Kahng, S., & Iwata, B. A. (1999).
Correspondence between outcomes of brief and extended functional analyses.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
32, 149-159.
We compared results obtained from 50 sets of functional analysis
data from assessments of self-injurious behavior (SIB), 35 of
which showed clear response patterns and 15 of which were
undifferentiated, with those obtained from two abbreviated
methods of assessment: (a) a brief functional analysis,
consisting of the first session of each condition from the full
functional analysis, and (b) a within-session analysis, in which
data from the brief analysis were regraphed to show
minute-by-minute changes in response rates during a session.
Results indicated that outcomes of the brief and within-session
analyses corresponded with those of the full functional analyses
in 66.0% and 68.0% of the cases, respectively. Further
examination of results indicated a tendency for the brief
analysis to identify a large proportion of positive cases (both
true and false positives) and for the within-session analysis to
identify a large proportion of negative cases (true and false
negatives).
DESCRIPTORS: functional analysis, self-injurious behavior,
aggression