The Practical Importance of the Distinction Between Open and Closed-Ended Indirect Assessments

The identification of functional relations is a hallmark of applied behavior analysis. Building upon this foundation, applied behavior analysts have developed and researched a number of practices that fall within the purview of Functional Behavioral Assessment, a framework used to understand factors that influence a target behavior. Indeed, there now exists a wide range of procedures that fall within the purview of Functional Behavioral Assessment, with different procedures being associated with different strengths and limitations. Indirect assessments are commonly featured in most descriptions of the Functional Behavioral Assessment process. This paper focuses on the distinction between open and closed-ended indirect assessments specifically, highlighting their strengths and limitations. After distinguishing between these two types of indirect assessments considerations for practice are provided.