ABSTRACT
In addition to the methodology requirement, there is a further commitment to the science in that there must be a scienti—c basis for the treatment itself. Behavior analysts require of themselves and their profession that practitioners keep up with the research literature and apply procedures that only have —rst been proven e˜ective in the laboratory or other controlled settings. Furthermore, all modi—cations in treatment must be based on the online data collected as the treatment progresses. Although “evidence-based treatment” has recently become a catch phrase in psychology and medicine, it has been standard procedure in behavior analysis for over 40 years. To be included in the library of possible procedures, a study must meet rigorous peer-review standards of excellence. Perhaps the most rigorous standard is that a clear demonstration of experimental control must be shown; simple correlations need not apply. Behavior analyst practitioners rely on this solid foundation for their treatment ideas and need a good deal of con—dence that a given procedure will, in fact, produce a speci—c outcome. Some considerable degree of judgment is required, however, in adapting each procedure to each client. A review of the literature may not reveal an intervention with exactly the population or client characteristics that are being treated at the time, or a treatment may seem appropriate but some features may need to be changed, such as the type of reinforcer or schedule of reinforcement.
