How to Compare Performance When There Are Programmed Breaks Versus Unprogrammed Breaks

And we're back with another installment in the Inside JABA Series. In this episode, Dr. John Borrero and I are joined by Drs. Jessica Nastasi and Nicole Gravina. We discuss their recent JABA publication, Breaks and Productivity: An Exploratory Analysis (see Nastasi, Tassistro, and Gravina, 2023; and subscribe to JABA here if you want). 

Although this is a shorter episode by Inside JABA standards, we cover quite a bit of territory, including what motivated this research, the broader literature on breaks and productivity, the novel research design that was employed, and how the authors analyzed the data. 

And because this an Inside JABA Series podcast, we spent some time talking about why this study was published in JABA when other alternatives were available. 

In the coming days, this episode will be available for BACB CEU credit, so if you are interested in fulfilling your professional development needs while listening to the podcast, click here to learn more.  

• The Wages and Fair Labor Standards Act.
• How to Get Better Results with John Austin.
• How to Take Better Breaks at Work, HBR.
• The Pomodoro Technique.
• Dr. Gravina's page at U. of Florida.
• Dr. Gravina's lab on Facebook and Instagram.
• Drs. Nastasi and Gravina on LinkedIn.
• Inside JABA Series 9: Applied and Translational Research in Healthcare (Ethics CEU).
• Skinner (1955): A Case History of the Scientific Method.
• What I forgot to mention: Sidman's discussion of what constitutes a "Pilot Study."