Are We Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places? Comment on Dixon et al.

Dixon and colleagues (Behavior Analysis in Practice 8(1):7-15, 2015) used publication rates of faculty in programs with Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) approved course sequences as a proxy measure for the quality of the program. The paper is important because it begins a conversation about what the characteristics of a quality program should be. Low publication rates for most of these programs and their faculties were a source of concern for Dixon, et al., but from the perspective of measurement validity, this finding is not necessarily bad news. Program quality is a multi-dimensional construct, and for some dimensions, publication rates are likely to be irrelevant.