Definition
Discontinuous Measurement Procedures involve recording samples of the target behavior during an observation period, rather than capturing every instance of behavior. These methods provide an estimate of how often or when a behavior occurs, but they do not measure every occurrence. Discontinuous measurement is often used when continuous measurement is impractical or unnecessary.
Example
A teacher uses partial interval recording to measure a student’s on-task behavior during a 30-minute lesson. The teacher breaks the lesson into 5-minute intervals and checks at the end of each interval whether the student was on task at any point during the interval. If the student was on task at any time, the teacher records it. This method gives the teacher a general estimate of the student’s engagement without having to observe continuously.