Analysis of the Characteristics of the Seven Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis of Single-subject Research Design Publications in the『Journal of Behavior Analysis and Support』

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has developed and expanded rapidly over 70 years following the development of the experimental analysis of behavior. Since the seven dimension of ABA (applied, behavioral, analytic, technological, conceptually systematic, effective, and generality) was introduced in 1968, the definition of each dimension was consistently refined. This study evaluated and analyzed degree to which single-subject design studies meet the criteria representing the seven dimensions. The studies were selected from the Journal of Behavior Analysis and Support published by the Korean Association for Behavior Analysis for 10 years. The results of this study showed variabilities among the ratings across studies, criteria and publication years. In addition, the dimensions including technological, conceptually systematic, and generality received lower average ratings than the applied, behavioral, analytic, and effective dimensions. Furthermore, the analytic dimension was rated highest while the generality dimension received the lowest. Implications for future research are discussed.