Research Methods Chapter 12
Identify the problems that could not be tackled with the within-subjects design used to conduct experimental research. (Check all that apply.)
Treatments that produced irreversible changes in subject behavior, Treatments that exerted very weak effects on the dependent variable.
True or false: If a subject in a changing criterion baseline study fails to achieve a new criterion, a researcher can return to the previous value and then make a second attempt at the failed value.
True
Arrange the steps that group-based experimental designs usually follow to deal with uncontrolled variability in experiments in the correct order of occurrence. (Place the first step at the top.) - If the results are reliable, reproduce essentially the same results in case of repeating or replicating the study. - Use the statistical analysis to decide whether those differences are reliable. toggle button - Use inferential statistics to evaluate the significance of any differences in mean performance that do emerge between treatments.
Use inferential statistics > use the statistical analysis > if the results are reliable
Which of the following is an effect of a researcher's relatively high degree of control over a dependent variable within a phase of a single-subject study?
Variation in the baseline across successive observations will be minimal.
What can a researcher do using the software package "R" in his or her study? (Check all that apply.)
Visualize baseline trends, graph the data from a single-subject baseline design, superimpose horizontal lines to indicate the central tendency of points within a phase
Fisher and colleagues (2003) developed a(n) _____ to evaluate differences in performance levels across phases when there is comparatively little variation within each phase of a baseline design.
Conservative dual criterion method
Arrange the steps involved in the traditional within-subjects design in the correct order of occurrence. (Place the first step at the top.)
Each subject > scores across > functional relationships
_____ _____ reflects the size of the change in performance between baseline and intervention phases relative to the amount of overlap in the data points.
Effect size
True or false: The within-subjects design was developed for cases that mainly included treatments that employed dependent variables that could not be stabilized through rigid control of experimental conditions.
False
In a single-subject baseline design, what should a researcher do to deal with a drifting baseline after failing to control the drift?
He or she should remove the drifting baseline.
_____ establishes the generality of results across subjects in a research study.
Intersubject replication
In a single-subject experiment, the process of repeating each treatment at least once for each subject to measure behavior is known as _____.
Intrasubject replication
In a baseline design, a researcher typically waits for the behavioral baseline to stabilize before _____.
Introducing the next treatment condition to his or her subject.
Identify a true statement about a baseline design.
It focuses on the behavior of a single subject both within and across the experimental treatments.
What is the purpose of including multiple subjects in a single-subject experiment?
It helps establish the generality of the findings across subjects.
Identify a true statement about the ABA design.
It includes a reversal phase in which baseline conditions are reestablished after exposure to a treatment.
Which of the following is a serious problem with the single-factor baseline AB design?
It is confounded by time-related factors.
Multiple-baseline designs are single-subject baseline designs that _____.
Measure several dependent variables
Multiple-baseline designs allow a researcher to _____.
Simultaneously sample several behaviors within the experimental context to provide several behavioral baselines
The ABA design is a type of _____.
Single-factor design.
Identify the types of single-subject baseline designs. (Check all that apply.)
Single-factor designs, Multifactor designs, Multiple-baseline designs
The similarity of data collected across replications of a given phase in a single-subject experiment depends on _____.
The degree of control one has over the dependent variable within a treatment condition
Identify the first step in the process of identifying the possible sources of variability in a single-subject study.
To graph the data from each subject and look for uncontrolled variability in the baseline
Before the development of inferential statistics, the focus on individual behavior led to the _____ to conducting experimental research, where each subject was exposed once to each level of the independent variable and then scores were averaged across subjects.
Within-subjects approach
In the simplest case, a baseline design involves exposing a subject to two conditions: _____ and _____.
a baseline phase; an intervention phase
A multifactor single-subject design allows one to _____.
assess the main effects of independent variables and their interactions
Judging whether reliable differences exist between the phases in a baseline experimental design is more difficult when _____.
baselines are more variable
A true statement about a behavioral baseline is that it _____.
changes over time as the effect of the exposure to the treatment condition develops
The _____, a type of single-subject baseline design, was developed to set a criterion level of performance with respect to some target behavior.
changing criterion design
Optimally, a stability criterion of one's baseline design should _____.
guarantee that one's subjects will remain in a given phase only until the baseline shows no further systematic changes
In the context of an experiment, partially recoverable baselines frequently occur when _____.
learning develops during a treatment condition.
Identify a design that simultaneously samples several behaviors within the experimental context to provide multiple behavioral baselines.
multiple-baseline designs
Which of the following is considered an important aspect in experiments that adopt a baseline design?
An up-to-date baseline
Today, when researchers refer to single-subject designs, they usually mean _____.
Baseline designs
How does the single-subject baseline approach remove transitional data from an analysis?
By imposing a stability criterion
Variations between replications of a given condition in a single-subject study can occur as a result of _____. (Check all that apply.)
Carry over, Chance
True or false: Baseline designs rely on averaging to deal with uncontrolled variability.
False
In a single-subject baseline study, when is a low baseline desirable?
If one expects a treatment to increase the level of responding.
Conducting a replication of an experiment while adding new variables for investigation is known as a(n) _____.
Systematic replication
Identify a type of single-factor single-subject design that fails to establish the recoverability of the baseline in the intervention phase.
The ABA design.
Identify a single-factor design that offers a complete intrasubject replication of the baseline (A) and intervention (B) phases of an experiment.
The ABAB design
What is the effect of one's relatively low degree of control over one's dependent variable within a phase of a single-subject study?
The baseline will be variable and the effect of the independent variable will be more difficult to detect.
Identify the advantages of single-subject designs in the context of experimental research. (Check all that apply.)
The focus on controlling error variance, The fact that causal relationships can be established by using even just one subject
True or false: A behavioral baseline is usually created by sampling the behavior of interest repeatedly.
True
True or false: The solution to the problem of inappropriate baseline levels is usually obtained by adjusting the experimental conditions to produce the desired baseline levels.
True
In a single-subject design, using multiple levels of the independent variable leads to _____.
an inability to completely counterbalance the order of treatments across subjects
In the single-subject approach, researchers find it difficult to stabilize a baseline against slow, systematic changes in some cases. These changes are called _____.
drifting baselines.
The only way one can reduce uncontrolled variability in an experiment is if one _____.
identifies the possible sources of variability
James studies the pattern of behavior of dogs after food deprivation using a single-subject baseline design. After the same number of hours of food deprivation, one dog presses a lever vigorously to earn a food reward, whereas another responds in a lackluster fashion. To level off initial differences in response rates of the dogs, James should _____.
increase the level of deprivation of the dog with the lower response rate.
In a changing criterion baseline study, if the target behavior continues to vary a fair amount from data point to data point, an individual needs to _____.
make the changes in successive criteria larger
If an individual wants to test different combinations of the independent variables across a study, he or she should adopt _____.
multifactor baseline designs
Single-subject designs that manipulate two or more independent variables are called _____.
multifactor designs
An experimental design that examines multiple levels of dependent variables and/or independent variables is said to be _____.
parametric
In the ABAB design of a baseline design, A and B represent _____.
the two phases/conditions to which a subject is exposed
In the context of therapeutic settings, arrange the steps followed to achieve a target behavior in a changing criterion design in the correct order of occurrence. (Place the first step at the top.)
Assess > set an initial > continue the intervention > adjust
In a single-subject baseline design, when one moves from baseline to intervention and then back to baseline, this return to a previous phase is termed as
reversal strategy
An approach to conducting experimental research that does not depend on averaging across subjects to control the effects of random factors and therefore can be used with few or even only one subject is called the _____.
small-n approach
Using a stability criterion will not reduce the variability in the data of interest if the focus of the experiment is on the _____.
transitional behavior of subjects
The only way to determine whether one's baseline has met the stability criterion during an experiment is to _____.
update one's plot after each session and then examine it
Unequal baselines between subjects in a single-subject baseline study lead to _____.
A failure of intersubject replication
In the context of a baseline design, which of the following imposes an objective rule for deciding that the baseline has settled in an experiment?
A stability criterion
Identify a factor that explains why the traditional within-subjects approach to conducting experimental research worked.
A very large number of observations were collected from a single subject.
In a baseline design, a subject is exposed to each of two conditions twice, yielding what is called a(n) _____.
ABAB design
Group-based experimental designs depend on _____ to deal with uncontrolled variability.
Averaging
Identify the three basic types of single-subject designs. (Check all that apply.)
Baseline designs, Dynamic designs, Discrete trials designs
Unrecoverable baselines are potentially serious problems that arise if baseline levels of performance cannot be recovered during reversal. These changes are considered _____.
Carryover effects
The AB design, which is a type of single-subject baseline design, _____.
Presents only a single administration of each condition
In the context of experimental research, which of the following is a disadvantage of single-subject designs?
The results from the design are of limited generality.
Which of the following approaches encourages one to identify whether extraneous variables contribute strongly to variation in the dependent variable?
The single-subject approach
