Who conducts research, who leads professional organizations, and who trains the next generation of behavior analysts are not merely demographic curiosities. They are questions with direct consequences for the science and practice of behavior analysis.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Women in Behavior Analysis
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →Diversity in the field of behavior analysis has become a critical area of inquiry, yet methodological and assumption-related issues complicate efforts to assess and improve it. Representation is critical in the field to ensure innovation, the development of culturally responsive treatment and practices, and to address systemic barriers in service delivery. The field struggles with a lack of consistent, comprehensive data on the demographic profiles of researchers and leaders. This talk will review the history of examining women's participation in the field and adjacent works that have emerged. Additionally, I will also discuss key challenges encountered when studying researcher diversity within the field, and the ethical dilemma of using such data to evaluate the field's trajectory when the information that we have access to are limited in scope or fail to account for intersectional identities. These methodological and assumption-based issues highlight the need for more inclusive, transparent, and intersectional approaches to studying diversity in behavior analysis, which must involve refining data collection methods and addressing systemic biases in research visibility and participation.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | Ethics |
| COA | 1 | — |
Anita Li is currently an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at University of Massachusetts Lowell. She has been a Board Certified Behavior Analyst since 2013 and has worked with individuals with developmental disabilities in a variety of settings. Anita has presented more than 40 papers and workshops, including invited addresses, at both national and international conferences in behavior analysis and has published her research in several journals, including Behavior Analysis in Practice, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, and Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Additionally, Anita has served as guest editor on two special sections of Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice devoted to the experimental analysis of behavior. Her research interests include behavioral health topics such as burnout, physical activity, and psychotropic medication management as well as diversity and gender issues in behavior analysis.
Side-by-side comparison with a clinical decision framework
Research-backed educational guide for behavior analysts
Research-backed answers to common clinical questions
All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.