Acceptability of Rewards Among High School Teachers, Parents, Students, and Administrators: Ecological Implications for Consultation at the High School Level

Abstract

Although rewards play a critical role in virtually all intervention plans generated by behavioral consultants, we have virtually no knowledge of which specific rewards and reward categories are acceptable to the various constituents of consultation services. A participant-generated survey was designed and administered to assess the acceptability of 90 different rewards from the perspective of persons occupying different positions in the ecosystems of high school students (i.e., high school teachers, parents, administrators, and students themselves). Findings of this exploratory study revealed that none of the seven reward categories that were studied were viewed as highly acceptable across all surveyed groups. With the possible exception of academic activities, which had reasonably strong support among all the participant groups, important differences were found across the reward categories when comparing the ratings of adults versus students. An examination of the individual survey items revealed only a small handful of rewards that received at least moderate support among all the constituent groups. Difficulties facing behavioral consultants in high school settings are discussed, along with the need for more research addressing persuasion and interpersonal influence as potential mechanisms for enhancing reward acceptability.