Frms Test 3

Front 1

GROUP METHODOLOGY

Back 1

average performance of 1+ groups of participants

Front 2

SINGLE-CASE REASEARCH DESIGNS

Back 2

Research designed to reveal various nuances and subtleties of behavior

Can teach us what is average by revealing what is not average

Front 3

CASE STUDY

Back 3

Intensive description & analysis of a single individual

Frequently describes the application and results of a particular treatment

May describe symptoms, methods used to understand/treat symptoms, evidence for treatment’s effectiveness

lacks a high degree of control

Front 4

ADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDIES

Back 4

Provide rich source of info. about individuals and insights into possible causes of behavior

Provides an opportunity to try new therapeutic techniques

Front 5

ADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDIES

Back 5

Useful for studying rare behavior:
Difficult to find a group of people that exhibit the same rare behavior

Provide evidence for theories:
Cases that violate a theory indicate that the theory needs to be revised

Front 6

DISADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDIES

Back 6

Difficult to draw cause-effect conclusions:
~simultaneous treatments may be going on
~there’s not a high degree of control

Front 7

DISADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDIES

Back 7

Researcher is both observer and participant, thus a possible observer bias:
Therapist is motivated to think treatment was effective

Effectiveness is based on subjective impressions of the observer

Front 8

DISADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDIES

Back 8

Individuals self-report info. about themselves:
May exaggerate treatment effectiveness

Front 9

DISADVANTAGES OF CASE STUDIES

Back 9

External validity is potentially limited:
If the variability in the population is small, then generalizability is increased
If the variability in the population is large, then generalizability is decreased

Front 10

ISSUES WITH CASE STUDIES

Back 10

New or unusual findings may lead scientists to revise theories or may lead to new avenues of research

Dramatic findings are often accepted uncritically by nonscientists

Ex. TV ads for weight loss pills (e.g., testimonials)

Front 11

SINGLE-CASE (N=1) EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

Back 11

Focus on the behavior of one individual:
Similar to a repeated measures design for one individual (vs. a group)

Front 12

SINGLE CASE: STAGE 1

Back 12

Researchers record the individual’s behavior before any treatment

Enables researchers to describe behavior before treatment

Can predict what the individual’s behavior will be like in the future without treatment

Front 13

SINGLE CASE: STAGE 2

Back 13

Researchers record behavior with the same measures as used in baseline stage

By inspecting the difference between baseline and treatment, researchers can infer if the treatment was effective

Front 14

ABAB REVERSAL DESIGN

Back 14

Used to demonstrate that behavior changes systematically when they alternate “no treatment” and “treatment”

A= no treatment (control/baseline)
B= treatment (intervention)

Because treatment is removed during the 2nd A stage, any improvement in behavior is likely to be reversed at this point

Front 15

ABAB METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

Back 15

If frequency of behavior does not revert back to baseline in the 2nd A stage, then you cannot be sure that the treatment caused the change in behavior

Behavior may not be expected to rebound to baseline levels (e.g., if skills have been learned)

Variable other than treatment caused the change in behavior (confounding)

Front 16

MULTIPLE BASELINE DESIGN

Back 16

Step 1: Measure baseline responses in multiple settings (e.g., home, work, school)

Step 2: Introduce treatment into one setting but not others. Continue measuring responses in all settings

Step 3: Repeat Step 2 for the second setting, then the third, etc.