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Review
. 2022 Dec 28;46(1):201-215.
doi: 10.1007/s40614-022-00364-9. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Social Validity in Behavioral Research: A Selective Review

Rachelle N Huntington  1 , Natalie M Badgett  2 , Nancy E Rosenberg  3 , Kaitlin Greeny  3 , Alice Bravo #  4 , Roxanne M Bristol #  5 , Young Hee Byun #  6 , Madelynn S Park  6
Affiliations
Review

Social Validity in Behavioral Research: A Selective Review

Rachelle N Huntington et al. Perspect Behav Sci. .

Abstract

Through the application of behavioral principles, behavior analysts seek to produce socially meaningful behavior change, defined as alterations in behavior that yield important outcomes immediately beneficial for the direct consumers of interventions and key stakeholders. Behavioral practitioners and researchers often engage in assessment and reporting of the meaningfulness of behavior change using social validity assessments. These assessments ensure that target behaviors are appropriately selected, intervention procedures are acceptable, and satisfactory outcomes are produced. The purpose of this review is to identify the current state of social validity within behavioral literature. We reviewed eight peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and 2020. We found that 47% of the intervention studies reviewed included a social validity assessment. Social validity assessment across journals has increased over time, with a significant rise from 2019 to 2020. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future work are discussed.

Keywords: acceptability; satisfaction; social importance; social significance; social validity; subjective.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of InterestsThe authors have no conflicts of interest to report

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Articles Included in Review by Journal. Note. Behavioral Interventions included the highest percent of studies that assessed social validity. 48.8% of studies (n = 303) published in The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis assessed social validity, more than the percent of articles when all other journals are combined (43.1%). JABA = Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis; BMOD = Behavior Modification; BAP = Behavior Analysis in Practice; TBA = The Behavior Analyst; POBS = Perspectives on Behavior Science; TPR = The Psychological Record; AVB = Analysis of Verbal Behavior; BAT= The Behavior Analyst Today; BARP = Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice; BI = Behavioral Interventions
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Articles that Discuss Social Validity Assessment by Year. Note. 425 studies (47% of sample, n = 899) were found to have assessed social validity. Our findings indicate that an increasing number of published studies include an assessment of social validity, with a large increase in this number occurring in 2019 and sustaining into 2020. JABA = Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis; BMOD = Behavior Modification; BAP = Behavior Analysis in Practice; TBA = The Behavior Analyst; POBS = Perspectives on Behavior Science; TPR = The Psychological Record; AVB = Analysis of Verbal Behavior; BAT= The Behavior Analyst Today; BARP = Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice; BI = Behavioral Interventions.
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