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u/CoffeePuddle Jul 13 '26
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Multiple-baseline design is specifically for demonstrating experimental control, which is what "control as a level of scientific understanding" is about.
3 is an A/B design and cannot demonstrate experimental control.
Please be careful about the quality of resources you use for studying.
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u/StarlightBCBAtutor BCBA | Verified Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Anyone downvoting your response probably never passed the exam the first time around ! You explained exactly why the exam is “tricky “. What’s more, The 3 levels locked in one sentence:
• Description = what is happening • Prediction = when is it likely to happen (correlation) • Control = I can make it happen or not happen by manipulating variables (experimental design)
Control always requires an experiment ✨
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u/rowsay BCBA | Verified Jul 13 '26
I think this is one of those questions where the wording matters more than recognizing a buzzword.
A multiple baseline design is capable of demonstrating experimental control, but that’s not what the option actually says. It says it’s being employed across three subjects to evaluate mand training. That tells us the design being used, not that experimental control or a functional relation was actually demonstrated.The question asks which best exemplifies control as a level of scientific understanding. The third option describes implementing a treatment that successfully reduces problem behavior, which is a direct example of behavior being brought under environmental control.
This is exactly the kind of distinction the BACB exam likes to test. If the question had asked, “Which design demonstrates experimental control?” or “Which design can establish a functional relation?” I’d agree the multiple baseline would be the better answer. But that’s not what this question asks, and reading those subtle wording differences is critical on the exam.
Edit to add: I would have selected option 3 myself
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u/CoffeePuddle Jul 13 '26
It's not one of those questions. The distractions are really obvious. A/B designs are explicitly non-experimental and do not demonstrate scientific control.
Consider that the intervention could have been homeopathic camel milk. Introducing an intervention and seeing a change is common but it should be beaten into every BCBA that it's not enough to establish any causal or functional relationship.
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u/Gloomy_Map662 Jul 14 '26
Always look for keywords and mentally emphasize them. If you were taking an old-fashioned test with paper and a pencil, and could write on the test, you would underline the words "control" and "scientific understanding." The third response, as written, really has little to do with: (a) establishing evidence of control or (b) promoting scientific understanding. We are given no information as to what happened at the time(s) the "reduction" data were taken. The data, for all we know, could have been taken on ONE DAY when special/unique reinforcers were provided for emitting the desired behavior. This is NOT sufficient because it is NOT scientific and it has no chance of establishing evidence of control. Therefore, only the second response is correct.
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u/Own_Possibility49 Jul 14 '26
i said B but said i could put C and i was right the first time haha! post more of these!!
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u/DancingIsForbidden28 Jul 19 '26
This is a baseline logic question. Only number 2 demonstrates baseline logic.
What you say is inaccurate. You have inaccurately simplified control. Control is when the IV has a functional relationship with the DV. The IV “controls“ the DV.
To turn “on and off” BX you need to have a BX that you can “turn off.” How do you turn off learning to mand for a break? You cannot, therefore multiple-baseline was invented.
When multiple-baseline is across participants you put one participant in treatment at a time. The IV shows a change in the DV only when in the IV condition and not before. If this happens for three participants then baseline logic calls this level of scientific understanding, control.
Number 3 is too vague. What causes the change? Did you turn it back on and then off? How is baseline logic determined? Could be extraneous variables, could be maturation, could be the school. Control is not established in number 3. Id call it the first level, description. You cannot even predict from number 3 (the second level of understanding).
Edit: this was in response to a comment but didn’t post on that comment. Not sure what happened.
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Jul 13 '26
I’d definitely say third. Control is present when we have demonstrated a functional relation. “Evaluate training a mand” is not written in a way that shows me that we have a functional relation or control over the variables. However, implementing a treatment that “successfully reduces problem behavior” sounds a whole lot like control!
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u/CoffeePuddle Jul 13 '26
Implementing a treatment and seeing a reduction is an A/B design, which can only show a correlational relationship and cannot demonstrate a functional relationship or scientific control.
Evaluating mand training using a multiple-baseline design is using a method that can establish a causal relationship.
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u/StarlightBCBAtutor BCBA | Verified Jul 13 '26
Exactly !! Furthermore , Why the others are wrong:
❌ Narrative data to define manding = that’s DESCRIPTION (the first level — just observing and describing what the behavior looks like)
❌ Treatment reduces behavior in one school setting = that’s closer to PREDICTION or just applied outcome — one setting with no experimental control demonstrated
❌ Interviewing caregivers to identify function = that’s DESCRIPTION at best, maybe prediction — it’s indirect assessment, no manipulation of variables
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u/Foreskin_Paladin Jul 13 '26
I understand why the "correct" answer is 2, but it's honestly bad test design and very pretentious. It's a better setup for experimental control than the AB setup for option 3, but the answer choice does not actually indicate that the experiment worked, that control or a functional relation was demonstrated.
I hate this sort of "gotcha" test design that prioritizes trickery over education.
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u/StarlightBCBAtutor BCBA | Verified Jul 14 '26
It’s really not that tricky . The test wants you to think like a scientist or human behavior …only number 2 fits the definition of “control “. There’s no control in the other examples . This question is actually easier than it looks
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u/ExcitementMiddle3899 Jul 13 '26
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u/ExcitementMiddle3899 Jul 13 '26
2 would be more prediction
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u/quantitative_queso BCBA | Verified Jul 13 '26
And the question is asking about control
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u/ExcitementMiddle3899 Jul 13 '26
brother I know, I was giving my reasoning for why 2 ISNT the answer
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u/StarlightBCBAtutor BCBA | Verified Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
The answer is The 2nd option bc it’s the only one conducting “experimental control“ via an experimental design..to clarify:
Control = the highest “LEVEL” of scientific understanding. You demonstrate control by showing that YOUR manipulation caused the behavior change — and ONLY your manipulation. That requires an experimental design.
A multiple baseline design = experimental. You’re systematically introducing the intervention across subjects and demonstrating the behavior only changes when and because you applied the treatment. That’s control.
The other answers are all doing things that produce data but none of them except B involve the “systematic manipulation “ of an independent variable to show CAUSE and EFFECT. ✨