Overview
Operational Definition of Behavior
The behavior that I would like to define and measure is smartphone checking that I undergo several times a day. An operational definition is a definition of a behavior in observable and measurable terms, and can be identified by the same observers (Cooper et al., 2020). My operational definition of smartphone checking is any moment where the person picks up or switches on the phone display, and takes a visual look at the phone display at least two seconds after which they either touch an application or place the phone back into a resting position. In such a definition, the specific actions that make the behavior are indicated so that they can be observed and recorded in a reliable manner. The definition removes ambiguity by incorporating specific elements which can be quantified like time of visual attention and the nature of touching the device to enable the same behavior to be observed by various observers (Bakeman & Quera, 2012).
Time-Sampling Procedure
In order to measure this behavior, I would apply a momentary time sampling procedure. This technique presupposes the segmentation of an observation period, and the presence or absence of the target behavior at the exact time when each segment is over (Cooper et al., 2020). As an illustration, in a two-hour observation period, I would put intervals of five minutes in total and 24 points of observations. I would record whether smartphone checking is taking place at the specified moment at the end of every five minutes. Momentary time sampling is useful in frequent behavior which is only an approximation of the proportion of time spent in a behavior (Volpe et al., 2005). This process minimizes the fatigue of the observer besides producing significant data on the behavior patterns throughout the day.
References
Bakeman, R., & Quera, V. (2012). Behavioral observation. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol 1: Foundations, planning, measures, and psychometrics (pp. 207–225). American Psychological Association.
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Volpe, R. J., DiPerna, J. C., Hintze, J. M., & Shapiro, E. S. (2005). Observing students in classroom settings: A review of seven coding schemes. School Psychology Review, 34, 454–474.