Teaching behavior analysts to create multiple baseline graphs using SigmaPlot
A 15-minute video can teach BCBAs to build perfect multiple-baseline graphs in SigmaPlot without any live coaching.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three behavior analysts learned to build multiple-baseline graphs in SigmaPlot.
They watched one 15-minute video. No live coach sat beside them.
The study used a multiple-baseline-across-participants design to track their new skills.
What they found
Two of the three analysts hit mastery after the video alone.
All three could still make clean graphs a week later.
They also used the skill on brand-new data sets, showing the training stuck.
How this fits with other research
Manolov (2026) and Zheng et al. (2022) also give free graphing help, but they focus on web tools, not SigmaPlot.
Byrne (2025) teaches multiple-baseline design too, yet uses planarians in a classroom demo instead of teaching graphing to BCBAs.
Manolov et al. (2022) created a tool to judge if single-case effects replicate. Cihon’s tutorial makes replication easier by showing every BCBA how to draw the same style of graph.
Lanovaz et al. (2017) warns that short phases can fool the eye. Cihon’s graphs follow those rules, so the pictures you make will pass Lanovaz’s phase-length test.
Why it matters
You can now train staff to make publication-ready graphs in the time it takes to drink a coffee. Send the video, check the first graph, and you are done. Clean visuals speed peer review and help parents see the story in the data.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AbstractThe development and visual inspection of graphical representations of single subject designs is a hallmark of applied behavior analysis. Much of the research on training individuals to develop single subject design graphs has involved a limited number of graphing programs (i.e., Microsoft Excel and Prism). Many graphing programs require task analyses specific to their user environment (e.g., separating data from different conditions in different columns), which may decrease the likelihood of generalization of the results of previous studies to other graphing programs (e.g., SigmaPlot). In the present study, we have evaluated the effectiveness of a video tutorial for training behavior analysts to create multiple baseline across participants graphs using SigmaPlot, which includes the inputting of data. The effectiveness of the video tutorial was evaluated using a multiple baseline design. For two of the participants, the video tutorial alone resulted in mastery level performance. The third participant required feedback before reaching mastery level performance. All three participants demonstrated generalization to a different data set and performance maintained following a week of no intervention. Social validity data indicates that participants found the skill, training, and results to be important, enjoyable, and acceptable.
Behavioral Interventions, 2021 · doi:10.1002/bin.1833