Opportunities

This method is useful for determining how often the behavior occurred when given the opportunity

When to Use It

Not Recommended if the opportunity to engage in behavior is continuous or if the opportunity is not always easy to observe

The definition of an opportunity must be previously established prior to collecting this type of data.
This method controls for behaviors that are driven by opportunities
For example, if the team would like for the student to comply with teacher requests, the opportunity would be defined as anytime the teacher makes a request
This type of method can reduce the number of times the observer has to record data; however, the observer must remember to record each opportunity in order to produce an accurate representation of the behavior.

Materials Needed:

Clearly provide a definition of observable behavior
Clearly provide a definition of the opportunity
Present/observe opportunity
If behavior occurs when the opportunity is present, use a plus (+) mark
If behavior does not occur when the opportunity is present, use a minus (-) mark
Add up all the + marks at the end of the observation and divide by + and - total

Strategies:

Creative methods can also be used to track this data, such as golf counters (one for + and the other for -), different colored stickers or labels, marbles in two different jars, or tally marks under + and – categories.

The data is summarized by calculating the percentage of opportunities.
To calculate, sum the total number of times the behavior did occur when an opportunity was presented (+), divide by the total number of opportunities (+ and -), and multiply by 100.

Example: The teacher presented requests to Jorrell 15 times on Monday. Jorrell complied with 10

of those requests.

So, 10 ÷ 15 = .66 x 100 = Jorrell complied with requests during 66.7% of opportunities.

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