When is a single case design appropriate?
Single-case designs are usually appropriate where the case represents a critical case (it meets all the necessary conditions for testing a theory), where it is an extreme or unique case, where it is a revelatory case, or where the research is exploratory (Yin 1994, pp. 38-40).
What is single case design in ABA?
Single case design (ABA: A refers to the non-treatment or control phase of the experiment while B refers to the treatment phase of the experiment) James K. Luiselli, in Conducting Behavioral Consultation in Educational and Treatment Settings, 2018
What are the different types of single case research designs?
Single-Case Designs 1 Consultation in Action. Single-case designs are synonymous with ABA research but should also be integrated with routine clinical practice. 2 Research and Methods. ... 3 Assertion Training. ... 4 Experimental Design. ... 5 Good Behavior Game. ... 6 Case study research
How should consultants prepare for a single-case practice?
Consultants should acquaint themselves with single-case designs, terminology, and methods by reading several seminal and noteworthy texts ( Barlow, Nock, & Hersen, 2009; Kazdin, 2011 ). In what follows, I describe the essential features of four single-case designs that consultants can implement in their practice.
What is ABAB single-case design?
The A-B-A-B design represents an attempt to measure a baseline (the first A), a treatment measurement (the first B), the withdrawal of treatment (the second A), and the re-introduction of treatment (the second B).
When would you use an ABAB reversal design?
1 Reversal or ABAB design. The reversal design demonstrates the effect of the intervention by alternating the presentation and removal of the program over time. The purpose of the design is to demonstrate a functional relationship between the target behavior and the intervention.
What are the advantages of ABAB design?
ABAB designs have the benefit of an additional demonstration of experimental control with the reimplementation of the intervention. Additionally, many clinicians/educators prefer the ABAB design because the investigation ends with a treatment phase rather than the absence of an intervention.
Why is ABAB better than an ABA design?
Why is an ABAB design superior to an ABA design? The ABAB design is superior to the ABA design because a single reversal is not strong enough for the effectiveness of the treatment. Also the sequence ends with the treatment rather than with people withdrawing from the treatment.
What is ABAB design?
An ABAB research design, also called a withdrawal or reversal design, is used to determine if an intervention is effective in changing the behavior of a participant. The design has four phases denoted by A1, B1, A2, and B2. In each phase, repeated measurements of the participant's behavior are obtained.
Why is an ABAB reversal design better than an ABA reversal design?
An ABAB design is superior to an ABA design because it shows two problems with the reversal design; one that the treatment may not be efficiently powerful evidence for the effectiveness of treatment.
What is the chief advantage of an ABAB design over a simpler AB design assuming the independent and dependent variables are the same as well as the subject setting etc?
What is the chief advantage of an A-B-A-B design over a simpler A-B design, assuming the independent and dependent variables are the same as well as the subject, setting, and so on? The chief advantage is that A-B-A-B designs better establish the functional relationship between the target behavior and the treatment.
How many phases are in an ABAB design?
twoIn the ABAB design the two demonstartions are the first and second time the phase changes from baseline to treatment and in the multiple-baseline design it is after the first participants/behavior/setting and then again for the second particpant/behavior/setting.
What is the fifth guideline when using ABAB design?
The fifth requirement concerns those extraneous factors that might be associated with , or at least present during, the intervention condition and are not shared with the control condition.
What is the A-B-A-B design?
The A-B-A-B design represents an attempt to measure a baseline (the first A), a treatment measurement (the first B), the withdrawal of treatment (the second A), and the re-introduction of treatment (the second B). In other words, the A-B-A-B design involves two parts: (1) gathering of baseline information, the application of a treatment and measurement of the effects this treatment; and (2) measurement of a return to baseline or what happens when the treatment is removed and then again applying the treatment and measuring the change.
What does A2 mean in a treatment?
A2 represents the removal of Treatment A and also acts as the baseline for the second treatment. The second treatment is applied at B2 followed by another extinction phase (A3), which then becomes the baseline for the third treatment applied at B3. The final A represents the extinction phase of the final treatment method.
What is single case design?
Single-case designs are synonymous with ABA research but should also be integrated with routine clinical practice . Performing as a scientist–practitioner demands that we evaluate the effects of our practices with the most control and rigor as possible. Single-case designs meet this standard, are adaptable to many consultation projects, and provide a solid empirical base for the recommendations made to consultees.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of single case design?
A striking advantage of single case designs is that they can be used to evaluate treatments for individuals with very specifically defined characteristics. These characteristics do not need to be shared with large numbers of other patients or clients for the experiments to be valid. The applicability of the specific interventions studied to broader populations of clients will, of course, depend on the similarity of such clients to the subjects studied. An important disadvantage of single case designs is that they are only applicable in conditions in which return of the target complaints can be reliably demonstrated once the treatment has been removed. If a treatment results (or is hypothesized to result) in a change in personality or in the orientation of an individual to himself or others, then the repeated administration and withdrawal of treatment that is the hallmark of single case designs will not provide useful information. A further disadvantage is that the comparisons are all internally generated and generalization is accomplished only through assessment of multiple cases with similar individual characteristics and treatment.
What is the result of Edgington design?
The results of Edgington designs permit a causal interpretation if the subjects cannot discriminate the different experimental conditions, i.e. if a true single-blind study is performed. The performance of a double-blind study, where the experimenter cannot discriminate the conditions either, is even better. 4.
How effective is assertion training?
Here, baseline levels of performance of an individual are compared with performance levels of that individual during intervention. Research suggests that assertion training can be effective with a number of different types of clients in pursuit of a number of different outcomes . Programs focused on altering cognitions believed to be related to ineffective social behavior have sometimes been found to be as effective as those focused on altering overt behavior, suggesting an equivalence of effect across cognitive methods and assertion training. There are some indications that a combination of methods is most effective. However, some studies that purport to show that cognitive methods are as effective as social skills training in enhancing social skills do not include individual assessment of specific entry level skills and do not design individually tailored programs based on this assessment. This lack may underestimate the potential value of assertion training. A number of studies show that instructions alone (without modeling) are not sufficient to develop appropriate social behaviors with some clients labeled “schizophrenic.”
What is the purpose of case study research?
In discussing the use of case study research to develop theory , Eisenhardt (1989) suggests that as only a limited number of cases can usually be studied, the selection of cases involving extreme situations and polar types is useful where theory is emergent and the goal of the research is further refinement of theory.
What is SCD research?
SCD research is a robust experimental method, providing potential solutions to problems with recruitment, limited funding for research, ethical issues of withholding intervention, individualizing of interventions and understanding of individual intervention responses.
Can time series designs be causally interpreted?
1. In general, the results of single-case designs, in particular, of time-series designs, cannot be causally interpreted since potentially infinitely many alternative explanations exist due to the lack of randomization. This is obvious because single-case designs are special cases of repeated-measures designs. 2.