Question

a website affiliated with a market research firm awards points to users for completing surveys. points may be redeemed for gift cards. occasionally, users receive extra bonus points when they complete a survey. users are pleasantly surprised when they receive the points; the firm randomizes the number of surveys each user completes before points are awarded to encourage engagement with the site. the bonus points are awarded on a ______ schedule of reinforcement. variable - ratio fixed - ratio fixed - interval latent - interval

Explanation:

• Variable - ratio schedule: Reinforcement (here, bonus points) is given after a variable (random) number of responses (completing surveys). In the problem, the firm randomizes the number of surveys completed before awarding bonus points, which fits this schedule.
• Fixed - ratio schedule: Reinforcement is given after a fixed number of responses. But the problem says the number of surveys is randomized, so this is not correct.
• Fixed - interval schedule: Reinforcement is given after a fixed time interval. The problem is about the number of surveys (a response - based measure), not time, so this is incorrect.
• Latent - interval: This is not a standard reinforcement schedule term in operant conditioning (the relevant theory here). The standard schedules are fixed - ratio, variable - ratio, fixed - interval, and variable - interval.

Answer:

variable - ratio