Discussion: Ethical Considerations in Single-Subject Design
Group designs dominate research in psychology, in general, and also in applied psychology. Group designs are not always needed to draw valid inferences, however. In fact, they can be drawn with an individual subject. Single-subject designs are also referred to as single-case designs, intra subject-replication designs, N=1 research, and intensive designs. None of these, however, is what is commonly called a case study, which is much less systematic. In reality, every client (should be it in ABA, social work, clinical, counseling, or school psychology) should be treated as a single-subject design. Without it, you can never really know if your intervention is working. This week's Discussion focuses on one type of single-subject design-reversal designs.
ASSIGNMENT: Provide an explanation of practical and ethical considerations related to using reversal design with this target behavior. Provide an example of a target behavior for which using a reversal design would be ethically inappropriate. Provide an alternative design for this behavior that would be more appropriate.
Readings
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied behavior analysis (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Chapter 8, "Reversal and Alternating Treatments Designs" (pp. 176-199)
Chapter 9, "Multiple Baseline and Changing Criterion Designs" (pp. 200-224)
Frieder, J. E. (2013). Book review [Review of the book Single-subject research methodology in behavioral science, by D. L. Gast]. Education & Treatment of Children, 36(1), 185-190. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Moeyaert, M., Ugille, M., Ferron, J. M., Onghena, P., Heyvaert, M., Beretvas, S. N., & Van den Noortgate, W. (2014). Estimating intervention effects across different types of single-subject experimental designs: Empirical illustration. School Psychology Quarterly. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.