Promoting HPT Innovations A Return to Our Natural Science Roots

Abstract

The core innovations represented by the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) trace their origins, by way of Programmed Instruction, to the field of Behavior Analysis, a natural science methodology for the study of behavior developed by B.F. Skinner. This methodology, like all experimental natural science, rests on a foundation of functional analysis and standard units of measurement. Functional analysis is basic experimental method, whereby the investigator or practitioner keeps all but one variable constant, changes the variable in question (an “intervention”), and measures the effect on other variables. Behavior Analysis, like HPT, emphasizes prediction and control of individual behavior rather than determination of average effects across groups of individuals. In order for HPT to support and encourage greater and more effective innovation, it must re-emphasize reliance on standard units of measurement and functional analysis and promote policies and procedures that increase variation of interventions. The combination of encouraging variation and selecting interventions by means of functional analysis and objective measurement will ensure steady, reliable progress in Human Performance Technology.

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