Ethical Considerations on the Nature of Evidence in Analytical-Behavioral Therapies

Abstract

This study’s aim is to analyze methodological conditions for the investigation about the goals of Clinical Behavior Analysis (CBA). To do so, it surveys the relevant research strategies on the discussion about global goals in the Clinical Behavior Analysis and proposes the need for a research program on combined goals in this field. This survey consisted on a review of publications that deal with clinical research in general and reflexive theoretical research in particular. Based on this review, it is argued that clinical normativity, understood as the field of discussion about CBA objectives, is a challenge for the search for evidence in psychotherapy. In this sense, it is also argued that this is not a challenge that clinical research can refuse, since its confrontation gives rise to strategic and ethical conditions for the development of empirical evidence in psychotherapy research. It is argued that the main research process in the field of clinical normativity is theoretical-reflexive research, which unfolds in three integrated sub-modalities, namely, conceptual research, theoretical research and philosophical research. Despite its importance, there is a deficit of methodological systematization on theoretical-reflective research in publications that examine and discuss scientific methods. In its final considerations, this article presents a proposal of a research problem for this field, namely, the investigation of integrative goals in the Clinical Behavior Analysis that could guide the search for empirical evidence in the inter-model construction for clinical intervention.