Roger is a 14 year old who has begun to skip classes in high school. His parents are at their "wit's end" and everyone else on his educational team recognizes that suspending Roger is not a viable option. The team believes that if Roger is encouraged with a cash reward (kept in an account by his parents who must approve any withdrawal or expenditure); he might be more likely to attend class. His

Question

parents are in favor of the program and will provide the money. The contingencies are explained to Roger & he agrees to try the program. Roger's class skipping behavior drops dramatically with 3 weeks to a zero level. The team wishes to establish that the money is the key variable affecting Roger's change in his behavior. The parents are asked about the possibility of holding back Roger's cash award for a few days and then reinstating the reward to establish the functional relationship between zero rates of skipping class and the cash reward for attending class. The parents don't want to risk any possibility of Roger "backsliding" into his old ways and refuse to withhold the reward.

What type of design did the team intend to use and what design ultimately was actually used? Both verbally state the designs and the letter notation for each design.

Answer 1

An A-B-A-B withdrawal design was intended as the team wished to withdraw the cash rewards at one point and then return to the reward after a few days. In fact, an A-B design was used because neither withdrawal nor reintroduction of the intervention was implemented.