“Internet-based contingency management increases walking in sedentary adults” research used an Internet-based intervention to improve walking among elderly sedentary persons. Namely, Kurti and Dallery (2013) composed the experiment design in two stages. In Experiment 1, respondents were rewarded monetary incentives for achieving an increasing number of step targets on at least three consecutive day blocks. Experiment 2 used the exact timetable as Experiment 1, but there were no monetary implications for fulfilling the goals. Hence, to set step goals, both trials used a changing criteria design.
Furthermore, the study includes a graph for both experiments’ results, the second of which could be analyzed. As such, the graph presents the participants’ daily steps without reward. The dashed vertical lines reflect the transition from screening to treatment in the experimental settings. The horizontal lines indicate the participants’ aims for each 5-day block, represented by each group of five linked data points (Kurti & Dallery, 2013, p. 576). The levels of behavior range from low to high, with predominantly moderate levels at the end of the block. However, the overall trend is decreasing since the first day’s steps amount is more significant than the last. Finally, the variability of data points seems to be high.
A functional relationship was demonstrated in terms of the absence of reward, causing the participants to reduce their efforts in completing steps by the end of the survey. It could be observed by looking at the overall decreasing trend, which is significantly supported by the variation in steps from the first days and the last days. To improve the study’s design, it could be recommended to collect information about the respondents’ levels of enthusiasm regarding the intervention.
Reference
Kurti, A. N., & Dallery, J. (2013). Internet-based contingency management increases walking in sedentary adults. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 46(3), 568–581. Web.