An evaluation of multiple stimulus with replacement preference assessment variations : effects on motivation
Abstract
This experiment evaluated the differential effects of three Multiple Stimulus With Replacement preference assessment variations on the motivation of four participants with developmental disabilities to respond to a mastered task. No discernible difference was demonstrated between the Five Pre-Session Choices condition and the Five Within-Session Choices conditions, suggesting that the timing of choice opportunities did not affect motivation, demonstrated through lack of differentiation in a multi-element experimental design for the dependent variables of Latency to Task Initiation, Total Task Duration, Percentage Correct Responding, or No-Responses. Subsequently, a One Pre-Session Choice condition was initiated to evaluate the efficacy of a preference assessment method with lower practitioner response effort. The introduction of this condition also resulted in undifferentiated data. Implications and future research are discussed.