析领域的学者进行了焦点小组讨论。关于为何通常不报告程序保真度数据出现了五个主题。我们讨论了这些主题之间的相互关系，并提供了有助于保真度数据收集和报告的建议。
