chapter 14

Question 1

two epistemological approaches

Answer 1

Nomothetic Approach – Group Designs

**Idiographic Approach – Case Studies / Single-Subject Designs

Question 2

Nomothetic Approach – Group Designs

Answer 2

Goal: discover general principles that apply across many people or cases

Used when the groups of cases are the unit of analysis

Example: a correlations study of 500 high school students to discover the screen time effects on anxiety using survey data
Descriptive – doesn’t provide a lot of information

Question 3

**Idiographic Approach – Case Studies / Single-Subject Designs

Answer 3

Goal: understand a specific individual or case to obtain an in-depth data

Used when the individual case is the unit of analysis

Example: a single case study of a high school student to understand screen time effects on anxiety using an interview
Explains thing

Question 4

Exceptions to Research Findings

Answer 4

Behavioral science is probabilistic

Research findings uncover generalities and trends

But, there are always exceptions!
Expectations do not invalidate research findings, but should they be ignored?

Question 5

Criticisms of Nomothetic Approach (i.e., group designs)

Answer 5

1. No effort to explain error variance
2. Do not address the question of how many of the participants in a study were affected by the IV
3. Do not try to see whether one can repeat the effect of the IV within a single study

Question 6

Group vs Single-Case (1) ERROR VARIANCE –> group design argument

Answer 6

Averaging across participants provides a more accurate estimate of a variable’s general effect

Group designs allow us to estimate the amount of error variance in our data

In a study on screen time and anxiety, some participants show very high anxiety while others don’t. The average shows an effect, but researchers don’t investigate other factors that might explain why some individuals react differentially to screen time

Question 7

Group vs Single-Case (1) ERROR VARIANCE –> single-case argument

Answer 7

Error variance is created by averaging over participants in a group design (inter-participant variance)

Researchers using group designs ignore the “real” error variance within the participant

This intra-participant variance may be more important to understand

A student shows increased anxiety after 3 hours of tik tok use. A single subject design might track their mood, screen content, time of fuse, and even sleep the night before to pinpoint the source of variation. That’s way more personalized and explanatory than just calling it “error”

Question 8

Group vs Single-Case (2) GENERALIZABILITY –> group design argument

Answer 8

Averaging the scores of several participants reduces the idiosyncratic responses of any one participant to show the general effect

A study finds a statistically significant effect of a mindfulness app on stress, but doesn’t report that only 30% of participants actually improved – the rest had no change or got worse. The focus is on the overall average, not individual impact

Question 9

Group vs Single-Case (2) GENERALIZABILITY –> single case argument

Answer 9

Averaging responses may not accurately describe any particular participant’s responses

Instead of saying “the app reduces anxiety on average,” a single-subject design shows that Student A’s anxiety score dropped consistently every time they used the mindfulness app – or didn’t. You know exactly who benefited and how reliably

Question 10

Group vs Single-Case (3) RELIABILITY –>
Group design argument

Answer 10

Reliability of findings is established by replicating studies

We can show that using social media increases stress after a single session, but we don’t test if the same person shows increased stress every time they use it over multiple days. So we don’t know if the effect is reliable within subjects

Question 11

Group vs Single-Case (3) RELIABILITY
single-case argument

Answer 11

Reliability of findings show be established via:

1. Intra-participant replication
2. Inter-participant replication

A teen is tracked for two weeks. During “A” phases (no social media), anxiety is low. During “D” phases (3 hours of social media), anxiety spikes. This on-off pattern repeats constantly – confirming the effect is not a fluke

Question 12

Intra-participant replication

Answer 12

Replicating the effects of the independent variable within a single participant

Question 13

Inter-participant replication

Answer 13

Seeing whether the effects obtained for one participant generalize to other participants in the same study

Question 14

Single-Case Experimental Designs

Answer 14

Unit of analysis is not the experimental group, as it is in group designs but rather the individual participant

More than one participant may be studied, but their responses are analyzed individually
You study 3 teens using the same intervention (e.g., reducing screen time). You create 3 individual graphs to track each teen’s anxiety pattern across time. You do not average their scores or look for a “group mean.”

Question 15

Data from Single-Participant Designs

Answer 15

Cannot analyze single case data with inferential statistics such as t-test and f-tests

Instead!!! Use:
Graphic analysis

Question 16

graphic analysis

Answer 16

research usually inspects the graph of the individual participant to see if the independent variable had an effect

Criticized for having no explicit criteria for deciding when an effect significant

Question 17

Single Case Designs
Single Case Experiments

Answer 17

1. Classical/operant conditioning
2. Psychophysiological process
3. Behavior modification
4. Demonstrational purposes

Question 18

classical/operant conditioning

Answer 18

Pavlov’s dog
Skinner’s box: rat presses level for food reward

Question 19

Psychophysiological process

Answer 19

Drug studies: measuring heart rate changes in a person after taking caffeine

Question 20

Behavior modification

Answer 20

Techniques for changing problem behaviors based on operant conditioning

Question 21

Demonstrational purposes

Answer 21

Ebbinghauss effect: a student memorizes nonsense syllables to show how memory fades over time

Question 22

Case Studies and examples

Answer 22

• Source of insight and ideas
• Describe rare phenomena
• Psychobiography – applying concepts and theories from psychology in an effort to understand famous people
• Illustrative anecdotes

Examples:
Freud’s case studies
Jung’s case studies
Festingerr’s case study of cults

Question 23

Basic Single-Case (list)

Answer 23

1. ABA Designs
2. Multiple-I Designs
3. Multiple baseline designs

Question 24

ABA Designs

Answer 24

ABA Design (reversal designs)

1. Behavior is measured (Baseline period; A)
2. Independent variable is introduced (B)
3. Behavior is measured
4. Independent variable is removed (A)
5. Behavior is measured

Question 25

ABA Designs Example

Answer 25

Example: Screen time – stress study 1. Baseline (A) 2. Screen Time Reduction (B) 3. Return to Normal Screen Time (A) 4. A teen’s stress levels are recorded for one week while using social media normally (A). Then, they reduce screen time to 1 hour per day for another week (B. In the third week, they return to normal usage (A). If stress decreases during B and rises again in the second A, the treatment likely worked.

Question 26

Designs (i.e., Multi-Treatment Designs)

Answer 26

Multiple-I designs – single-case experimental designs that present varying nonzero levels of the independent variable You can compare the effects of two or more interventions (e.g., intervention A, B, C…) within the same individuals to find out which is most effective ABC (DEFG…) Design (does not require to return to baseline like ABA) A - baseline B - one level of the independent variable C - another level of the independent variable ABACA design (does return to baseline)

Question 27

Multiple-I Design Example

Answer 27

ABCA Baseline (A) → 1 hour Screen Time Reduction (B) → turning off notification (C) → back to A A student tries reducing phone use 1 hour (B), then turns off notifications while keeping screen time the same as a baseline (C) Comparing stress levels helps figure out which method helps more – less time or better screen settings Day : Intervention Mon : A (baseline) Tue : B (1hr/day) Wed : C (no notifications)

Question 28

Multiple Baseline Designs

Answer 28

Demonstrates the effect of an intervention (IV) across different subjects, behaviors, or settings – but with staggered timing Used when you can’t reverse a treatment (like ABA designs do) To show cause-and-effect without removing the intervention Helps prove that the change is due to the intervention, not time or other factors Obtain baseline on all behaviors Introduce an independent variable that is supposed to affect only one behavior Allows the researcher to show that the IV is causing the target behavior to change and is not affecting the other behaviors

Question 29

3 Types of Multiple Baseline Designs

Answer 29

1. across subjects 2. across behaviors 3. across settings

Question 30

across subjects (multiple baseline design)

Answer 30

same behavior, different people (e.g., reduce screen time for Student A in Week 2, reduce screen time for student B in Week 3)

Question 31

across behaviors (multiple baseline designs)

Answer 31

different behaviors, same person (e.g., first reduce stress, then increase sleep quality)

Question 32

across settings (multiple baseline designs)

Answer 32

same behavior, different places (e.g., target off-task behavior in math class, then science, then english)

Question 33

Critique of Single-Participant Designs

Answer 33

1. Effects are not necessarily generalizable Individual participants may not be representative of the population at large 2. Neglect of interactions among variables 3. Ethical issues Example: do you withdraw an effective treatment from a particularly troubled client in a reversal design?

Question 34

Case Study Research (case study definition)

Answer 34

a detailed study of a single individual, group, or event Many use information from numerous sources: observation, interviews, questionnaires, news reports, and archival records All information is compiled into a narrative description

Question 35

Limitations of the Case Study Approach

Answer 35

1. Failure to control extraneous variables Alternative explanations can not be ruled out 2. Observer bias All observations may be conducted by a single researcher No way of determining reliability and validity of these observations