Using GraphPad Prism’s Heat Maps for Efficient, Fine-Grained Analyses of Single-Case Data
Turn your single-case spreadsheet into a heat map and spot time-of-day or error patterns in under a minute.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mitteer et al. (2022) wrote a how-to paper. They show BCBAs how to turn raw single-case numbers into color heat maps inside GraphPad Prism.
The maps can shade each response by error type, time of day, or any other tag you choose. No new data were collected; this is a tool guide.
What they found
The authors found that Prism can auto-color cells in seconds. Patterns pop out that line graphs often hide.
For example, a red stripe at 2 p.m. tells you errors spike right after lunch.
How this fits with other research
Snodgrass et al. (2022) also want clearer single-case pictures. They give six graph styles that keep rate and fidelity visible at the same time. Mitteer adds heat maps as a seventh style.
Blair et al. (2022) teach free Google Sheets graphs. Their steps cost nothing, while Prism needs a license. Use Blair when the budget is tight; use Mitteer when you already own Prism.
Watts et al. (2021) show Excel tricks for multiple-baseline lines. Heat maps do not replace those lines; they supplement them. You can paste the same data into both Excel and Prism and get two views for the price of one.
Why it matters
You can color-code tomorrow’s session file during a five-minute break. The heat map will show if problem behavior clusters around transitions or specific staff. Share the picture with parents and teachers; no stats talk needed. One glance often does the job of a long verbal explanation.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Behavior analysts sometimes consider various forms of data analysis when making clinical decisions and when attempting to illuminate interesting relations in existing datasets. For example, an ongoing plot of when problem behavior occurs across days and times can yield useful information regarding the function(s) of problem behavior. In a post-hoc analysis, a plot of within-session error patterns can reveal which variables may be contributing to faulty stimulus control. Such analyses can be burdensome to conduct manually (e.g., changing the color of individual data points based on error type), and more efficient methods (e.g., using conditional formatting in Microsoft Excel data tables) might not be conducive for producing publication-quality figures. In the present article, we provide an overview of how behavior analysts can use GraphPad Prism’s heat-map feature to efficiently populate fine-grained graphs of behavior with data points that are coded automatically (e.g., with categorical colors or gradients). Implications for clinical utility and research production are discussed.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40617-021-00664-7