Within classrooms, psychologists and teachers use direct behavior observation methods, systematic behavior observations (SBOs) and direct behavior ratings (DBRs), to gather information about students' behaviors for the purposes of making decisions related to diagnosis and classroom management or behavioral feedback respectively. Observers use SBOs…

In this paper, we consider a minimalistic and behavioristic view of AIS to enable a standardizable mapping of both the behavior of the system and of the learner. In this model, the "learners" interact with the learning "resources" in a given learning "environment" following preset steps of learning…

This special issue is devoted to describing and evaluating new methods for analyzing online writing processes in a second language (L2). As all the contributors have stated, the aim is to identify the cognitive processes underlying writing. The ultimate aim is to employ observations and experimental manipulations of these processes to build…

Background: Historically, significant advances in scientific understanding have followed advances in measurement and observation. As the resolving power of an instrument increased, so have gains in the understanding of the phenomena being observed. Modern interactive systems are potentially the new "microscopes" when they are…

Our learning-by-teaching environment, Betty's Brain, captures a wealth of data on students' learning interactions as they teach a virtual agent. This paper extends an exploratory data mining methodology for assessing and comparing students' learning behaviors from these interaction traces. The core algorithm employs sequence mining techniques to…

This study examined the psychosocial factors impacting upon the rule-following behaviour of residents of a hostel providing crisis accommodation to women who are homeless. After their arrival, residents of a women's hostel (N=83) completed questionnaires assessing the theory of planned behaviour constructs of attitude, subjective norm, perceived…

In this article, using data on traffic volume and fatal accident rates in Israel from 2001 to 2004--a period spanning much of the Second Intifada--we examine the population-level responses to endemic terror to uncover whether societies become habituated so that the response weakens following repeated attacks or whether they become increasingly…

The three algorithms most frequently selected by behavior-analytic researchers to compute interobserver agreement with continuous recording were used to assess the accuracy of data recorded from video samples on handheld computers by 12 observers. Rate and duration of responding were recorded for three samples each. Data files were compared with…

In the current study, momentary time sampling (MTS) and partial-interval recording (PIR) were compared to continuous-duration recording of stereotypy and to the frequency of self-injury during a treatment analysis to determine whether the recording method affected data interpretation. Five previously conducted treatment analysis data sets were…

Visual inspection of data is a common method for understanding, responding to, and communicating important behavior-environment relations in single-subject research. In a field that was once dominated by cumulative, moment-to-moment records of behavior, a number of graphic forms currently exist that aggregate data into larger units. In this…

This article presents new methods for modeling the strength of association between multiple behaviors in a behavioral sequence, particularly those involving substantively important interaction patterns. Modeling and identifying such interaction patterns becomes more complex when behaviors are assigned to more than two categories, as is the case…

Several Federal programs and initiatives are underway to reduce crime and violence in the schools. In connection with these efforts, Congress had passed legislation requiring the National Center for Education Statistics to collect data about the seriousness and incidence of violence in elementary and secondary schools. This report presents an…

Manifest discrete time and latent Markov chain models are described, and the results given by each are compared for the re-analysis of a three-wave table of repeated behavior ratings of children. More recent developments in latent discrete time Markov chain modeling address the problems of the table more efficiently. (SLD)

Considers the distinction between voluntary and involuntary unemployment by analyzing six behavioral characteristics attributed to groups of workers suspected of indulging in the former, and the labor market mechanisms supposedly encouraging them. (Author/CT)

Reviews previous work in training observers for collecting observational counseling data. Outlines a nine-step Systematic Rater Training Model, which includes overview and contract, concept presentation, stimulation, modeling, passive discrimination, active discrimination, production, transfer of training to performance, and ongoing evaluation.…