CON Artist Captured! Unmasking the CONfounding Variable of the Alternating Treatments Design

Question: This is known as the confounding variable of the alternating treatments design.

Answer: Multiple treatment interference..

The alternating treatments design is an experimental design in which two or more independent variables are presented in rapidly alternating succession. This design does compares these variables to each other to see which one is best for treating the target behavior. This is a great design to use especially if you want to avoid problems with irreversibility because no IV is ever reversed or withdrawn. It also avoids sequence effects since each IV is presented essentially at the same time. But, this design does have a potential disadvantage: when multiple treatments are going on at the same time or being administered at the same time, they could have an effect on the behavior that is known as the multiple treatment interference. It’s a variation of sequence effects, meaning that it’s hard to say for certain that each independent variable is actually acting independently without the influence of those other independent variables which are being administered at the same time.

The moral of this story is that there are pros and cons to everything. During any aspect of programming in ABA, whether it’s an experimental design or in the applied setting, you have to be sure that you always weigh the good and the bad. And you have to make sure that you control for those things that could confound your results.

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