what is a single subject research design

What are the different methods of research design?

What are the 5 types of research methods?

• Experiments. …
• Surveys. …
• Questionnaires. …
• Interviews. …
• Case studies. …
• Participant and non-participant observation. …
• Observational trials. …
• Studies using the Delphi method.

How to design research objectives?

Tips for defining your research objectives

• Be concise. One tip for writing strong research objectives is to write your objectives as concisely as you can. ...
• Keep your number of objectives limited. It's also important to write only a few specific research objectives. ...
• Use action verbs. ...
• Be realistic. ...
• Ask for feedback. ...
• Proofread and review your objectives. ...

What is a single arm study design?

The single-arm study design maintains similar safety and efficacy endpoints as the original study design, with the primary efficacy endpoint designed to demonstrate low rates of all-cause mortality and HF hospitalizations in the high-risk NYHA class III ...

What is single subject design in ABA?

Single-subject design or single-case research design is a research design most often used in applied fields of psychology, education, and human behavior in which the subject serves as his/her own control, rather than using another individual/group. Regarding this, what is ABA research design? A-B-A design is a compellingly simple model to ...

What is a single-subject design in research?

Single subject research design is a type of research methodology characterized by repeated assessment of a particular phenomenon (often a behavior) over time and is generally used to evaluate interventions [2].

What is an example of single-subject research?

Generally, in single subject research we count the number of times something occurs in a given time period and see if it occurs more or less often in that time period after implementing an intervention. For example, we might measure how many baskets someone makes while shooting for 2 minutes.

How do you identify a single-subject design?

Single-subject designs are defined by the following features:An individual “case” is the unit of intervention and unit of data analysis.The case provides its own control for purposes of comparison. ... The outcome variable is measured repeatedly within and across different conditions or levels of the independent variable.

Is single-subject research qualitative or quantitative?

quantitativeSingle-subject research, at times referred to as single-case research, is a quantitative approach to examine functional relationships between baseline and experimental conditions over time within individual subjects.

What is an advantage of a single subject design?

A single subject research design can be used to study the time course, variability, or effect of an intervention or treatment on a single patient.

What type of statistical approach is used for single-subject research?

Data Analysis in Single-Subject Research Group data are described using statistics such as means, standard deviations, Pearson's r, and so on to detect general patterns. Finally, inferential statistics are used to help decide whether the result for the sample is likely to generalize to the population.

Is a case study a single-subject design?

A case study is a form of descriptive research that seeks to identify explanatory patterns for phenomena and generates hypotheses for future research. Single-subject research designs provide a quasi-experimental approach to investigating causal relationships between independent and dependent variables.

What is the difference between single-subject designs and group research designs?

Unlike group designs, single-case research designs do not involve aggregation of data across multiple participants for the purpose of creating group statistics.

What is the importance of single subject research?

Another important aspect of single-subject research is that the change from one condition to the next does not usually occur after a fixed amount of time or number of observations. Instead, it depends on the participant’s behaviour.

How does single subject research differ from group research?

In addition to its focus on individual participants, single-subject research differs from group research in the way the data are typically analyzed. As we have seen throughout the book, group research involves combining data across participants. Group data are described using statistics such as means, standard deviations, Pearson’s r, and so on to detect general patterns. Finally, inferential statistics are used to help decide whether the result for the sample is likely to generalize to the population. Single-subject research, by contrast, relies heavily on a very different approach called#N#visual inspection#N#. This means plotting individual participants’ data as shown throughout this chapter, looking carefully at those data, and making judgments about whether and to what extent the independent variable had an effect on the dependent variable. Inferential statistics are typically not used.

What is a baseline in a multi-baseline design?

In a multiple-baseline design, baselines are established for different participants, different dependent variables, or different settings—and the treatment is introduced at a different time on each baseline. If the introduction of the treatment is followed by a change in the dependent variable on each baseline, this provides strong evidence of a treatment effect.

What is a reversal design?

The most basic single-subject research design is the#N#reversal design#N#, also called the ABA design. During the first phase, A, a is established for the dependent variable. This is the level of responding before any treatment is introduced, and therefore the baseline phase is a kind of control condition. When steady state responding is reached, phase B begins as the researcher introduces the treatment. There may be a period of adjustment to the treatment during which the behaviour of interest becomes more variable and begins to increase or decrease. Again, the researcher waits until that dependent variable reaches a steady state so that it is clear whether and how much it has changed. Finally, the researcher removes the treatment and again waits until the dependent variable reaches a steady state. This basic reversal design can also be extended with the reintroduction of the treatment (ABAB), another return to baseline (ABABA), and so on.

How many treatments are alternated relatively quickly on a regular schedule?

Two or more treatments are alternated relatively quickly on a regular schedule.

Can single subject research be analyzed?

The results of single-subject research can also be analyzed using statistical procedures— and this is becoming more common. There are many different approaches, and single-subject researchers continue to debate which are the most useful. One approach parallels what is typically done in group research.

What Is Single-Subject Research?

Single-subject research is a type of quantitative research that involves studying in detail the behavior of each of a small number of participants. Note that the term single-subject does not mean that only one participant is studied; it is more typical for there to be somewhere between two and 10 participants. (This is why single-subject research designs are sometimes called small- n designs, where n is the statistical symbol for the sample size.) Single-subject research can be contrasted with group research, which typically involves studying large numbers of participants and examining their behavior primarily in terms of group means, standard deviations, and so on. The majority of this book is devoted to understanding group research, which is the most common approach in psychology. But single-subject research is an important alternative, and it is the primary approach in some areas of psychology.

What is the second assumption of single subject research?

A second assumption of single-subject research is that it is important to discover causal relationships through the manipulation of an independent variable, the careful measurement of a dependent variable, and the control of extraneous variables.

Why is it important to study strong and consistent effects that have biological or social significance?

Applied researchers, in particular, are interested in treatments that have substantial effects on important behaviors and that can be implemented reliably in the real-world contexts in which they occur. This is sometimes referred to as social validity (Wolf, 1976). The study by Hall and his colleagues, for example, had good social validity because it showed strong and consistent effects of positive teacher attention on a behavior that is of obvious importance to teachers, parents, and students. Furthermore, the teachers found the treatment easy to implement, even in their often chaotic elementary school classrooms.

Why are case studies important?

Case studies can be useful for generating new research questions, for studying rare phenomena, and for illustrating general principles. However, they cannot substitute for carefully controlled experimental or correlational studies because they are low in internal and external validity.

Is single subject research qualitative or quantitative?

One is qualitative research, which focuses on understanding ...

Can case studies be used as a substitute for a group study?

As a general rule, however, case studies cannot substitute for carefully designed group or single-subject research studies. One reason is that case studies usually do not allow researchers to determine whether specific events are causally related, or even related at all.

Is a case study a qualitative or quantitative study?

It is also important to distinguish single-subject research from case studies. A case study is a detailed description of an individual, which can include both qualitative and quantitative analyses. (Case studies that include only qualitative analyses can be considered a type of qualitative research.)

What is the importance of single subject research?

Another important aspect of single-subject research is that the change from one condition to the next does not usually occur after a fixed amount of time or number of observations. Instead, it depends on the participant’s behavior. Specifically, the researcher waits until the participant’s behavior in one condition becomes fairly consistent ...

How does single subject research differ from group research?

In addition to its focus on individual participants, single-subject research differs from group research in the way the data are typically analyzed. As we have seen throughout the book, group research involves combining data across participants. Group data are described using statistics such as means, standard deviations, Pearson’s r, and so on to detect general patterns. Finally, inferential statistics are used to help decide whether the result for the sample is likely to generalize to the population. Single-subject research, by contrast, relies heavily on a very different approach called visual inspection. This means plotting individual participants’ data as shown throughout this chapter, looking carefully at those data, and making judgments about whether and to what extent the independent variable had an effect on the dependent variable. Inferential statistics are typically not used.

What is reversal design?

The most basic single-subject research design is the reversal design, also called the ABA design. During the first phase, A, a baseline is established for the dependent variable. This is the level of responding before any treatment is introduced, and therefore the baseline phase is a kind of control condition. When steady state responding is reached, phase B begins as the researcher introduces the treatment. There may be a period of adjustment to the treatment during which the behavior of interest becomes more variable and begins to increase or decrease. Again, the researcher waits until that dependent variable reaches a steady state so that it is clear whether and how much it has changed. Finally, the researcher removes the treatment and again waits until the dependent variable reaches a steady state. This basic reversal design can also be extended with the reintroduction of the treatment (ABAB), another return to baseline (ABABA), and so on.

What is a baseline in a multi-baseline design?

In a multiple-baseline design, baselines are established for different participants, different dependent variables, or different settings—and the treatment is introduced at a different time on each baseline. If the introduction of the treatment is followed by a change in the dependent variable on each baseline, this provides strong evidence of a treatment effect.

Can single subject research be analyzed?

The results of single-subject research can also be analyzed using statistical procedures— and this is becoming more common. There are many different approaches, and single-subject researchers continue to debate which are the most useful. One approach parallels what is typically done in group research.

Is data analysis a supplement to visual inspection?

Still, formal statistical approaches to data analysis in single-subject research are generally considered a supplement to visual inspection, not a replacement for it.

Who Uses Single-Subject Research?

Single-subject research has been around as long as the field of psychology itself. In the late 1800s, one of psychology’s founders, Wilhelm Wundt, studied sensation and consciousness by focusing intensively on each of a small number of research participants. Herman Ebbinghaus’s research on memory and Ivan Pavlov’s research on classical conditioning are other early examples, both of which are still described in almost every introductory psychology textbook.

How many participants are in a single subject study?

Note that the term single-subject does not mean that only one participant is studied; it is more typical for there to be somewhere between two and 10 participants. (This is why single-subject research designs are sometimes called small- n designs, where n is the statistical symbol for the sample size.)

What is qualitative research?

A type of quantitative research that involves studying the behaviour of each small number of participants in detail. The study of large numbers of participants and examining their behaviour primarily in terms of group means, standard deviations, and so on. A detailed description of an individual, which can include both qualitative ...

What is a case study?

A. case study. is a detailed description of an individual, which can include both qualitative and quantitative analyses. (Case studies that include only qualitative analyses can be considered a type of qualitative research.)

Why is it important to focus on individual participants?

One reason for this is that group research can hide individual differences and generate results that do not represent the behaviour of any individual. For example, a treatment that has a positive effect for half the people exposed to it but a negative effect for the other half would, on average, appear to have no effect at all. Single-subject research, however, would likely reveal these individual differences. A second reason to focus intensively on individuals is that sometimes it is the behaviour of a particular individual that is primarily of interest. A school psychologist, for example, might be interested in changing the behaviour of a particular disruptive student. Although previous published research (both single-subject and group research) is likely to provide some guidance on how to do this, conducting a study on this student would be more direct and probably more effective.

What is the second assumption of single subject research?

A second assumption of single-subject research is that it is important to discover causal relationships through the manipulation of an independent variable, the careful measurement of a dependent variable, and the control of extraneous variables.

Why are case studies important?

One reason is that case studies usually do not allow researchers to determine whether specific ...

Why do we use single subject design?

Using single-subject designs works around the possible limiting factor of not having enough subjects in a particular area of study.

What can we do to promote what single-subject design is good for?

So I see it as a crucial methodology among several. What we can do to promote what single-subject design is good for is to speak up. It is important that it is being recognized for what it can do and what it cannot do.

How many data points are needed for a single case study?

There’s this misperception that one baseline data point is enough. But for single-case experimental design you want to see at least three data points, because it allows you to see a trend in the data. So there’s a myth about the number of data points needed. The more data points we have, the better.

What is individual case?

An individual “case” is the unit of intervention and unit of data analysis. The case provides its own control for purposes of comparison. For example, the case’s series of outcome variables are measured prior to the intervention and compared with measurements taken during (and after) the intervention.

What are the conditions of a single subject study?

The conditions in a single-subject experimental study are often assigned letters such as the A phase and the B phase, with A being the baseline, or no-treatment phase, and B the experimental, or treatment phase. (Other letters are sometimes used to designate other experimental phases.)

How many participants are needed for a single subject experiment?

Myth 1: Single-subject experiments only have one participant. Obviously, it requires only one subject, one participant. But that’s a misnomer to think that single-subject is just about one participant. You can have as many as twenty or thirty. Myth 2: Single-subject experiments only require one pre-test/post-test.

Is single subject design practice oriented?

So again, single-subject design lends itself to more practice-oriented implementation.

How to analyze data from a single subject design?

One way to analyze the data from a single-subjects design is to visually examine a graphical representation of the results. An example of a graph from a single-subjects design is shown in Figure 11.1. The x -axis is time, as measured in months. The y -axis is the measure of the problem we’re trying to change (i.e., the dependent variable).

Why do social workers use single subject designs?

Because clinical social work often involves one-on-one practice, single-subjects designs are often used by social workers to ensure that their interventions are having a positive effect. While the results will not be generalizable, they do provide important insight into the effectiveness of clinical interventions.

What is single subject therapy?

Although researchers have used single-subjects designs with less positivist therapies, such as narrative therapy , the single-subjects design is generally used in therapies with more quantifiable outcomes . The results of single-subjects studies are not generalizable to the overall population, but they help ensure that social workers are not ...

What Is Single-Subject Research?

• is a type of quantitative research that involves studying in detail the behaviour of each of a small number of participants. Note that the term single-subject does not mean that only one participant is studied; it is more typical for there to be somewhere between two and 10 participants. (This is why single-subject research designs are sometimes ca...

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Assumptions of Single-Subject Research

Who Uses Single-Subject Research?