On the Use and Benefits of Electronic Data Collection Systems: A Tutorial on Countee
Countee is a free app that turns your phone into a silent frequency and duration counter and exports the data straight to Excel.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Slanzi et al. (2024) wrote a how-to paper about the Countee app.
They show every tap needed to build frequency and duration keys on phones or tablets.
The guide is free and exports data straight to Excel.
What they found
This is a tutorial, not an experiment, so no client outcomes are reported.
The authors simply give the field a ready-to-use tool and set-up pictures.
How this fits with other research
Neely et al. (2024) also published a 2024 data tutorial. They tell you to partner with a data scientist and clean big data sets. Slanzi keeps things simple: one app, one clinician, no coding.
Moeyaert et al. (2020) and Young (2018) teach fancy stats after data are collected. Slanzi fills the front end—how to grab the numbers in the first place.
Bromley et al. (1998) warn that verbal reports can warp data. Slanzi sidesteps words entirely by logging behavior with a silent screen tap.
Why it matters
You can download Countee today and stop hauling clickers and clipboards. The paper walks you through key naming, color coding, and auto-backup so Friday’s session data lands in Excel before you lock the clinic door.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Objectivity in behavior measurement is a defining feature of behavior analysis. With the increased accessibility of technology, there has been an increase in electronic data collection methods, which carry several advantages, such as ease of data transformation and transfer from electronic outputs (e.g., Microsoft Excel files). Countee is an electronic data collection application that has been named in over 30 articles in behavior-analytic journals. It is available for free on both iOS- and Android-based smartphones in multiple countries. The application allows for the programming of both frequency and duration keys, which can be used to derive additional measures. Despite its use in behavior analytic research and practice, a tutorial has not yet been published on the application. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to outline its features, provide instructions on its use, data transformations and calculations, and describe its benefits to ease replication and disseminate its use.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2024 · doi:10.1007/s40617-024-00964-8