Discontinuous measurement procedures are used in AppliedApplied means that the behaviors targeted for change in... BehaviorBehavior refers to any activity or action that living o... Analysis (ABA) to track a behavior by sampling or observing only a portion of the occurrences within a specified observation period, rather than recording every instance. These methods provide an efficient way to gather data when it’s not feasible to measure every behavior occurrence. Common forms of discontinuous measurement include partial interval recordingPartial Interval Recording is a time sampling method used to..., whole interval recordingWhole Interval Recording is a time-sampling technique where ..., and momentary time sampling.
Example
A behavior analyst is observing a student during a 30-minute classroom session to track on-task behavior. Using partial interval recording, the analyst divides the 30-minute session into 5-minute intervals. The analyst marks whether the student was on-task at any point during each 5-minute interval. If the student is on-task for at least part of the interval, the behavior is recorded as occurring during that interval, even if the student was not on-task the entire time. This approach allows the analyst to sample the behavior and gather a general sense of how often the behavior occurs without recording every instance.