Thirty years of research on the functional analysis of problem behavior.

The authors counted every published functional analysis from 1961 through 2013. They found 435 studies that ran 981 separate FAs. The paper is a map, not a test: no new data, just a full census of the field.

Charts show how FA methods changed over five decades. You can see when alone, play, and attention conditions became common.

The pile of FA studies keeps growing. By 2013, one new FA appeared in journals every two weeks. Most still used the classic Iwata design, but shorter and trial-based forms were popping up.

No outcome numbers are given. The value is the big picture: you now have a 30-year library to mine for assessment ideas.

Howard et al. (2023) looked at the same time span but asked a harder question: do these assessments actually work? They found many popular tools lack solid reliability or validity data. Fahmie et al. (2013) shows we have lots of FAs; L et al. remind us to check the quality before we use one.

Rodgers et al. (2021) pooled early ABA trials that relied on FAs. Their meta-analysis found small IQ gains after two years. The 981 FAs in Fahmie et al. (2013) are the engine under those trials—same method, different purpose.

Newer brief tools extend the family tree. LMcQuaid et al. (2024) ran a 42-minute synthesized trial-based FA. Strohmeier et al. (2018) added a 10-minute RAAT for attention types. Both build on the classic methods counted in the 2013 review.

Use this paper like a menu. Before you design your next assessment, flip to the trend charts. If you see 30 studies using alone conditions for SIB, that is a green light to try it. If only two studies used a trial-based format, pair it with solid reliability checks as Howard et al. (2023) advise. Let the 30-year map steer you toward methods with the richest track record.