A Call for Standards: Identifying Demographic and Methodological Variables in Infant Behavior-Analytic Research

A recent call has been made for a unified and detailed approach to demographic and methodological reporting in research with young children (Singh et al., Developmental Psychology, 60(2), 211-227, 2024). This need is especially relevant for infant research, because infants experience rapid developmental changes, cannot provide consent, and rely entirely on caregivers to meet their needs. Yet, although reporting practices in behavior-analytic studies have been reviewed more broadly, infant-focused behavioral studies have not been examined systematically. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (Page et al., BMJ, 372, n71, 2021). We then used the guidelines described by Singh and colleagues to extract data on participant demographics (e.g., age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, language exposure, household composition) and methodological variables (e.g., selection criteria, recruitment, incentives, consent, ethics approval) from behavior-analytic studies conducted with infants aged 0-12 months. We found that demographic and methodological reporting varied from 100% (age) to 0% (birthplace). Given that infant-focused research is an expanding subdomain in behavior analysis, this is an appropriate time to establish clear reporting standards. We suggest that standardized reporting is necessary to ensure that infant research is not only representative but also appropriately replicable across relevant populations to provide accurate information for practice.