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Step 2:
Start Collecting and Recording Data
Immediately start assessing your adjustment in the area of
concern and continue throughout the project (see methods
#8 and #9 in chapter 11)
Select some way of measuring the changes you hope to make. The
idea is to keep a record of some easily countable behavior, often called
"target behavior," and/or some ratable emotion that clearly reflects
your quality of adjustment in the problem area. Examples:
Problem Area
Measure of Progress
Losing weight--
Calorie intake per day (and/or minutes exercising)
Studying more--
Pages read using SQRRR method (or hours spent
reading)
Depression--
Number of times I cried today (or rating of gloomy
mood)
Suppression of
feelings--
Number of times I started to get upset today but
didn't let myself feel the emotions (or rate your
degree of suppression)
Speech anxiety--
Rating of anxiety while speaking (and/or number of
times you speak up)
Closer friends--
Number of empathic responses given (or hours
spent with friends or ratings of closeness by
friends)
More confident--
Self-rating of confidence. Weekly rating by a
friend.
Self-satisfaction--
Number of positive self-evaluations given each day
(or a daily rating of self-esteem)
There are many ways of keeping a tally of the frequency or
duration or intensity of your target behaviors, feelings, or thoughts
during the day. One of the easiest and cheapest ways of keeping score
is to carry a 3 x 5 card and make tally marks during the day which you
could then plot on a graph each evening. This is especially helpful
when the 3 x 5 card is directly associated with the wanted or
unwanted behavior, such as being put on your desk or the refrigerator
door, on the exercise equipment or the candy box, or inside the
cellophane wrapper of the cigarette pack. A simple transfer of coins
