ABA students are encouraged to get involved in behaviorally-based research projects under the mentorship of a faculty member to learn about the science of behavior analysis outside of the classroom. ABA research topics range from functional analysis of problem behavior, to the assessment and treatment of feeding disorders, to research on organizational behavior management. Students become involved in multiple facets of the project including conceptualization of the problem / question, data collection, data entry, data analysis, graphic display of data, and manuscript development. In addition, students should and attend the Scott Center research meetings or individual faculty research meetings to identify research efforts that match their research interests.
Research Teams
Teams of faculty and students have formed to study topics such as social skills training, translational research, and behavior-based safety. ABA students present their research at state and national conferences, such as the annual meeting of the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis (FABA) and the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI). Many students have even been authors on manuscripts published in professional journals in behavior analysis. These journals include the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Behavioral Interventions, the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, the Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions, and more!
41st Annual FABA Conference
Florida Association for Behavior Analysis (FABA) | September 2023
B. F. Skinner Foundation Florida Graduate Student Research Award
Award of $500 to assist in funding graduate student-driven research. Applicants must be a FABA member attending a graduate-level program in Florida. The proposal must be for a student-driven research project, thesis or dissertation approved by their department of study. Applicants do not have to be in a behavior analysis graduate program, but the research must be behavior analytic in nature. Consideration will be given to proposals that describe research with a focus on observable and measurable behavior (or the products thereof) as the dependent variable and the manipulation of well-defined environmental events as independent variables.
Image: Our FABA Award winner Estefania Alarcon Moya with Dr. Catherine Nicholson