Changing Criterion Design

Andy has recently been employed in a factory where plastic cutlery is boxed and shipped. Andy’s job is to check every third box to ensure the correct number of knives, spoons, or forks are included. Andy’s boss wants him to increase his overall speed (the number of boxes checked per hour) now that he has reached a 100-percent accuracy rate. Andy’s job coach suggests the boss require Andy to increase his number of boxes checked by one per hour (four per day) in one-week increments. If Andy reaches his quota for five consecutive work days, he will be rewarded with a bonus of $20 to be implemented permanently when he reaches and maintains his final quota of 20 boxes checked per hour for three weeks.

For this discussion, please address the following:

What design are the psychologist and boss implementing? Explain your answer.
What is one aspect of the study that potentially weakens the demonstration of the functional relationship?
Assume Andy’s boss decides it would be better to offer Andy praise for improving his performance each hour, day, and week and then provide a one-time $100 bonus when he reaches his criterion. Would this change your response as to what design was being implemented? Explain your response.
REFERENCES
Klein, L. A., Houlinan, D., Vincent, J. L., & Panahon, C. J. (2017). Best practices in utilizing the changing criterion design. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10(1), 52–61.
Hartmann, D. P., & Hall, R. V. (1976). The changing criterion design. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9(4), 527–532.