By the end of his long life, B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) had become one of the most influential and best known of psychologists (Gilgen, 1982; Heyduke & Fenigstein, 1984). An important feature of the approach to the study of behavior that he championed, behavior analysis, is the intensive study of individual subjects over time. This approach, which is characterized by the use of within-subject experimental designs, repeated and direct measures of behavior, and graphic analysis of data, stands in marked contrast to the research methods favored by many nonbehavioral psychologists. Skinner discussed the advantages of his approach in a number of books (e.g., Skinner, 1938, 1953, 1979), but never devoted a book to methodology. Sidman (1960) and Johnson and Pennypack (1993b) did devote books to behavior analytic research methodology. These books are of excep� tionally high quality and should be read carefully by anyone interested in behavior analysis. They are sophisticated, however, and are not easy reads for most neophyte behaviorists. Introductory-level books devoted entirely to methods of applied behavior analysis (e.g., Kazdin, 1982; Barlow & Hersen, 1984) are easier to understand, but somewhat limited in coverage.

Synopsis

The authors present an introduction to the use of scientific methods in the study of the behavior of individual subjects across a wide range of settings. This straightforward and practical text offers in-depth coverage of every aspect of the research process - including science and the analysis of behavior, designing experiments, data collection, and graphic analysis of data - and provides practical suggestions for averting problems at each stage. In this work, chapters include methods for presenting data at conferences and in journal articles.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.