What is frequency?

• A. The duration the behavior lasts.
• B. The count of how many times the behavior occurs.
• C. The rate per minute.
• D. The interval between occurrences.

Answer: (B)

Frequency is the count of how many times a behavior occurs during a defined observation period. It’s simply tallying each instance of the target behavior. This is different from duration, which measures how long the behavior lasts, and from rate, which expresses frequency relative to time (for example, how many occurrences per minute). It’s also different from the interval between occurrences, which is the time elapsed between successive responses (inter-response time).

Example: if a child engages in hand-flapping 8 times during a 2-minute session, the frequency is 8. The rate would be 4 occurrences per minute. If each hand-flap lasts 0.5 seconds, the total duration would be 4 seconds, a separate measure. The intervals between hand-flaps would be the inter-response times. This shows why frequency specifically refers to the total count of occurrences.