Barriers to Use of Experimental Analysis in Applied Behavior Analysis Clinical Practice
Only 63% of BCBAs use experimental analysis, and the main roadblock is not money but missing staff, time, and space.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team sent a survey to Board Certified Behavior Analysts across the United States.
They asked who uses experimental analysis and what stops them.
Sixty-three percent said they run EAs; the rest skip them.
What they found
Lack of resources is the top reason BCBAs do not run EAs.
Reimbursement worries came in last.
Time, staff, and space beat money on the barrier list.
How this fits with other research
Schmidt et al. (2021) shows a five-condition brief EA can pick treatments that keep problem behavior low for months.
Their success story extends the survey finding: when you have the tools, EA works.
Whiteside et al. (2022) found most BCBAs know little about Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions.
Together the three papers paint the same picture: solid tools exist, but training and resources lag behind.
Wheeler et al. (2024) adds that BCBAs also feel under-trained in trauma care, echoing the resource gap theme.
Why it matters
If you skip EAs because you lack staff or space, you may pick a less precise intervention.
Try a brief EA next time problem behavior is unclear; it takes one extra staff member and one hour.
Share the Schmidt et al. protocol with your supervisor and ask for a pilot case.
Small tests beat big guesses.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The underlying principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and its subsequent ethical codes necessitate the use of experimentation in many situations to determine relations among behavior and environmental variables. However, behavior analysts may be experiencing barriers to using experimental analysis (EA) in clinical practice. This article included two questionnaire studies investigating behavior analysts’ (Study 1 N = 293; Study 2 N = 324) current use and barriers to implementation of EA in clinical practice. Results aggregated from both studies indicated that on average 63% of behavior analysts used EA in clinical practice. Across the studies, lack of resources ranked as the most significant barrier, whereas reimbursement for services was ranked as the least influential barrier to using EA in clinical practice. This article suggested possible barriers to implementation of EA in clinical practice that may have significant ethical implications for appropriate treatment for clients and possible solutions to these barriers. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-023-00844-7.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s40617-023-00844-7