This study used baseline data from the Southwest sample of the Latino Acculturation and Health Project to examine whether familism and cohesion are related to problem behaviors in a sample of Mexican and Mexican-American adolescents in the Southwest United States. This study is important to practitioners and prevention and intervention researchers…

This paper argues that behavior analysis is not technological to a fault, but rather has a faulty technology by being incomplete. The paper examines reinforcers and punishers that result from the outcomes of either (1) striving for better experimental control, or (2) inventing theories to explain why current control is imperfect. (JDD)

This article summarizes procedures used in translating technical jargon in the field of behavior therapy to plain English. It lists phrases translated from applied behavior analysis to public education, presents acronyms useful in remembering sequences of steps, and describes two tests to help in decision making in behavior analysis applications.…

Issues that impact on the ability of behaviorists to be effective in solving social and community problems are discussed, including use of legislative initiatives to bring about behavior change, sustaining interventions with local resources, and the possible rewards from employing collaborative methods in behavioral research. (JDD)

To the extent that applied behavior analysis represents a scientific and practical approach to the study of behavior, its technological character is essential. The most serious problem evident in the field is not that the research being done is too technical but that more good research of all types is needed. (JDD)

The claim that applied behavior analysis is overly technological is refuted, arguing that instead there is a lack of understanding of how technologies proficiently evolve. The solution lies in integrating basic and applied research sectors and coordinating efforts toward specific goals that are defined and valued by the culture. (JDD)

The field of applied behavior analysis is not overly technological but emphasizes technology in some areas, such as research procedures, and not others, such as adoption of intervention programs. Efforts are often focused on program implementation, with little attention to the preparation needed to implement or to leave an effective program in…

This paper discusses the practice of social validity assessment in applied behavior analysis, proposes elements that should be included in state-of-the art assessment procedures, offers a taxonomy of consumers to guide the construction and circulation of assessments, and suggests strategies to improve social validity assessment. (JDD)

This paper expresses concerns about implementing the behavior analysis values for community intervention expressed by Stephen Fawcett in EC 602 711. Concerns include inclusion of participants in selecting research goals, methods, and outcome measures; research impact on public policy; tension between research requirements and research settings;…

This paper argues that many social validity processes in applied behavior analysis are actually measuring consumer satisfaction and not the habilitative validity of goals, procedures, or outcomes. The term "habilitative validation" is proposed to replace social validity, and use of more objective assessment methods is encouraged.…

This paper summarizes basic research on response effort in diverse applied areas including deceleration of aberrant behavior, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, oral habits, littering, and problem solving. The paper concludes that response effort as an independent variable has potent effects, and research exploring the applied benefits of…

To determine what factors either alone or together interact to create ethnic variations in mental health care use in the State of Hawaii, a study interviewed subjects who were randomly selected from the higher income area of Diamond Head/Kahala and the lower income area of Kalihi/Palama. Ethnic groups studied included Caucasian, Japanese, Chinese,…

The use of multivariate statistics in behavioral research is investigated, with emphasis on the reasons why multivariate methods can be so important. The concepts of testwise and experimentwise error are explained, and it is noted that multivariate methods can be used to control the inflation of experimentwise Type I error. It is also noted that…

This essay presents a deconstruction of the phrase "technological to a fault" as it relates to applied behavior analysis. The essay discusses the imbalance between analysis as demonstration and analysis as discovery, offers a consequence and a cause, and examines the relationship of discovery and demonstration to behavior-analytic…

This response to a paper by Guess and Carr (EC 602 212) on stereotypy and self-injury in the disabled evaluates their interpretation of the literature, use of conceptual terms, and treatment of behavior analysis principles. They are critiqued for using descriptive analogies and intervening variables to support their theory. (DB)