ABA Program Ranked in Top 10 for Research
The results were gathered for the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) by a group of psychology experts and published in the Behavior Analysis in Practice journal. A total of 353 faculty from 74 behavioral programs throughout the country were analyzed for their research productivity.
The research mainly revolved around the frequency and number of publications that appeared in journals published by two major behavior analysis publishers - the Society of Experimental Analysis of Behavior, which publishes two journals, and ABAI, which publishes four journals.
There were three criteria the programs were measured against:
First, a total number of publications in each of the behavior analysis journals authored by faculty members in a given program were calculated. The purpose was to identify the journals to which faculty in ABA programs tend to publish and highlight the programs whose faculty members have collectively made noteworthy research contributions.
Second, a total number of publications authored by individual faculty members were then calculated to identify normative trends in research by individuals and highlight their contributions.
Finally, the researchers examined two possible correlates of research productivity -- whether a program was also ABAI-accredited and whether it offered supervised field experience. This supervised field experience would contribute to graduates' eligibility to sit for a Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) examination.
McNeese's ABA program met all of these criteria.
Dr. Cameron Melville, coordinator of the psychology graduate program at McNeese, said the department has a strong commitment to excellence in student training, which includes exposure to research that is beneficial to future ABA practitioners.
"To be ranked nationally in the top 10 training programs in applied behavior analysis is very gratifying," Melville said. "Potential students evaluate training programs by a number of different criteria including quality and value. This ranking confirms the program is high in quality."
For more information about the ABA program at McNeese, visit http://www.mcneese.edu/psychology/applied_behavior_analysis.