Deck 11: Single-Case Research Designs

Question 1

If in the withdrawal phase of an A-B-A experiment the behavior reverts to the original baseline levels, then

A) the treatment did not work since its effects were not permanent.
B) the treatment has only a transient effect.
C) the behavioral changes were the result of history or maturation.
D) history can be ruled out as rival hypotheses.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In single-case research, the word "baseline" refers to

A) the lowest observed rate of the target behavior.
B) the target behavior in the control participant, who will not experience treatment.
C) the participant's initial response to treatment.
D) the participant's target behavior prior to any treatment.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Single-case research is most closely associated, historically, with what area of psychology?

A) social psychology
B) behavioral psychology
B) cognitive science
C) personality psychology

Answer 3

B

Question 4

By including a withdrawal phase after the basic time-series design i.e making it an A-B-A design),

A) the participant finishes the study with the best outcome.
B) we can fulfill our ethical responsibilities to the participant.
C) we may rule out history effects as a plausible rival hypothesis.
D) we will show that the behavior changes are unimportant.

Question 5

In a single-case experiment that is essentially an interrupted time series, the ability to determine that the treatment has an effect

A) requires that the participant understand that his or her behavior must change.
B) requires that the experimenter must be able to predict what the behavior would have been without the treatment.
C) requires that the mean of the pretreatment session be significantly lower than the mean of the posttreatment session.
D) requires that the mean of all pretreatment sessions be significantly higher than the mean of all of the posttreatment sessions.

Question 6

In many applications of the A-B-A design, treatment is completely withdrawn in the appropriate phase. In some other applications, a "reversal design" is used. In these cases,

A) the treatment is applied to a behavior that is incompatible with the target behavior.
B) the treatment's opposite is applied.
C) the treatment is applied to someone other than the target participant.
D) one starts with the treatment already in place, then withdraws it and then returns it.

Question 7

A properly designed single-case interaction design will evaluate the effects of each treatment B and C) alone and in combination. Which of the following will allow this?

A) Participant 1: A-B-A-B-BC Participant 2: A-C-A-C-BC
B) Participant 1: A-B-A-BC Participant 2: A-C-A-BC
C) Participant 1: A-B-A-B-BC
D) Participant 1: A-C-A-C-BC

Question 8

What important assumption is required of the A-B-A withdrawal design in order to rule out rival hypotheses?

A) that single participants will cooperate with long-term observations
B) that the participant actually believes that the treatment will have an effect
C) that the effects of the treatment are reversible upon withdrawal
D) that the observation of the behavior is valid

Question 9

Single-case designs, by definition, do not incorporate control groups. What is the standard for comparison purposes to evaluate the treatment effects?

A) there is no comparison standard when using a single-case design
B) the researcher "gut" feeling
C) observations of a single control participant
D) the pre-treatment observations

Question 10

What aspect of the A-B-A design helps us determine whether the treatment, as opposed to some other variable, was responsible for any observed changes in behavior?

A) seeing whether the target behavior returns to original levels when treatment is removed
B) observation of both a treated and yoked control participant
C) starting with the observation of other cases
D) returning to observe behavior under treatment several weeks after the experiment is over

Question 11

In a single-case interaction design, an interaction is said to exist if

A) the participant engages in more social interactions than under baseline.
B) each treatment has an effect.
C) the effect of the two treatments together is greater than either alone.
D) one treatment works with or without the other treatment which does not work.

Question 12

In using an interrupted time series for single-case experiments, you must assume

A) that the pattern of pretreatment behavior would have continued if the treatment had not occurred.
B) that the treatment is effective and look for the evidence in the patterns until you find it.
C) that the participant will be highly motivated.
D) that the principles of learning are not correct.

Question 13

The "A-B-A-B" design is a slight variation on the A-B-A design, in which treatment is returned at the end of the experiment. Under what conditions would this be most desirable?

A) if the researcher is still not sure whether the treatment was effective
B) if the treatment has some beneficial therapeutic effect
C) if the treatment did not produce the desired effect the first time it was presented
D) if the participant enjoyed the treatment

Question 14

A sequence of conditions in an interaction design might be A-B-A-B-BC-B-BC. This design

A) follows the important rule of changing only one variable at a time in single-case experiments.
B) allows for determining if C has an effect.
C) allows for determining an interaction effect for B and C, even if B is maximally effective alone.
D) allows for determining if there are interactions for A and B as well as B and C.

Question 15

The first "A" in "A-B-A design" represents the phase while the second "A" represents the phase.

A) baseline; withdrawal
B) baseline; treatment
C) antecedent; aftereffect
D) treatment; baseline

Question 16

One disadvantage of the interaction design for single-case research is that it cannot be used if

A) you are testing more than one participant.
B) you do not randomly select participants from the population.
C) you are investigating the effectiveness of psychotherapy techniques.
D) one of the treatments by itself causes a maximum change in behavior.

Question 17

Mr. Murray teaches 3^rd grade and has a student who is very disruptive in the classroom. He employs the help of a school psychologist to help him get rid of the disruptive classroom behavior the student talking without raising their hand). First, the school psychologist records the frequency of talking without hand raising of the one student for five days. Then the school psychologist has Mr. Murray give the student a piece of candy each time the student raises his hand before talking. This is done for five days. On day 11, the school psychologist has Mr. Murray stop giving the student the candy reinforcer. The behavior of talking without raising his hand returns and withdrawal data is collected for five days. Finally, the reinforcement is implemented permanently and the school psychologist records data for an additional five days. What type of single case design is this?

A) A-B-A design
B) interaction design
C) A-B-A-B design
D) changing criterion design

Question 18

Single-case designs are closely related to which type of quasi-experimental design?

A) the non-equivalent comparison group design
B) the cross-over design
C) the time series design
D) the multivariate design

Question 19

The "B" in "A-B-A design" represents the condition.

A) baseline
B) behavioral
C) treatment
D) withdrawal

Question 20

A potential ethical problem with using the A-B-A design in a therapeutic context is that it

A) does not seem to be useful for certain kinds of disorders.
B) entails ending in a non-treatment condition.
C) often aggravates the problem the treatment is meant to treat.
D) does not involve enough time in treatment to address all a behavior.

Question 21

While stability is a desirable characteristic in each condition of a single-case experiment,

A) high variability is required in order to change behavior.
B) prolonging conditions to achieve it increases the chances of history and maturation effects.
C) it is more important to finish the experiment on schedule.
D) it only really counts for baseline.

Question 22

Studies of single-case research with humans have shown that

A) behavior is typically quite invariant during baseline.
B) single-case designs typically yield much less information than multiple-participant designs.
C) single-case experiments require fewer baseline observations than do multiple- participant designs.
D) the simple act of collecting baseline data can influence the behavior under observation.

Question 23

Two colleagues are debating over whether giving extrinsic, arbitrary rewards like candy or giving intrinsic rewards like gaining new skills and passing to new material are better ways of motivating children to study. They agree to the following study, using a 6th grader who, with his parent's approval, has volunteered to help: First, no rewards are given for studying. Next an extrinsic reward candy) is given, then no reward, then the extrinsic reward of candy is given again, then a combination of candy and pointing out how much the child has learned. Next a return to extrinsic reward only. On another series of days the child is first given no reward, then a period of only pointing out how much has been learned. Next, no reward is given followed by again pointing out how much is learned. The both rewards are presented together, and finally there is a return to just pointing out how much is learned. In each of these many phases, the child's teacher keeps track of the speed of his progression through his required work. What single-case research design are these colleagues using?

A) A-B-A design
B) interaction design
C) multiple baseline design
D) changing criterion design

Question 24

A third grade teacher is having trouble with a student who wants only her attention, and will not interact with the other children. The school psychologist suggests ignoring the child's attempts to get her attention and praising the child's interactions with other children. Before doing this, the teacher takes a week's worth of measures, each day, of how often the child interacts with other children. She then institutes the "ignore and praise" program for a week and measures interactions with others, then withdraws the program in the third week and again measures interactions with others. This is an example of which single-case design?

A) A-B-A design
B) interaction design
C) multiple baseline design
D) changing criterion design

Question 25

When using the changing-criterion single-case research design, what is a good rule of thumb for determining how much the criterion should change at each phase?

A) in the new phase, the participant should be required to increase performance by 50% relative to the previous phase.
B) the criterion change should be relatively large, to provide motivation.
C) the criterion change should be relatively small, so as not to discourage the participant.
D) the criterion change should be large enough to detect differences in behavior from the previous phase, but not so large as to be unattainable.

Question 26

Most single-case designs involve comparing behavior during treatment to behavior during baseline. For this comparison to be meaningful, baseline behavior must be

A) different from behavior under treatment.
B) very variable.
C) increasing or decreasing only gradually.
D) stable.

Question 27

Justin is going through his own personal program of endurance training. In the first two weeks, he rewards himself with a quarter every day he runs a complete mile. In the next two weeks, he gives himself a quarter for every two consecutive miles run. Next, he gives himself a quarter for every three consecutive miles, and so on, increasing every two weeks the number of miles he must run for each quarter. By the end of the fall semester, Justin can run 8 consecutive miles a day. This program is very much like which single-case research design?

A) A-B-A design
B) interaction design
C) multiple baseline design
D) changing criterion design

Question 28

When have you collected enough baseline data so that you can move on to the treatment phase of the experiment?

A) after about two weeks
B) once you have at least a dozen baseline observations
C) when there is a downward trend rather than an upward trend
D) there is no trend and little variability

Question 29

For a multiple-baseline design to demonstrate treatment effectiveness,

A) all target behaviors should change, but only after the treatment is imposed for each one.
B) all target behaviors should change when the first treatment is imposed.
C) some target behaviors should increase in frequency with the treatment and others should decrease.
D) treated behaviors should change from baseline immediately while untreated behaviors should change more slowly.

Question 30

For what kinds of situations is the changing-criterion design particularly useful?

A) when evaluating psychotherapies for affective or anxiety disorders
B) when the participant's behavior requires shaping to attain a goal
C) when the target behavior often fluctuates wildly over time
D) when other designs have proved to be useless, since the changing criterion design is new.

Question 31

A psychotherapist has three clients all of whom suffer from agoraphobia. He wants to see if his new behavioral therapy is effective in treating this fear. In the beginning of his experiment, he measures number of times each client goes out in public. The next week, he starts one client on the therapy while withholding it from the other two, and, for all three clients measures number of times each goes out in public that week. Then he keeps the first client on the therapy, starts it with the second client, and again measures number of times out in public for all three. Finally, in week four he starts the therapy with the third client, so now all three are experiencing the therapy. This is an example of which kind of single-case design?

A) A-B-A design
B) interaction design
C) multiple baseline design
D) changing criterion design

Question 32

If the A-B-A design cannot be used because of problems such as the behavior not returning to baseline upon withdrawal of treatment, you can probably use the design.

A) A-B-A-B
B) A-B-A-B-BC-B-BC
C) multiple-baseline
D) changing-baseline

Question 33

What is the desired pattern to look for in baseline, before proceeding to the treatment phase?

A) a gradual increase in performance
B) a gradual decrease in performance
C) stable with no apparent trend in performance
D) an appreciable amount of variability in performance

Question 34

How long should one continue a given phase baseline, treatment, return to baseline, etc). of a single-case research project?

A) until behavioral stability is reached in each phase
B) for about two weeks
C) until it is clear that the treatment has had an effect
D) until you have at least a dozen observations in each phase

Question 35

If a multiple-baseline design were used with three interdependent behaviors, then when treatment is imposed on the first behavior,

A) the second will also change, but the third will not change until the second is treated.
B) both the second and third behaviors will change simultaneously.
C) the second and third behaviors will not be influenced.
D) the behaviors will meet the requirements of the design.

Question 36

In a multiple-baseline study of the effects of reinforcement on social behaviors Dr. Stern studies three behaviors in one child: talking to other children, frequency of playing with others, initiating contact with children her own age. What is wrong with these choices of target behavior?

A) reinforcing one behavior could easily influence the occurrence of the others
B) children are naturally sociable; such behavior cannot be reinforced
C) the playground is not a suitable site for research
D) it is not possible to operationally define these behaviors

Question 37

If one were using the multiple-baseline design to examine the effect of treatment across a number of different behaviors, one must take care to insure that the behaviors examined are

A) really problem behaviors.
B) unique or rarely reported in the literature.
C) common to the majority of members of the population.
D) independent of each other.

Question 38

In a multiple-baseline design the "multiple" part refers to

A) different behaviors of same participant in same context.
B) different participants with same behavior in same context.
C) different contexts with the same behavior of the same participant.
D) all of the above.

Question 39

In a changing-criterion design, to demonstrate treatment effectiveness the target behavior must do which of the following?

A) attain statistical significance
B) show successive changes with changing criteria
C) return to baseline within two weeks of the end of treatment
D) remain constant through all treatment conditions

Question 40

A major advantage of the multiple-baseline design over the A-B-A design is that

A) participants do not know that they are being observed.
B) the treatment doesn't have to be effective in order to be studied.
C) it increases generalization of because it uses more than one participant.
D) it can be used when the effects of treatment are not reversible.

Question 41

There are arguments for and against the use of statistical data analysis with single-case designs. Which of the following statements summarizes the case against statistical analysis?

A) Visual inspection of data has been shown to be sufficiently reliable, and is usually easier to perform than the complicated tests needed to analyze single-case data.
B) Statistical analysis does not reveal whether the treatment is of practical use, and may actually disguise the fact that the treatment works well for some people and for whom.
C) Statistical analysis favor a conservative approach and therefore may not allow us to detect meaningful changes in behavior. This approach may lead us to reject treatments that may be useful to large groups of people.
D) There are no statistical analyses suited to the time-series kind of behavior generated by single-case designs, nor are there valid means of interpreting what few statistical tests are available.

Question 42

The success of the changing criterion design is based on three factors. Which of the following is NOT one of those factors?

A) length of baseline and treatment phases
B) magnitude of change in the criterion
C) number of treatment phases used overall
D) gender of the participant

Question 43

Many single-case researchers also use a "therapeutic criterion" to evaluate the success of their treatment. They look at/for

A) signs that behavior changes every time the treatment is presented.
B) statistically significant changes in behavior when treatment is instituted.
C) whether other psychologists have adopted their treatment.
D) indications that the treatment has improved daily functioning.

Question 44

In order to isolate the interactive effects of two variables from the effect that would be achieved by only one of the variables, it is necessary to

A) test the two variables independently.
B) test the two variables simultaneously.
C) both a & b
D) none of the above

Question 45

Most researchers using single-case designs use an "experimental criterion" to tell them whether behavior has changed significantly with treatment. This involves looking for/at

A) repeated demonstrations that behavior changes reliably each time treatment is introduced.
B) a statistically significant difference between behavior during baseline and behavior during treatment.
C) improved functioning after treatment.
D) signs that the treated person functions significantly better than non-treated peers.

Question 46

Ms. Margo has been treating Joey for aggression at preschool, on the playground and on the bus. She developed a special intervention that included consequences for aggressive behaviors, like losing privileges and being placed in time-out, combined with praise for cooperative and friendly behavior. She planned to do a multiple baseline study, however, after treating the aggression in the classroom, Joey's aggression dropped in the other situations too. Why?

A) Joey just realized the error of his ways.
B) Ms. Margo picked interdependent behaviors to study
C) the behaviors weren't related but the consequences were
D) rewards are always stronger and more effective than the punishers

Question 47

Dr. Buss is treating a verbally delayed 1st grader. After establishing baseline levels of correct verbal responses, Dr. Buss begins working with the child with his new therapy. Six weeks after treatment, a panel of first grade teachers and school psychologists cannot distinguish Dr. Buss's client from other 1st grade peers. This is an example of the use of

A) an experimental criterion.
B) the social comparison method.
C) reversal.
D) withdrawal

Question 48

Which of the following statements summarizes the case in favor of the use of statistical analysis in single-case research.

A) The statistics required for analyzing single-case data are simple to use, and can reveal whether the treatment will have real therapeutic value.
B) Statistical analysis is helpful in detecting behavioral changes when there is high variability in baseline behavior, and reduces subjectivity of interpretation.
C) Statistical analyses are useful in determining which of many participants are best affected by the treatment, and can help suggest future courses of action.
D) Traditionally, psychological data are not accepted unless they are subjected to statistical analysis.

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT typically considered one of the standard multiple baseline designs

A) multiple baselines across participants.
B) multiple baseline across settings.
C) multiple baselines across behaviors.
D) multiple baselines across therapists.

Question 50

Sometimes in single-case research there are cyclical variations in response rates or frequencies. What is a good way to address this problem?

A) implement treatment at the peak of the cycle
B) use a bicyclic or tricyclic treatment
C) extend the length of each phase of the study to include all phases of the cycle
D) only use male participants