Deck 12: Single Subject Experiments

Question 1

The statistical technique of ANOVA was developed by

A) Sir Francis Galton
B) R.A. Fisher
C) E.B. Titchener
D) Adolphe Quetelet

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The discovery that human traits followed the normal curve was made by

A) Sir Francis Galton
B) R.A. Fisher
C) E.B. Titchener
D) Adolphe Quetelet

Answer 2

D

Question 3

A single-subject experiment that showed a 75% improvement in depression after a particular treatment would certainly show _________, even without statistics

A) Power
B) Clinical significance
C) ABAB design
D) Mixed design

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The term clinical significance refers to

A) the statistical significance of a clinical study
B) the probability that a clinical test will find a significant difference when a true difference exists in the population
C) the practical importance of research findings
D) the probability that a statistical test will have clinical significance

Question 5

Proponents of the single-subject technique argue that

A) Averaging the data is a distortion of the behavior of the individual participants
B) The unique and individual nature of each person must be celebrated
C) The median is the best statistic to describe participants
D) Small effects should be the focus of study

Question 6

The term power refers to:

A) the probability of committing a Type I error
B) the probability of committing a Type II error
C) the probability that a statistical test will find a significant difference when a true difference exists in the population
D) the probability that a statistical test will account for the unexplained variability

Question 7

Researchers who favor the single subject approach over the group research approach assume that most variability within the subject's behavior:

A) is intrinsic and should be controlled statistically
B) is caused by the research situation, or setting
C) cannot be removed
D) is minimal and therefore irrelevant

Question 8

The first psychological laboratory was founded in 1879 by:

A) Adolphe Quetelet
B) Hermann Ebbinghaus
C) Wilhelm Wundt
D) Gustav Fechner

Question 9

Early researchers used the single-subject approach extensively mainly because

A) they disdained the use of statistics
B) they did not have regular access to groups of individuals
C) the discovery that human traits followed the normal curve had not yet been made
D) modern statistical methods did not yet exist

Question 10

According to the individual-differences tradition

A) Variability between participants is inevitable
B) The result of an experimental manipulation is inevitable
C) The effects of genetics are inevitable
D) Only within-subjects studies should be conducted

Question 11

The statistical power of a test

A) Depends on the size of the sample drawn from the population
B) Depends on the size of the effect
C) Depends on the reliability of the test
D) Both a and b

Question 12

A major advantage of single-subject research over group research is that

A) it places emphasis on the behavior of individuals rather than on group averages
B) the researcher does not have to be concerned with extraneous variables
C) the knowledge gained can also be generalized to statements concerning group performance
D) it is better suited for answering the question: "Which of the various treatments is the most effective?"

Question 13

Single-subject research focuses on individuals because

A) each individual is unique
B) human creativity cannot be studied by methods that assume determinism
C) it permits a researcher to focus on small effects
D) group data sometimes obscure features of individual performance

Question 14

According to the text, _______ did work on memory in which he was his own participant.

A) E.B. Titchener
B) Hermann Ebbinghaus
C) Gustav Fechner
D) Wilhelm Wundt

Question 15

Psychologists began using statistical methods

A) To settle debates between the individual-differences and group-research tradition.
B) To evaluate the results of experiments in which removing variability was not possible
C) To make sure to draw the right conclusion about data
D) Because they thought that the data was more reliable than it really is

Question 16

Single subject research

A) was developed recently because of dissatisfaction with group experiments
B) permits easier use of sophisticated statistical analysis
C) permits better comparison between subjects
D) began long before the development of modern statistics

Question 17

A major advantage of single-subject research over group research is that

A) the researcher does not have to be concerned with validity
B) the knowledge gained can also be generalized to groups
C) Individuals always act as their own controls
D) it is better suited for answering the question: "Which factor is the most effective?"

Question 18

If a study showed that a particular treatment produced an improvement in 55% of the participants, while 52% of the control participants improved spontaneously, the treatment

A) Would undoubtedly be statistically significant
B) Would lack clinical significance
C) Would have clinical significance, but not statistical significance
D) Is worth adopting.

Question 19

____________________ espoused the use of introspection, which is the careful reporting of one's own experiences.

A) E.B. Titchener
B) Hermann Ebbinghaus
C) Gustav Fechner
D) Wilhelm Wundt

Question 20

According to the text, the founder of experimental psychology was

A) E.B. Titchener
B) Hermann Ebbinghaus
C) Gustav Fechner
D) Wilhelm Wundt

Question 21

Dr. Skinner wants a pigeon to learn to peck a button in its cage. He first records how often the pigeon pecks the button. Then, after 3 days, he begins to give food to the pigeon every time it pecks the button. The pigeon's rate of pecking the button increases. After 3 days, he quits giving the pigeon food contingent on its pecking the button. The pigeon's rate of pecking the button decreases. After 3 more days, Dr. Skinner begins giving the pigeon food for pecking the button again, and its rate of pecking increases again. What kind of experimental design has Dr. Skinner used?

A) Teaching Design
B) Changing Conditions Design
C) AB
D) ABAB

Question 22

Which one of the following strategies is not a basic control strategy in single-subject research?

A) withdrawing the treatment
B) repeating treatments
C) using multiple baselines
D) changing more than one variable at a time

Question 23

Withdrawing the treatment is

A) An important control strategy in single-subject research
B) An important way to increase reliability in single-subject research
C) Similar to using multiple baselines
D) A way to evaluate the effects of error variance

Question 24

A woman with chronic pain takes a course in relaxation therapy and reports that she has less pain. Can you be sure that the course really led to the pain relief?

A) Yes
B) No, there are too many potentially confounding variables.
C) No, you can never trust what patients tell you.
D) Only if we are careful to use the same pain scale before and after treatment.

Question 25

Jamal was continually late to work. In an effort to reduce this behavior, his supervisor told him that for each minute he was late to work, it would be deducted from his break time. During the week, the supervisor noticed that Jamal was no longer coming late to work. In an attempt to see if it was indeed his intervention that was the cause of Jamal's behavior change, the supervisor told him that the following Monday, there would no longer be a penalty for coming late to work. Jamal's behavior of lateness returned. Convinced, the supervisor reinstated the consequence. Jamal again began arriving to work on time. What design does this procedure describe?

A) Teaching Design
B) Changing Conditions Design
C) ABAB
D) AB

Question 26

A major advantage of single-subject research compared to group research is that

A) The experiment can be modified on the spot, allowing flexibility in design
B) There are no ethical problems with single-subject designs
C) There are no practical problems with single-subject designs
D) Group designs cannot detect differences well

Question 27

If a stable baseline cannot be obtained

A) The experiment cannot be performed
B) A baseline that changes in the opposite direction from the one predicted by the hypothesis is acceptable
C) You only need to worry if you have to compare conditions between subjects
D) The intervention worked

Question 28

Which one of the following control strategies is not a part of the A-B-A-B design?

A) repeating the treatments
B) withdrawing the treatments
C) obtaining a stable baseline
D) using multiple baselines

Question 29

A behavioral therapist is trying to decrease an autistic child's disruptive behavior. He first observes the baseline level of the behavior, then observes the behavior again after his intervention. Since his therapy seems to be effective, he continues to treat the child in the same way. This type of design is called an:

A) A-B Design
B) A-B-A-B Design
C) A-B-C Design
D) Cross sectional Design

Question 30

I obtained a baseline level of John's cooking behavior of 25% of the meals without praise. I then highly praised his cooking behavior, and it increased to 85% of the meals. Later, I stopped praising his cooking, and his behavior began to drop back to its baseline level. What sort of design was I using?

A) Multiple Baseline
B) ABA
C) Alternating-treatments
D) Reversal Replication

Question 31

A researcher plans to use the reversibility of the desired target behavior as evidence of a treatment effect. She does not want the subject to leave the experiment showing the original, undesirable behavior. Which one of the following designs would be most appropriate for this study?

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

Question 32

A major disadvantage of single-subject research compared to group research is that

A) the method does not allow strong conclusions to be made concerning the factors controlling the dependent variable
B) it is often difficult to control extraneous variables
C) control must be shown both within a subject and also between the subjects
D) subjects are too different from one another

Question 33

The purpose of a baseline measurement is

A) Establish the current level of behavior
B) Evaluate the reliability of the measure
C) Establish that recording instruments are working properly
D) Demonstrate the treatment effect

Question 34

The problem with an ABA design is that

A) You may want to leave the participant in their new state, rather than return them to the old one
B) The effect of the treatment may be reversible
C) People don't want to continue in the study after the initial treatment
D) It is unethical

Question 35

Suppose that Dr. Jeffers uses 10 participants in an experiment and finds a correlation of .765, while Dr. Amico uses 50 participants and finds a correlation of .361. Both results are significant. Which result should you have more trust in?

A) Dr. Jeffers, because he showed a larger effect
B) Dr. Amico, because he used more people
C) You can trust them equally
D) You can't trust either one

Question 36

The square of the correlation coefficient gives

A) The percentage of the variance in the data that is accounted for by the independent variable.
B) An estimate of power
C) An estimate of reliability
D) The percentage of the variance attributed to error

Question 37

Which one of the following control strategies is not a part of the A-B-A design?

A) repeating the treatments
B) measuring the behavior before, during, and after treatment
C) withdrawing the treatments
D) obtaining a stable baseline

Question 38

The most important control strategy in single-subject research is

A) controlling for rival hypotheses
B) obtaining a stable baseline
C) random assignment of subjects to treatments
D) using reliable statistical techniques

Question 39

Obtaining baseline stability:

A) is an objective process
B) is not always possible
C) is always necessary
D) can best be accomplished using modern statistical methods

Question 40

When naming single-subject designs, an "A" in the title refers to the

A) Intervention
B) Baseline
C) First subject
D) Validity

Question 41

Which of the following areas of psychology is most likely to employ single-subject research?

A) social
B) personality
C) biopsychology
D) sensation

Question 42

Marla conducts a study to gradually teach a poodle to jump through a flaming hoop. At each session, Marla introduces a more stringent set of guidelines before reinforcing the poodle. Which one of the following designs would be most appropriate for this study?

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

Question 43

Madge took special classes from Barbie to improve her spelling. Barbie first tested Madge's current spelling ability. Barbie was not sure what teaching method would work best, so she tried 3 different ones: positive practice, positive reinforcement, and correction. She tried a different method during each class, testing Madge's spelling at the end of the day. What design was Barbie using?

A) Alternating Treatment
B) Changing Criterion
C) Multiple Baseline
D) Interaction Design

Question 44

Despite the name, in the ______________ single-subject design, more than one person can be tested.

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

Question 45

A researcher conducts a study to bring about permanent changes in three different behaviors in a single subject. Which one of the following designs would be most appropriate for this study?

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

Question 46

Mozzoni and Hartnedy 2000) wondered which of three different treatments would be best at helping a brain-injured person to pay attention to therapeutic activities. What would be the best single-subject design for them to use?

A) multiple-baseline design
B) changing criterion design
C) alternating treatments design
D) A-B-A-B design

Question 47

A researcher assesses the effects of two different kinds of punishment on a reversible behavior. Which one of the following designs would be most appropriate for this study?

A) A-B-A-B design
B) Alternating treatments design
C) Multiple-baseline design
D) Changing-criterion design

Question 48

Mary was frustrated with her son John. He almost never took out the trash and only cleaned his bathroom about half of the time that it needed it. Mary wanted to see if paying John was an effective treatment, so she started giving him cash every time he took out the trash. He soon became outstanding in this area, taking it out every time that she asked. Since the money worked so well with the trash, she decided to see if it would also help him to clean his room more often. Soon after she started paying him for cleaning his room, that behavior also increased dramatically. What experimental design was Mary using?

A) Multiple baseline across behaviors
B) Multiple baseline across individuals
C) Changing criteria
D) Alternating treatment

Question 49

What kind of research lends itself to single-subject experiments? Should researchers use single-subject research whenever it is possible to do so?

Question 50

____________ research often employs single-participant designs

A) Personality
B) Psychophysical
C) Neuropsychological
D) Medical

Question 51

When is the changing-criterion design an appropriate design to use? When

A) the behavior change is reversible
B) the behavior change is irreversible
C) the behavior is difficult to measure
D) it is impossible to obtain stable baseline behavior

Question 52

A researcher conducts a study to gradually bring about the desired behavior change for a subject. At each session, the researcher introduces a more stringent set of guidelines to see if behavior changes coincide with the new reinforcement. Which one of the following designs would be most appropriate for this study?

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

Question 53

Consider the following hypothetical experiment: A researcher conducted a study to decrease the frequency with which a college professor used the words "uh" and "you know" during his lectures. The treatment consisted of a small signal at the back of the room which the experimenter flashed each time the professor uttered one of the verbal phrases targeted for extinction. An A-B-A design was used to assess the treatment effect. The results indicated a high baseline frequency of the behaviors, followed by a dramatic decrease in frequency when the treatment was initiated. The behaviors increased again when the treatment was withdrawn. Describe an alternative single-subject design that might be used to demonstrate a treatment effect.

Question 54

A new program has been developed to increase students' speed and accuracy in doing simple arithmetic computations. You have been asked to evaluate its effectiveness. One of the first decisions you must make is whether to use a group or single-subject experimental design. What are several questions you might ask the curriculum specialist about the program and about the purpose of the experiment that will help to determine the more appropriate type of experimental design to be used?

Question 55

Skipper does the laundry 25% of the time and washes dishes about 50% of the time. Barbie decides to start praising Skipper for doing the laundry. After that, Skipper begins to do the laundry about 75% of the time. Since that was successful, Barbie decides to try praising Skipper's dish washing, too. Soon, Skipper is washing the dishes 100% of the time. What experimental design was Barbie using?

A) A-B Design
B) Changing Criterion
C) Multiple Baseline
D) A-B-A-B Design

Question 56

Multiple-baseline designs may be conducted across all of the following variables EXCEPT

A) Behaviors
B) Individuals
C) Settings
D) Antecedents

Question 57

What is the name of the single-subject research design that introduces an independent variable at different times for different behaviors to see if changes in behavior coincide with manipulation of the independent variable?

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

Question 58

A single-subject research design that manipulates multiple treatments one at a time, to determine their effect is the:

A) multiple-baseline design
B) changing criterion design
C) alternating treatments design
D) A-B-A-B design

Question 59

Compare and contrast group designs with the single-subject approach. What are the advantages of the single-subject design? Disadvantages?

Question 60

Define and/or describe the term "statistical power".