COMPONENT ANALYSES USING SINGLE-SUBJECT EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS: A REVIEW

• Published in: Journal of applied behavior analysis Vol. 43; no. 4; pp. 685 - 704
• Main Authors: Ward-Horner, John, Sturmey, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2010; Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior; The Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• Subjects: Applied Behavior Analysis; Behavior; behavior analysis; Behavior Change; Behavior Modification; Behavior Patterns; Behavior Therapy - methods; Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy; Behavioral Science Research; Biological and medical sciences; Comparative analysis; component analysis; Design; Evaluation; experimental design; Experiments; Feedback (Response); Interpersonal Relationship; Intervention; Medical sciences; Predictor Variables; Principal Component Analysis; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; R&D; Reinforcement, Psychology; Research & development; Research Design; Research Methodology; Researchers; Studies; Treatments; Variables; Human; Treatment; Behavioral analysis; behavior modification; behavior analysis; Behavior change; experimental design; Behavior therapy; Review; Experimental study; component analysis
• ISSN: 0021-8855; 1938-3703; 1938-3703
• DOI: 10.1901/jaba.2010.43-685

A component analysis is a systematic assessment of 2 or more independent variables or components that comprise a treatment package. Component analyses are important for the analysis of behavior; however, previous research provides only cursory descriptions of the topic. Therefore, in this review the definition of component analysis is discussed, and a notation system for evaluating the experimental designs of component analyses is described. Thirty articles that included a component analysis were identified via a literature search. The majority of the studies successfully identified a necessary component; however, most of these studies did not evaluate the sufficiency of the necessary component. The notation system may be helpful in developing experimental designs that best suit the purpose of studies aimed at conducting component analyses of treatment packages.