U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

GRAPHING - HOW TO KNOW AND SHOW YOUR RESULTS - PART 4

NCJ Number
61928
Author(s)
B C PENNINGTON
Date Published
Unknown
Length
38 pages
Annotation
IN BOOKLET TWELVE OF THIS 17-PART, SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL SERIES FOR CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS, TECHNIQUES IN GRAPHING INMATE BEHAVIOR, SPECIFICALLY, TIME SAMPLE METHODS ARE DISCUSSED.
Abstract
THIS SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM PROVIDES INFORMATION ON BEHAVIOR EVALUATION AND GRAPHING AND RELATED CALCULATIONS IN ILLUSTRATED NARRATIVE FORM; FILL-IN QUESTIONS AND MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMSOLVING ARE INCLUDED THROUGHOUT, WITH ANSWERS PROVIDED. IT IS INTENDED THAT THE USER START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOKLET, WORK STRAIGHT THROUGH, WRITE ANSWERS AND SOLVE PROBLEMS AS DIRECTED, AND CHECK COMPLETED WORK. IN ORDER TO EVALUATE CORRECTIONAL PLAN EFFECTIVENESS, COUNTING OR ESTIMATING BEHAVIOR BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER PLAN IMPLEMENTATION AND PLOTTING RESULTS ON A GRAPH MAY BE USEFUL. CONTINUOUS RECORDING OF BEHAVIOR IS ONLY POSSIBLE, HOWEVER, WHEN THE CORRECTIONAL OFFICER CAN COUNT ALL BEHAVIORS, SUCH AS SHEETS FOLDED OR CHAIRS PAINTED. IF THE OFFICER IS NOT AVAILABLE TO COUNT, HE CAN USE THE TIME SAMPLE METHOD FOR OBSERVING AND GRAPHING BEHAVIOR, BY SAMPLING THE BEHAVIOR AT A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT TIMES DURING THE DAY; IF HE 'CATCHES' THE INMATE WORKING, HE WOULD REINFORCE OR AWARD HIM WITH A CHECK OR POINT TO BE USED IN OBTAINING A REINFORCER, AND HE WOULD RECORD THE BEHAVIOR. AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE OFFICER WOULD COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES HE OBSERVED THE DESIRED BEHAVIOR, AND THE TOTAL NUMBER OF TIMES HE LOOKED IN. AT THE BEGINNING OF CORRECTIONAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION, THE INMATE SHOULD BE CHECKED AN AVERAGE OF TWO TIMES PER HOUR, AND AT DIFFERENT TIMES, SO CHECKING IS UNEXPECTED. DAILY PERCENTS SHOULD BE GRAPHED AS ARE CONTINUOUS COUNTING RESULTS, WITH THE DAY ON THE HORIZONTAL GRID AND THE PERCENT OF TIME ON THE VERTICAL. SKETCHES, GRAPHS, AND NUMEROUS MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS ARE INCLUDED IN THE TEXT. (LWM)