Chapter 14: Single-Subject Research

Activity 14.1: Single-Subject Research Questions Activity 14.2: Characteristics of Single-Subject Research Activity 14.3: Analyze Some Single-Subject Data

Activity 14.1: Single-Subject Research Questions Which of the following questions would lend themselves well to single-subject research? 1. How do students view the president of the university? 2. Which is more effective in helping students to learn a language, individual instruction or language laboratories? 3. What is the daily routine of a high school guidance counselor? 4. How are women portrayed in advertisements in popular magazines? 5. How can Jimmy Thomas be encouraged to speak up more in class? 6. Why do some students have trouble learning to read? 7. What makes a good teacher lose his or her enthusiasm for teaching? 8. Is praise an effective technique to use with disruptive students?

Activity 14.2: Characteristics of Single-Subject Research Match the concept from Column A with the correct definition from Column B. Column A 1. Baseline 2. Data point 2. Starting point for a single-subject study 3. Condition line 4. Comparison of two or more groups 5. Treatment condition 6. Generalizability 5. The end point of a single-subject study 7. Replication 8. Single-subject research 6. Important if single-subject studies are to have external validity 7. The intervention in a single-subject study 8. Do(es) not occur in single-subject research 9. Used to study changes in behavior of an individual after exposure to a treatment of some sort 3. Indicate(s) where the intervention conditions change in a single-subject study 4. Represents the data collected at various times during a single-subject study Column B 1. Single-subject designs are weak when it comes to this

Activity 14.3: Analyze Some Single Subject Data Alicia Morales, a sixth-grade teacher in Sarasota, Florida, wishes that Jamie Brown, one of her students, would pay more attention in class (behavior 1). She also would like to see him volunteer to answer questions more frequently (behavior 2), as well as speak directly to other students during class discussions (behavior 3). Consequently, she decides to use a multiple-baseline design to see if she can increase these behaviors by systematically praising Jamie (the treatment she plans to use) whenever one of these behaviors occurs. She is fortunate in that she has a teachers aide who can observe Jamie while class is in session and she is teaching. After three weeks, the results of the intervention are shown below: What do you think? Was the treatment effective?