Social validity as an interactive process

Abstract

Social validity in applied behavior analysis remains critically important. However, assessing social validity and responding to its results pose challenges for the field. Social validity assessments are often treated as a one-time measure conducted after intervention. Researchers have urged consideration of social validity as an ongoing, dynamic, and interactive process (i.e., interventions are adjusted based on social validity assessment results). Yet, there has been limited discussion on the interactive process of social validity and the variables that may influence it. This article (a) reviews definitions of social validity and the purpose of its assessment; (b) examines how studies published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis from 2010 to 2020 have assessed social validity as an interactive process; and (c) offers considerations for researchers and practitioners to enhance opportunities for an interactive process of social validity, including issues related to the measurement rigor and data interpretability of social validity assessments.