Peterson L, Homer A L, Wonderlich S A
J Appl Behav Anal. 1982 Winter;15(4):477-92. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1982.15-477.
Establishing a functional relationship between the independent and the dependent variable is the primary focus of applied behavior analysis. Accurate and reliable description and observation of both the independent and dependent variables are necessary to achieve this goal. Although considerable attention has been focused on ensuring the integrity of the dependent variable in the operant literature, similar effort has not been directed at ensuring the integrity of the independent variable. Inaccurate descriptions of the application of the independent variable may threaten the reliability and validity of operant research data. A survey of articles in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis demonstrated that the majority of articles published do not use any assessment of the actual occurrence of the independent variable and a sizable minority do not provide operational definitions of the independent variable. The feasibility and utility of ensuring the integrity of the independent variable is described.
建立自变量与因变量之间的函数关系是应用行为分析的主要重点。为实现这一目标,准确可靠地描述和观察自变量与因变量都是必要的。尽管在操作行为学文献中,人们相当关注确保因变量的完整性,但在确保自变量的完整性方面却没有投入类似的努力。对自变量应用的不准确描述可能会威胁到操作行为研究数据的可靠性和有效性。一项对《应用行为分析杂志》上文章的调查表明,大多数发表的文章没有对自变量的实际发生情况进行任何评估,相当一部分少数文章也没有提供自变量的操作定义。本文描述了确保自变量完整性的可行性和实用性。