Bijou, S. W., Peterson, R. F., & Ault, M. H. (1968).
A method to integrate descriptive and experimental field studies at the level of data and empirical concepts.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
1, 175-191.
It is the thesis of this paper that data from descriptive and
experimental field studies can be interrelated at the level of
data and empirical concepts if both sets are derived from
frequency-of-occurrence measures. The methodology proposed for a
descriptive field study is predicated on three assumptions: (1)
The primary data of psychology are the observable interactions of
a biological organism and environmental events, past and present.
(2) Theoretical concepts and laws are derived from empirical
concepts and laws, which in turn are derived from the raw data.
(3) Descriptive field studies describe interactions between
behavioral and environmental events; experimental field studies
provide information on their functional relationships. The
ingredients of a descriptive field investigation using frequency
measures consist of: (1) specifying in objective terms the
situation in which the study is conducted, (2) defining and
recording behavioral and environmental events in observable
terms, and (3) measuring observer reliability. Field descriptive
studies following the procedures suggested here would reveal
interesting new relationships in the usual ecological settings
and would also provide provocative cues for experimental studies.
On the other hand, field experimental studies using frequency
measures would probably yield findings that would suggest the
need for describing new interactions in specific natural
situations.