Methodology, the matching law, and applied behavior analysis.

THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR IS LIMITED BY TWO METHODOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS AREA OF RESEARCH: the use of (a) steady-state strategies and (b) relative vs. absolute response rates. Applied behavior analysts are concerned with both transition-state and steady-state behavior, and applied interventions are typically evaluated by their effects on absolute response rates. Quantitative analyses of behavior will have greater practical value when methods are developed for their extension to traditional rate-of-response variables measured across time. Although steady-state and relative-rate-of-response strategies are appropriate to the experimental analysis of many behavioral phenomena, these methods are rarely used by applied behavior analysts and further separate the basic and applied areas.