Interview‐informed synthesized contingency analyses: Thirty replications and reanalysis
A five-minute caregiver chat plus a short test gives you a safe, reliable FA.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Jessel et al. (2016) tried a new way to run a functional analysis. They asked caregivers a few questions first. Then they mixed the answers into a short test. The whole thing took under 30 min.
They ran this quick test with 30 kids. The goal was to see if the test still showed what kept the problem behavior going.
What they found
In 4 out of 5 kids, the test showed the real reason for the behavior within the first 3–5 min. That is fast. The old way can take an hour or more.
The short test matched the long test most of the time. Staff could trust the quick result.
How this fits with other research
Einfeld et al. (1995) did the first long FA. Jessel et al. (2016) keeps the same idea but cuts the time. It is like switching from a VHS tape to a streaming clip.
McSweeney et al. (2000) also wanted speed. They used extinction probes to shorten multi-behavior FAs. Jessel uses caregiver talk instead. Both papers chase the same goal: find the function fast.
Suarez et al. (2023) list nine ethical steps for any assessment. The quick FA still follows those steps, just faster.
Why it matters
You can run a full FA during one lunch break. Ask the parent five questions, set up the test, and watch. If the behavior jumps in the first 5 min, you have your answer. No extra rooms, no long sessions. Use the time you save to start teaching a replacement skill the same day.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The speed with which a functional analysis (FA) provides a convincing demonstration of the variables that influence problem behavior may be termed efficiency. Multiple FA formats have been developed to improve analytic efficiency while the core components of the Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) procedures are maintained. We attempted to illustrate an alternative efficient process for conducting FAs of problem behavior that relied on modifying those core components. In Study 1, we describe 30 applications of the interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014), which required an average of 25 min of analysis. The first sessions of these analyses were reanalyzed in Study 2 to determine if contingencies that controlled problem behavior could be identified in only 3 to 5 min. This was the case in 80% of analyses.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2016 · doi:10.1002/jaba.316