Summary: Your data is what the BCBA actually sees. They aren't in the room for most sessions, so the graph you build, one data point at a time, is the program. Pick the wrong measurement method or record sloppily and you can make a client look like they're progressing when they're stuck, or stuck when they're progressing. This guide walks through every method the RBT exam tests, when to use each one, and the recording habits that keep your data honest.
Here's the thing nobody tells you on day one. As an RBT, you're a measurement instrument. The BCBA designs the program, but they make decisions off the numbers you hand them. If your data is clean, the right calls get made. If it's messy or biased, the client pays for it, sometimes for months, before anyone catches the drift.
So treat data collection as clinical work, not paperwork. The rest of this page is about doing it well and about the specific traps the exam likes to set.
Why we collect data at all
Three reasons, and they're worth understanding rather than memorizing.
First, to measure what's actually happening. You take a baseline so you know where the client started. Then you track whether behavior is going up, down, or staying flat. Without a baseline, you have no idea whether your intervention did anything. "He seems better" is not data.
That's the free preview of Data Collection. The complete guide, plus all 851 practice questions and 3 full exams, is in the study pack and the book.