Stacie L. Bancroft & Jason C. Bourret.
Generating variable and random schedules of reinforcement using microsoft excel macros.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2008,
41, 227-235.
Variable reinforcement schedules are used to arrange the availability of
reinforcement following varying response ratios or intervals of time.
Random reinforcement schedules are subtypes of variable reinforcement
schedules that can be used to arrange the availability of reinforcement at
a constant probability across number of responses or time. Generating
schedule values for variable and random reinforcement schedules can be
difficult. The present article describes the steps necessary to write macros
in Microsoft Excel that will generate variable-ratio, variable-interval,
variable-time, random-ratio, random-interval, and random-time reinforcement schedule values.
DESCRIPTORS: random interval, random ratio, random time, schedule generation, schedules of reinforcement, variable interval, variable ratio, variable time