Detecting changes in simulated events using partial‐interval recording and momentary time sampling

Abstract

AbstractIn a series of three studies, we evaluated simulated data with reversal designs to determine whether partial‐interval recording (PIR) and momentary time sampling (MTS) detected changes that were evident with continuous measures. The results from Study 1 showed that MTS with interval sizes up to 30 s detected most of the moderate and large changes in duration events and MTS with interval sizes up to 1 min detected most large changes in duration events. By comparison, PIR with 10‐s intervals detected approximately half of all changes in duration events. The results of Study 2 showed that only 10‐s PIR reliably detected most small, moderate, and large changes in frequency events. The results of Study 3 showed that PIR with 10‐s intervals generated a relatively high percentage of false positives for duration events, whereas MTS did not. As a whole, the results support previous findings, but also provide new guidelines for the use of PIR and MTS. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.