Evaluating the Feasibility of Methods of Live Data Collection for Sociability Assessments

Abstract Sociability assessments may be useful for determining the function of social interaction; however, intensive data collection requirements may limit their clinical feasibility. The purpose of the current studies was to evaluate the feasibility of implementing sociability assessments while collecting discontinuous versus continuous data. We compared procedural fidelity and interobserver agreement across sociability assessment sessions during which implementers collected no data, momentary time sampling data, or duration data in role-play (both studies) and clinical (study 2) contexts. Most participants exhibited relatively high procedural fidelity and interobserver agreement scores remained high across conditions requiring live momentary time sampling and duration data collection. These findings support the feasibility and adoptability of sociability assessments in research and clinical practice. Directions for future research related to sociability assessments as well as general methods of evaluating the feasibility of different data collection procedures are discussed.