Trina D. SpencerABA 2009

Research Based Principles

What Practice Can’t Do Without

best practices

empirically supported

interventions

research based

principles

experience

EvidenceBased

Practice

Client Values

Best Available Evidence

Professional

Judgment

Principles Provide Systematic Basis for Professional Judgment

Select interventions Create Individualized Interventions Adapt Interventions

Types of Principles

Basic Principles of BehaviorReinforcementPunishmentExtinction

Types of Principles

Principles and Tactics of InterventionShapingChainingPromptingDifferential reinforcementExperimental functional analysisMonitoring through direct measurementOperationalizing targets and procedures

Types of Principles

Discipline-Specific PrinciplesPrinciples of Effective Instruction

Providing immediate feedbackIncreasing number of opportunities to respond

Principles of Reading InstructionNRP’s five recommendations for reading

curriculaPrinciples of Early Childhood Education

Family involvement and choice

Practice

Interventions

Tactics

Principles

= what practitioners do

Empirically-Supported Interventions and Best Practice methods tend to address the intervention as the level of practice.

Methods for identifying research-based principles and tactics do not yet have a secure place within the evidence-based practice context.

Tactics

Principles

Strengths of Research-Based Principles Approach

Infinite number of interventionsConceptually systematicAvoid a “collection of tricks”

Strengths of Research-Based Principles Approach

Inform practice when research evidence for interventions is sparseWe can’t do nothingConnect the dots

Strengths of Research-Based Principles Approach

Adapt to local circumstancesPractice dimensions vary across practitioners

and contextsPractitioners apply research findings and adapt

to their specific circumstancePrinciples provide a systematic way in which

this is done

Strengths of Research-Based Principles Approach

Increase sustainability of empirically-supported interventionsUnderstanding the principles behind the intervention

allows the practitioner to adjustWhich features can be adjusted and maintain integrity of

interventionBeing able to adjust can lead to sustained use of

effective interventions

Klingner, Vaughn, Hughes, & Arguelles (1999)Baker, Gersten, Dimino, & Griffiths (2004)

Limitations of Research-Based Principles Approach

It requires a high level of skillExtensive didactic and applied trainingScientist/Practitioner model

Limitations of Research-Based Principles Approach

Practitioner developed interventions have not been validatedMore steps to effective implementationMore assumptions for making generalizationsMore room for error

Limitations of Research-Based Principles ApproachIt is not sufficient for large scale needsCan’t individualize for 500 studentsNeed interventions

Research-Based Principles & EBP

This approach is not widely recognizedLevel of practice – principles & tactics

“Research-Based” Defined

Used by several human service fields including behavior analysts

Often used as an umbrella termAt least some research support

Systematic reviewMeta analysisA few studies

Not operationalized

Process of Identifying Research-Based Principles

“A principle describes a basic behavior-environment relation that has been demonstrated repeatedly in hundreds, even thousands, of experiments.”

“A principle has thorough generality across individual organisms, species, settings, and behaviors.”

– Cooper, Heron, and Heward, 2007

Process of Identifying Research-Based Tactics

A “tactic is a research-based technologically consistent method for changing behavior that is derived from one or more basic principle.”

A tactic has “sufficient generality across subjects, settings, and/or behaviors .”

– Cooper, Heron, and Heward, 2007

Process of Identifying Research-Based Principles and Tactics

Scientific ConsensusoReplication of consistent findingso Peer reviewed journals

ExpertsoText booksoCommon practice

This process is not objective or explicit

Reasons for an Explicit Process

Perceived credibilityAlign with other disciplines

Organizes KnowledgeGuidance to practitionersInform applied research

Identifying Principles and Tactics

DECs Recommended Practices• Professionals monitor child progress based on past

performance as the referent rather than on group norms.

• Family members and professionals jointly develop appropriate family-identified outcomes.

• Consequences for children’s behavior are structured to increase the complexity and duration of children’s play, engagement, appropriate behavior, and learning by using differential reinforcement, response shaping, high-probability procedures, and correspondence training.

Identifying Principles and Tactics

DEC’s Process1. Experience-Based Knowledge – Focus Groups2. Research-Based Knowledge – Literature

Reviews3. Synthesized knowledge and developed

practice recommendations4. Conducted field validation of practices5. Produced and disseminated practice guides

Take Home Points

Practice can’t do without principlesWeaknesses should not be ignoredStrengthen this approach by developing an explicit process for determining research-based principles and tactics

Combine this approach with empirically-supported intervention and best practice approaches