Chapter 14

In A-B-A design, the first A indicates

the baseline measure of behavior

A psychologist measures a student's disruptive behavior to determine the behavior rate that currently exists. This is an example of

baseline measurement

When a researcher measures a behavior before a treatment is implemented to compare with the behavior after the treatment has been implemented, this is called a

baseline measurement

A small-n design that involves a large number of trials completed by one or a few individuals and conducted to describe basic behaviors is called

discrete trials

Mathematical description of behavior is often a common goal of __________ designs, which is possible with the large number of measurements collected of basic behaviors.

discrete trials

Some of the earliest studies in psychology used

discrete trials

Small-n designs are sometimes called__________ designs.

single subject

Being tested on the measures early in the study can affect the later testings as participants' scores may show effects of practice or fatigue.

True

Carryover effects can occur for tasks that may affect future performance over time.

True

___________ can be a source of bias in the study if the participants who drop out are different from the participants who remain.

attrition

A small-n design that involves baseline measurements of behavior as compared with measures of behavior during the implementation of a treatment is called

baseline

Because the researcher collects data from all age groups at the same time, the study can be completed more quickly with a __________ design.

cross-sectional

Developmental designs that treat age as a between-subjects variable are called ___________designs.

cross-sectional

These are typically used to study very basic behaviors (e.g., sensory processes, learning processes), where the behaviors being measured should be very similar from person to person, and for studies where the goal is to tailor a treatment to a specific person.

small-n

A researcher measures time on task behavior for a student who has been referred by their teacher. Then the researcher implements a new reward system for the student to determine if the reward system increases time on task behavior. Time on task behavior is then measured a second time without the treatment to determine if the behavior returns to pre-treatment levels. This study uses a __________ design.

A-B-A

A cohort-sequential design handles some of the sources of bias present in other developmental designs by:

examining age effects both longitudinally and cross-sectionally

In a longitudinal design age is treated as a __________ variable, but age is treated as a ____________ variable in a cross-sectional design.

within-subjects/between-subjects

a. people who know each other are subjects in the same study

a cross-sectional design is conducted

A primary disadvantage of a longitudinal design is

the amount of time it takes to conduct the study

What is discrete trials design and explain how it has been important historically in psychological research.

A small-n design involves a large number of trials completed by one or a few individuals and conducted to describe basic behaviors. Some of the earliest studies in psychology used the discrete trials type of small-n design. Early psychologists, such as Weber, Fechner, Ebbinghaus, and Skinner were interested in describing basic behaviors such as sensory stimulation, memory, and conditioning (Barlow & Hersen, 1984). They accomplished this through repeated measurement of these behaviors over an enormous number of trials with a small number of participants. Ebbinghaus, for example, conducted his studies of basic memory processes using himself as his subject. He repeatedly memorized nonsense syllables (FAL, JIV, etc.) to perfection and then measured his memory for these syllables after a period of time had passed. From his work, researchers learned that most of the forgetting that occurs for information is rapid, tapering off with longer delays (Neath & Surprenant, 2003).

Discuss data analysis in small-n designs.

Because there are no group means to present in small-n designs, data are often presented for the individual participants in the study (with no identifying information to protect their confidentiality). Inferential statistics can only be used in baseline designs if a large number of observations is collected for each individual. Inferential statistics are sometimes reported for discrete trials designs for within-subjects variables that are manipulated in these types of designs. It is common, though, for researchers to report mathematical descriptions of behavior in discrete trials designs.

Describe the primary source of bias present in cross-sectional designs.

Cross-sectional designs are subject to cohort/generation effects, where subjects of different ages behavior in different ways due to their experiences in the world.

An advantage of longitudinal design is attrition.

False

Longitudinal designs allow researchers to examine age effects quickly by testing subjects at different ages all at once.

False

Discuss cohort-sequential designs and give an example.

In a cohort-sequential design, age is treated as both a between-subjects and within-subjects factor. Cohort-sequential designs begin with separate samples of different age groups, as in a cross-sectional design. Then these age groups are tested multiple times as they develop to allow participants to be tested at multiple ages, as in a longitudinal design. Chouinard and Roy (2008) conducted a cohort-sequential study to investigate the decline in motivation in math studies in high school students. A sample of 704 students in 7th grade and 625 students in 9th grade completed a scale that measured competency in math skills. All students were attending high schools in the Montreal, Ontario, Canada, area at the time of the study. Repeated administration of the competency scale occurred twice a year for 3 years. Thus, when the study was completed, the students who were first tested in 7th grade had completed 9th grade, and the students who were first tested in 9th grade had completed 11th grade.

Describe the primary sources of bias present in longitudinal designs.

Longitudinal designs are subject to attrition/mortality and testing effects.

In a longitudinal design, participants are tested at different ages in their lives.

True

In a small-n design, a researcher is typically testing a theory about how a behavior works for most individuals or testing a treatment for a problematic behavior of an individual or group of individuals.

True

Some of the earliest studies in psychology used the discrete trials type of small-n design.

True

The cross-sectional design solves many of the problems that can occur with longitudinal designs.

True

The goal of a small-n study is to understand an individual's behavior, either to better describe the behavior as it occurs for many individuals or in order to change that behavior.

True

Which is not a use of a small-n designs?

a researcher wishes to test the effect of a treatment on 1,000 participants

Participants may get tired of being in the study, or they may move and lose contact with the researchers. This is called

attrition

These can occur for tasks that may affect future performance over time.

carryover

_______ effects occur when participants' experience in one condition affects their behavior in another condition of a study.

carryover

There are three main types of developmental designs that treat the factor of age in a different way including all but which:

causal

This design is often preferable to either a longitudinal or a cross-sectional design:

cohort-sequential

Whereas a ___________ study takes time to complete because researchers must wait for the participants to age, it allows researchers to compare ages quickly with the first testing of the different-aged samples.

cohort-sequential

Cross-sectional designs are more likely to be affected by _______ as a source of bias than are longitudinal designs.

cohort/generation effects

If younger and older adults are tested with a survey presented on a computer, it is possible that the older adults may have more difficulty completing the survey because some may lack experience with computers. This is an example of:

cohort/generation effects

These effects occur when the experiences of one generation (e.g., growing up with or without computers) are very different from those of another generation and affect the way the participants complete the task or measure in the study.

cohort/generation effects

____________ may occur in cross-sectional designs due to different experiences that different generations have.

cohort/generation effects

In this design, each participant is tested only once, which reduces the chance of attrition.

cross-sectional

These designs compare different age groups of participants, where each participant contributes data for only one age group.

cross-sectional

A developmental psychologist compares standardized math test scores for 2nd, 5th, and 10th graders. The subjects are all tested at the same time, thus, different groups of subjects are tested, each group at a different age. This study utilizes a(n) ___________ design.

cross-sectional; A cohort/generation effect may occur when

A-B-A design is also called:

reversal design

Ebbinghaus used a ______________ design to develop the forgetting law of memory.

small n

Because there are no group means to present in ________ designs, data are often presented for the individual participants in the study.

small-n

The main disadvantage to __________ is that the results cannot always be generalized to people outside the study.

small-n