Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023;56(4):708-719.
doi: 10.1002/jaba.1015. Epub 2023 Aug 10.

A detailed examination of reporting procedural fidelity in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis

Samantha Bergmann  1 , Brian P Long  2 , Claire C St Peter  2 , Denys Brand  3 , Marcus D Strum  1 , Justin B Han  4 , Michele D Wallace  5
Affiliations

A detailed examination of reporting procedural fidelity in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis

Samantha Bergmann et al. J Appl Behav Anal. 2023.

Abstract

Few reviews on procedural fidelity-the degree to which procedures are implemented as designed-provide details to gauge the quality of fidelity reporting in behavior-analytic research. This review focused on experiments in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (2006-2021) with "integrity" or "fidelity" in the abstract or body. When fidelity data were collected, the coders characterized measurement details (e.g., description of calculation, report of single or multiple values, frequency of fidelity checks, checklist use). The researchers found increasing trends in describing the calculation(s), reporting multiple values, and stating the frequency of measurement. Few studies described using a checklist. Most studies reported fidelity as a percentage, with high obtained values (M = 97%). When not collecting fidelity data was stated as a limitation, authors were unlikely to provide a rationale for the omission. We discuss recommendations for reporting procedural fidelity to increase the quality of and transparency in behavior-analytic research.

Keywords: adherence; fidelity; integrity; procedural integrity; treatment integrity.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Bachman, J. E., & Fuqua, R. W. (1983). Management of inappropriate behaviors of trainable mentally impaired students using antecedent exercise. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 16(4), 477-484. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1983.16-477
    1. Barnett, D., Hawkins, R., McCoy, D., Wahl, E., Shier, A., Denune, H., & Kimener, L. (2014). Methods used to document procedural fidelity in school-based intervention research. Journal of Behavioral Education, 23(1), 89-107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-013-9188-y
    1. Bergmann, S., Niland, H. S., Gavidia, V. L., Strum, M. D., & Harman, M. J. (2023). Comparing multiple methods to measure procedural fidelity of discrete-trial instruction. Education and Treatment of Children. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43494-023-00094-w
    1. Brand, D., Elliffe, D., & DiGennaro Reed, F. D. (2018). Using sequential analysis to assess component integrity of discrete-trial teaching programs. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 19(1), 30-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021149.2017.1404392
    1. Breeman, S., Vladescu, J. C., DeBar, R. M., Grow, L. L., & Marano, K. E. (2020). The effects of procedural integrity errors during auditory-visual conditional discrimination training: A preliminary investigation. Behavioral Interventions, 35(2), 203-216. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.1710

LinkOut - more resources