Examining a Web-Based Procedure for Assessing Preference for Videos
A 10-minute online MSWO gives you a solid video reinforcer list for clients with developmental delays.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a short online MSWO for videos.
Kids and young adults with developmental delays clicked between two videos at a time.
They ran the whole thing on a laptop in about 10 minutes.
What they found
Every participant picked clear favorites.
The web tool ranked videos the same way a live MSWO would.
Staff could then use the top picks as reinforcers right away.
How this fits with other research
Kang et al. (2013) reviewed 14 older studies and said MSWO works best when items are easy to see. Curiel et al. (2018) show that videos on a screen still meet that rule.
Kodak et al. (2009) found MSWO and free-operat tests sometimes disagree. The new web MSWO keeps the classic MSWO format, so you still get the same risk of mismatch—run a quick reinforcer check if unsure.
Villafaña et al. (2023) used pictures of food instead of videos and also got valid results. Both studies tell us digital formats can stand in for real items, but you must give a brief sample first.
Why it matters
You can now run a full preference test for videos without setting up tables of toys. Just open the link, let the client click, and you have a ranked list ready for the next DTT or break session. Saves prep time and works for remote clients too.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A web-based program was developed to conduct brief multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessments for videos (e.g., movies, cartoons, music videos). The preference assessment program was used with two populations: young adults with developmental disabilities and school-age children with emotional and behavioral needs. Stimulus preference hierarchies were identified for all participants, indicating that a web-based preference assessment procedure is an efficient procedure for isolating highly preferred videos, which might be useful as reinforcers in a variety of settings.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2018 · doi:10.1007/s40617-018-0210-7