For example, Roscoe, Fisher, Glover, and Volkert (2006) trained adults to implement preference assessments using written instructions, monetary rewards, and feedback. There are numerous research studies that demonstrate the importance of frequent opportunities to respond and receive feedback during skill acquisition (e.g., Kritch & Bostow, 1998). The user can learn to create graphs by viewing a demonstration of the steps and then the user can try to complete the steps and receive feedback to correct any mistakes or reinforce correct completion of the skill. The benefit of a computer-based tutorial, compared to text alone, is that the instruction can be interactive. For example, it might be difficult to determine why a particular graph does not match an illustrative figure in an article after the user has followed the instructions.Ī computer-based tutorial may solve these problems. Using articles to acquire graphing skills could be frustrating, particularly if the user has little experience using graphing software. The third problem is that textual instructions cannot give a user feedback on their performance. Bar graphs are easier to create in Excel than other types of graphs, but there are a few features that users often miss that could enhance visual inspection.
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The authors do not describe how to create bar graphs (or column graphs), which are often used to graph the results of preference assessments. A second limitation exists in the updated article for Excel 2007 (Dixon et al.). Uncorrected phase lines might result in problematic decisions based on the erroneous information.
Manually inserted phase lines do not move when new data are added to graphs and might result in graphs with phase lines in the incorrect location. This is problematic for a clinician who frequently updates graphs with new data. First, both articles teach the user to add phase lines using the drawing tools. However, each of these articles has some limitations.
These articles are useful for many people attempting to create specialized behavior-analytic graphs. A more recent article has been published with updated task analyses for those users with Excel 2007 or 2010 ( Dixon et al., 2009). Carr and Burkholder (1998) provided detailed task analyses for the creation of these graphs for users who have older versions of Excel. There are some solutions available to clinicians who want to learn to create common behavior-analytic graphs using the widely available Excel.
These problems can discourage clinicians from learning to create graphs that would be effective for data analysis and presentation. The default settings of commonly available programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel) lead beginners to create graphs that can make data interpretation difficult by adding unconventional color schemes, three-dimensional effects, and shadows. Some graphing programs provide additional functionality that makes graphing easier however, those programs may be expensive and less widely available (e.g., GraphPad Prism, Sigma Plot). For example, searching “add phase lines” in Microsoft Excel provides no results applicable to adding phase lines to a graph.
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Second, the user may find it difficult to locate assistance in the help functions of these software packages because they are rarely designed explicitly for the behavior analyst's needs. First, it can be difficult to find tools or features within graphing and spreadsheet programs that create common components of behavior-analytic graphs (e.g., a button for adding phase lines). Although well-designed graphs can be useful tools for the behavior-analytic clinician, the skills required to create the graphs may be difficult to master for a number of reasons.
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