Which type of direct assessment does not manipulate environmental variables?

Descriptive assessment is a type of direct assessment that involves observing and recording behavior in natural contexts without actively manipulating environmental variables. This approach typically entails noting the frequency, duration, and context of specific behaviors as they occur, which helps to identify patterns of behavior and potential triggers or maintaining factors. By employing a descriptive assessment, practitioners aim to gather data based on the natural occurrences of behavior rather than creating experimental conditions that might influence the behavior being studied.

On the other hand, experimentation and functional analysis involve systematically manipulating variables to observe effects on behavior, which is not the case with descriptive assessments. Contingency assessments, while also focusing on behavior, often involve evaluating the relationships between behavior and environmental events, which can also imply some level of manipulation in how the behavior is examined.