ABSTRACT
Behavioural analysis is no longer a crude, mechanistic study of the environmental controls of behaviour. The first objective is to determine which behaviour is going to be the focus of analysis. It is important to provide an accurate definition of the target behaviour to be observed and recorded, thereby avoiding fuzzy, vague statements. The observation and recording of the target behaviours should take place over a period of one to two weeks; in order to avoid making decisions on the basis of short-term fluctuations in behaviour. Functional analysis does not restrict itself to an appreciation of the immediate antecedents and/or consequences of a behaviour, but attempts to gain an understanding of the meaning and, possibly, usefulness of a particular behaviour, in a particular set of circumstances, for a particular individual. Functional analysis must be founded on accurate observation and considered information-gathering, otherwise it is little more than armchair theorising.
