Token Economy
Study: Walker et al. (1976)

Describe how students were selected to participate in the study:

The students in the first study were selected to participate based on teacher referral to a self-contained setting.

Describe how students were identified as being at risk for academic failure (AI) or as having emotional/behavioral difficulties (BI):

All students were referred to the self-contained setting. In addition, all students were rated as having high scores on the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist, verified levels of disruptive behavior,academic deficits, and low rates of appropriate beahvior.

ACADEMIC INTERVENTION: What percentage of participants were at risk, as measured by one or more of the following criteria:

• below the 30th percentile on local or national norm, or
• identified disability related to the focus of the intervention?

%

BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION: What percentage of participants were at risk, as measured by one or more of the following criteria:

• emotional disability label,
• placed in an alternative school/classroom,
• non-responsive to Tiers 1 and 2, or
• designation of severe problem behaviors on a validated scale or through observation?

%

Please describe the study design:

The design used allowed for experimental control to be established between the use of social reinforcement alone and tokens plus social reinforcement through the following phases was an (A) baseline, (B) social reinforcement, (C) social reinforcement plus token economy, (B) social reinforcement, (C) social reinforcement plus token economy.These tokens could then be used to purchase backup reinforcers. Experimental control could also be investigated for the use of a cost contingency to determine whether it improved above the use of tokens along through the following phases remainder of the phases used did not allow for experimetnal control to be established of other conditions because of the three opportunities criteria.

Clarify and provide a detailed description of the treatment in the submitted program/intervention:

The token condition included the delivery of tangible tokens to students contingent on the display of appropriate classroom behavior. The delivery of a token was accompanied with verbal praise though verbal praise was also delivered outside of the dispensation of a token.

Clarify what procedures occurred during the control/baseline condition (third, competing conditions are not considered; if you have a third, competing condition [e.g., multi-element single subject design with a third comparison condition], in addition to your control condition, identify what the competing condition is [data from this competing condition will not be used]):

The control condition for this study was social reinforcement in which praise was delivered to students at a rate of approximately 7.5 praise statements per hour contingent on appropriate social and academic behavior. As such, this phase was characterized by a lack of tokens. Experimental control was also able to be investigated for the use of cost contingency with tokens and social reinforcement because there were three opportunities to demonstrate experimental control. The baseline in this case was the social reinforcement with tokens condition.

Please describe how replication of treatment effect was demonstrated (e.g., reversal or withdrawal of intervention, across participants, across settings)

The design contains several unique phases. Based on the notion that adjacent phases only are considered in establishing experimental control, there were opportunities to compare both (1) the use of social reinforcement alone to social reinforcement and tokens and (2) the use of social reinforcement with tokens to social reinforcement with tokens and cost contingencies. These both were investigated with withdrawal conditions.

Please indicate whether (and how) the design contains at least three demonstrations of experimental control (e.g., ABAB design, multiple baseline across three or more participants).

The social reinforcement and social reinforcement with tokens phases were compared three times with the following phases: (1) Phase 3, social reinforcement and Phase 4, social reinforcement with tokens, (2) Phase 4, social reinforcement with tokens and Phase 5, social reinforcement, and (3) Phase 5, social reinforcement and Phase 6, social reinforcement with tokens. The social reinforcement with tokens and social reinforcement with tokens and cost contingencies were compared three times with the following phases: (1) Phase 6, social reinforcement with tokens and Phase 7, social reinforcement with tokens and cost contingencies, (2) Phase 7 with Phase 8, and (3) Phase 8 with Phase 9.

If the study is a multiple baseline, is it concurrent or non-concurrent?

N/A

How was the program delivered?

Individually
Small Group
Classroom

Study measures are classified as targeted, broader, or administrative data according to the following definitions:

• Targeted measures
  Assess outcomes, such as competencies or skills, that the program was directly targeted to improve.
  • In the academic domain, targeted measures typically are not the very items taught but rather novel items structured similarly to the content addressed in the program. For example, if a program taught word-attack skills, a targeted measure would be decoding of pseudo words. If a program taught comprehension of cause-effect passages, a targeted measure would be answering questions about cause-effect passages structured similarly to those used during intervention, but not including the very passages used for intervention.
  • In the behavioral domain, targeted measures evaluate aspects of external or internal behavior the program was directly targeted to improve and are operationally defined.
• Broader measures
  Assess outcomes that are related to the competencies or skills targeted by the program but not directly taught in the program.
  • In the academic domain, if a program taught word-level reading skill, a broader measure would be answering questions about passages the student reads. If a program taught calculation skill, a broader measure would be solving word problems that require the same kinds of calculation skill taught in the program.
  • In the behavioral domain, if a program taught a specific skill like on-task behavior in one classroom, a broader measure would be on-task behavior in another setting.
• Administrative data measures apply only to behavioral intervention tools and are measures such as office discipline referrals (ODRs) and graduation rates, which do not have psychometric properties as do other, more traditional targeted or broader measures.

If you have excluded a variable or data that are reported in the study being submitted, explain the rationale for exclusion: