ABA Exam Coach

C.2: Distinguish among direct, indirect, and product measures of behavior.

Free practice questions for this part of the BCBA, with an explanation for every option.

A BCBA working on vocational skills counts how many envelopes an adult client has correctly stuffed and sealed in the bin at the end of each 1-hour work period. No one watches the client while he works. What type of measure is this?
  1. A. Momentary time sampling
    Incorrect. Momentary time sampling means observing whether behavior is happening at set moments, which did not occur here.
  2. B. Indirect measurement
    Incorrect. Indirect measures rely on reports or recollections, such as interviews or rating scales, not on counting tangible outcomes.
  3. C. Permanent product measurement
    Correct. Counting finished envelopes after the work period measures a lasting outcome of the behavior. That is a permanent product.
  4. D. Direct measurement using continuous event recording
    Incorrect. No one observed the responses as they happened. The data come from what the behavior left behind.
A clinician wants to know how often a teenager smokes outside of sessions. She asks him to fill out a weekly questionnaire estimating how many cigarettes he smoked each day. How is this measure best classified, and what is its main limitation?
  1. A. Direct measure. Its main limitation is observer reactivity.
    Incorrect. This is not a direct measure, and the main problem is the gap between reported and actual behavior.
  2. B. Direct measure. The teen is observing his own behavior, so the data are first-hand.
    Incorrect. Self-monitoring recorded at the moment of responding can count as direct, but a retrospective weekly estimate is a report about past behavior.
  3. C. Product measure. The questionnaire is a permanent record of smoking.
    Incorrect. The questionnaire is a record of the teen's report, not a tangible product created by the smoking itself (cigarette butts would be a product).
  4. D. Indirect measure. The data are a later report about behavior, not an observation of it, so they may not match actual smoking.
    Correct. Retrospective self-reports are indirect measures. Their accuracy is uncertain because what is reported may differ from what actually happened.
A BCBA uses completed math worksheets collected from a shared classroom tray to measure a student's independent problem solving. Which concern most threatens the validity of this permanent product measure?
  1. A. Permanent products can only be used for behaviors that happen at low rates.
    Incorrect. Permanent products can be used for behaviors at any rate as long as the behavior reliably leaves a product.
  2. B. Permanent product data cannot be checked with interobserver agreement.
    Incorrect. Two people can score the same products independently, so IOA is easy to get for permanent products.
  3. C. Permanent product measures are a type of discontinuous measurement and underestimate behavior.
    Incorrect. Permanent product measurement is not an interval-based discontinuous procedure, and it has no built-in bias toward underestimating.
  4. D. The worksheets may have been completed with help from peers or staff, so the products may not reflect the student's own independent behavior.
    Correct. A product measure is valid only if the product was produced by the target behavior of the target person. Outside help or someone else's work breaks that link.

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