MALKA214 Experimental Design and Functional Analysis Course description

Single-case research designs and functional analyses are characteristics of behavior analysis. Their historical and scientific basis are covered in MALK403 (Behavior Analysis and Radical Behaviorism); the application in experimental settings in MALKA213 (Laboratory Exercises — Experimental Analysis of Behavior).These experimental methods are used in order to demonstrate functional relations between changes in independent variables and their effects on dependent variables. The topics of this course are theoretical and practical concerns of experimental designs in general, and basic concepts, principles, and methods of statistics.

Coursework requirements from MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, MALKA212 or equivalent must be approved to participate and submit coursework requirements in MALKA214.

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can discuss reliability
• can discuss the term generality
• can discuss validity, threats to inference, and different types of validity
• can explain the role of replications when employing experimental designs
• can discuss variability related to single subject designs and group-designs
• can describe and discuss advantages and disadvantages of various experimental designs
• can explain repeated measurements and when to conduct such measurements
• can describe how to conduct a component analysis to decide the effective components in treatments
• can consider how to conduct a parametric analysis to determine which values of consequences, like size and duration, are effective
• can describe fundamental elements of inferential statistics
• can describe and discuss functional analysis of behavior and describe how to conduct such analysis
• can describe the basic principles for hypothesis testing using the binominal and normal distributions
• can describe typical developmental milestones in children

Skills

The student

• can design simple Experiments
• can interpret graphical displays of behavioral data and to present data in graphical form

Competence

The student

• can analyze data in a behavior change project

Teaching and learning methods include lectures discussions and exercises. Students must have download and installed SPSS on their computers before the course starts

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• 2 individual written assignments, each with maximum 30 000 keystrokes

Individual written examination with invigilation, 4 hours. Exam questions are in English. Students may submit their exams in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

None

Grade scale A-F

One internal and one external examiner will assess all exams.