Alternating treatments design (ATD) focuses on the question as to whether one treatment is more effective over another. Alternating treatment designs are an approach that compares the effects of two or even more treatment methods on the same behavior, with the primary focus being to determine conditions that are or effective in changing one behavior (Lanovaz, Cardinal & Francis, 2019). The basic concept behind the approach is that, when used together, two or more treatments alternated in time can be used to evaluate the relative effects of treatments on certain behavior. This essay compares and contrasts the hypothetical examples of alternating designs provided on the attached material (page 244 and 59), of the behavior modification text.
Drawing from the provided case scenario or the experimental application of ATD, one key comparison between the two is that, the different treatment methods are introduced not at the same time but in an alternating format. I.e on page 59, the teacher interchanges the variables day-to-day (one day with violent cartoons and the next without). On the other hand, the experimenter in pg 244 adopts a weekly approach where treatment A is applied week one and the alternative treatment B applied on the following week.
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The effect of the treatment methods applied is evaluated separately but compared with each other. This whereby each of the alternative treatment methods has its effect on the subject evaluated and compared to the alternative treatment method. For example, the violent cartons' effect on the children and without carton treatment responses were recorded separately.
Despite featuring different viewpoints, the difference of opinion is less significant. This is due to the idea that the primary focus of both approaches is to test treatments impact of two or more different models. Despite the difference in treatment administering and interpretation of the resulting form one model, the result is drawn by comparing the effect of each or alternate treatment design over the other. Finally, the second approach to behavioral modification using the alternating treatment design is more favorable when dealing with behavior conditions and more when the subject is young and actively participating in the process. So the approach is best suited when the participants are actively laying part in the process. This permits the experimenter to assess both the impact of the treatments and that which may come from foreign factors such as the environment.
Reference
Lanovaz, M. J., Cardinal, P., & Francis, M. (2019). Using a Visual Structured Criterion for the Analysis of Alternating-Treatment Designs. Behavior Modification, 43(1), 115–131.
