Development and Validation of a Standardized Training Protocol for Continuous Assessment of Interpersonal Dynamics (CAID)

The current study examines a standardized training protocol for Continuous Assessment of Interpersonal Dynamics (CAID) in a sample of undergraduates. Currently, laboratories utilize CAID without a standardized training protocol or benchmarks for accuracy, reducing the ease of implementing this paradigm in new labs and reducing the reliability of data across different laboratories. This study tested a short training protocol by randomly assigning participants to a 2-h or 4-h training session and examining accuracy and agreement of coders over time in training. The second aim was to understand whether individual differences impacted coding proficiency. Multilevel models were used to understand the impact of each training session and individual differences on coding proficiency. Results suggested that 1) aggregate-level coding proficiency is achieved within 2 h of training, but coders are better at capturing dynamic aspects of interpersonal behavior after 4 h of training, and 2) interpersonal problems and sensitives do not impact coding proficiency. The implications for these results and methods for training reliable and accurate CAID coders is discussed, and the training protocol and materials are available online for interested researchers.