Conducting Time Series Research

Imagine that you are a counselor working with a child who is having some behavioral problems at her elementary school. As a scholar practitioner, you approach your work with her from an empirical standpoint and want to measure the effectiveness of your work. As such, you pose the following research question: “What impact does a designed intervention have in reducing off-task behavior, physical aggression, and verbal aggression for the identified child?”

For the purposes of this research, the target behaviors for intervention are as follows:
1. Off-task – failure to maintain eye contact with task at hand for more than 3 consecutive seconds
2. Physical Aggression – hitting/pushing/kicking peers/teachers, throwing objects
3. Verbal Aggression – threatening, yelling

Consider the following observation report:

During the first observation period, which was conducted on Monday (in math class) between 11:20 and 11:30, 10-minute, 10-second, partial interval recording was used to assess the frequency of off-task behaviors, physical aggression, and verbal aggression. Kaya was observed to be off-task 12% of the intervals observed, engaged in physical aggression 0% of the intervals observed, and engaged in verbal aggression 2% of the intervals observed.

During the second observation (during recess), which was conducted on Wednesday from 9:00 to 9:30, Kaya was observed to be off-task 15% of the intervals observed, engaged in physical aggression 20% of the intervals observed, and engaged in verbal aggression 3% of the intervals observed.

Kaya was also observed on Friday from 10:30 to 10:40 during a group activity. Kaya was observed to be off-task 20% of the intervals observed, was observed to engage in physical aggression 7% of the intervals observed, and was observed to engage in verbal aggression 10% of the intervals observed.

Off-Task Physical Aggression Verbal Aggression
12% 0% 2%
15% 20% 3%
20% 7% 10%

Based on the above data, you determine that you must design a behavioral intervention for Kaya and determine if it is successful. As you begin the process of investigating your research question:

Briefly describe a time series design that you would use to investigate the impact of your intervention, and explain how you would collect and record the additional data. Be specific.
Select a method for graphically representing the provided data. Use the method to create a graph.
Analyze the data and provide a narrative description of your analysis.