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Kazdin, A. E. (2011) - Single-Case Research Designs, Second Edition
Kazdin, A. E. (2011) - Single-Case Research Designs, Second Edition
Kazdin, A. E. (2011) - Single-Case Research Designs, Second Edition
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To cite this article: Valerie A. Evans PhD & Saul Axelrod PhD, BCBA-D (2012) Kazdin, A. E. (2011).
Single-Case Research Designs, Second Edition. , Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 34:1, 76-79, DOI:
10.1080/07317107.2012.654458
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Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 34:76–91, 2012
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0731-7107 print=1545-228X online
DOI: 10.1080/07317107.2012.654458
Book Reviews
edition of the book, the first published in 1982. The revision includes a broad
range of disciplines for application and new design options.
There are two basic types of research designs: group-comparison and
single-case, also called the single-subject design. Group-comparison designs
compare a treatment group to a control group, drawing conclusions about
the effect of the intervention (the independent variable) on the target
behavior (the dependent variable). In an attempt to create equal groups,
group-comparison researchers randomly select a large number of parti-
cipants and then randomly assign them to either a control or treatment
group. Measurements of the dependent variable are typically collected at
the beginning and at end of treatment, or just at the end of treatment. The
comparison of the degree to which the treatment and control groups
produce different outcomes allows group-comparison researchers to draw
conclusions about the effects of the intervention.
By contrast, single-subject designs use participants as their own con-
trols. Rather than comparing groups of participants, single-subject research-
ers look at how the intervention changes the behavior of each participant
over time and across conditions. Although there is often more than one par-
ticipant in single-subject experiments, and there are sometimes large num-
bers of participants, each subject’s data are typically analyzed individually.
The most common single-subject design are the reversal design, or ABAB
design (Chapter 6). The reversal design records several data points on each
subject across time in two alternating conditions: baseline (A) and inter-
vention (B). During baseline, several data points (three at minimum) are
recorded and plotted to show visually consistent rates in the dependent vari-
able across time. Following baseline, the independent variable is introduced,
and the dependent variable is measured either for a fixed period of time or
until it shows considerable behavioral improvement. The independent
variable is then withdrawn, and baseline rates are measured until stable.
76
Book Reviews 77
The independent variable is then re-introduced, and the effects are again mea-
sured in the final phase. The reversal design allows the researcher to
demonstrate change in the dependent variable through withdrawal and
reinstatement of the independent variable. Other rigorous single-subject
designs include the multiple-baseline (Chapter 7) and alternating-treatments
(Chapter 9). Unlike group-comparison designs, the single-subject research
frequently relies on visual analysis, not inferential statistics, to draw
conclusions about changes in rates of the dependent variable.
Research designs are evaluated based on the degree to which change in
the dependent variable may be attributed to the introduction of the inde-
pendent variable. The degree to which the change in behavior may be attrib-
uted to the intervention, and not to confounding factors, is known as internal
validity. Both group-comparison and single-subject researchers are greatly
concerned about internal validity, but achieve it in distinctly different
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REFERENCE
Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied
behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1(1), 91–97.