Research topics

Question 1

What is an ABAB design?

Answer 1

a design in which a baseline of performance is recorded, a treatment is provided for a period of time, the treatment is removed, and then the treatment is reintroduced

Question 2

What is a pretest - posttest control group design?

Answer 2

a design in which a person’s performance is recorded before treatment is given and after treatment is given

Question 3

What is a multiple baseline design?

Answer 3

a design in which a baseline of a given behavior is obtained prior to a treatment being applied to multiple individuals who may exhibit that behavior

Question 4

What is a cross-sectional study?

Answer 4

a type of research study in which a population is observed at only a single point in time; conclusions about a population’s behavior over time may be drawn from that one point.

Question 5

Compare science vs research.

Answer 5

Science values evidence over opinion; it is conceptual and philosophical. Research is methodological and is based on a process of asking and answering questions

Question 6

Wha are two distinct philosophical features of science?

Answer 6

Empiricism (observable and measurable) and determinism (events are caused by other events)

Question 7

What is a null hypothesis?

Answer 7

Two variables are unrelated

Question 8

What is an alternative hypothesis?

Answer 8

Two variables are related

Question 9

What is the difference between interobserver reliability and intraobserver reliability?

Answer 9

interobserver reliability is when two or more observers provide similar measures for an event; intraobserver reliability is when the same observer measures the same event consistently

Question 10

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 10

an unmeasured variable that influences cause and effect

Question 11

What is internal validity?

Answer 11

the extent that you can be sure that a cause and effect relationship cannot be explained by other factors.

Question 12

In speech-language pathology, what is the basic experimental group design?

Answer 12

prettest-posttest control group design; it helps to evaluate the effects of a single treatment

Question 13

What is a single subject design?

Answer 13

an experimental design in which a participant’s performance is compared under different conditions

Question 14

What is an AB design?

Answer 14

a single subject design in which (A) a baseline is obtained and (B) a treatment is offered followed by a summary of the effects

Question 15

What is an ABA design?

Answer 15

a basic experimental SSD; (A) = baseline obtained; (B) = treatment given, (A) = treatment removed

Question 16

What is an ABAB design?

Answer 16

a basic experimental SSD; (A) = baseline obtained; (B) = treatment given, (A) = treatment removed; (B) = treatment given again

Question 17

What is the purpose of the multiple baseline design?

Answer 17

to indicate that untreated skills were not affected and only treated skills were

Question 18

What is the purpose of the multiple baseline across subjects design?

Answer 18

to indicate the effectiveness of treatment on several subjects by first taking their baselines and then taking measurements after they’ve completed the treatment.

Question 19

What may threaten the external validity of a study?

Answer 19

the Hawthorne Effect: the impact that participants’ knowledge of participating in a study or that they are treated differently than usual will affect the results of the study

Question 20

What is external validity?

Answer 20

the study findings being able to be generalized

Question 21

What is multiple baseline across settings design?

Answer 21

a single behavior being sequentially taught in different settings to demonstrate the behavior changed in a single setting, indicating that treatment was effective.

Question 22

What is a multiple baseline across behaviors design?

Answer 22

a research design that involves several behaviors that are taught sequentially to show that only treated behaviors change, untreated behaviors did not change, and treatmetn was effective.

Question 23

What are the limitations of a single subject design?

Answer 23

the results cannot be generalized to the general population and the results do not effectively predict the behaviors of groups of individuals.

Question 24

What is descriptive research?

Answer 24

researchers observe a phenomenon and then describe it

Question 25

In descriptive research, a _______ variable is akin to the independent variable in experimental research and a _______ variable is akin to the dependent variable in experimental research.

Answer 25

classification; criterion

Question 26

What is an example of a classification variable and a criterion variable?

Answer 26

people with dementia compared to individuals without dementia on certain language measures. Group status is the classification variable and language measures would be the criterion measures.

Question 27

What is ex-post facto research?

Answer 27

researcher searches for causes of events that already happened; this is typically used to determine causes of disease.

Question 28

What is a limitation of ex-post facto research?

Answer 28

It only suggests, not confirm causes of disorders and diseases

Question 29

What is internal validity?

Answer 29

The degree to which a study showed a true cause-effect relationship

Question 30

What is external validity?

Answer 30

The degree to which a test's results can be generalized

Question 31

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

Answer 31

the extent to which a study's results is affected by the participant knowing that they will be treated differently than other participants and/or they know they are taking part in an experiment; one threat to external validity

Question 32

What is Multiple-Treatment Interference?

Answer 32

Another threat to external validity; the positive or negative of one treatment to another

Question 33

What is reactive or interactive effects of pretesting?

Answer 33

Another threat to external validity; sensitization of the participant during a pretest of the DV impacting the effect of the treatment variable

Question 34

What are threats to internal validity?

Answer 34

instrumentation; history; statistical regression; attrition; maturation; confounding variables; subject selection bias; testing

Question 35

What is a parameter?

Answer 35

A population value

Question 36

What is class I evidence?

Answer 36

randomized control trials

Question 37

What is class II evidence?

Answer 37

well-designed studies that are not random

Question 38

What is class III evidence?

Answer 38

expert opinion

Question 39

What is most desired level of evidence?

Answer 39

controlled, systematically replicated evidence

Question 40

What are the levels of desired evidence from least to most desirable?

Answer 40

expert advocacy --> uncontrolled, replicated evidence --> uncontrolled, directly replicated evidence ---> uncontrolled, systematically reduplicated evidence ---> controlled, replicated evidence --> controlled, directly replicated evidence ---> controlled, systematically replicated evidence

Question 41

What is the difference between a between subjects design and a within subjects design?

Answer 41

between subjects design entails each participant receives only one of the conditions or treatments within subjects design entails each participant receives all of the conditions or treatments

Question 42

What is a control?

Answer 42

a group in an experiment that does not receive a treatment

Question 43

What is the difference between a single blind study and a double blind study?

Answer 43

In a single blind study, only researcher knows which treatment the participant is receiving. In a double blind study, neither the researcher nor the participant know which treatment is being administered.

Question 44

The reliability of a test is measured by

Answer 44

correlation coefficient

Question 45

What is alternate form reliability?

Answer 45

consistency of results of 2 forms given to the same person to assess the same behavior

Question 46

What is split half reliability?

Answer 46

refers to the internal consistency of a test, can overestimate reliability since it does not measure stability of scores over time.

Question 47

What is a multigroup pre-test post-test design?

Answer 47

an experimental design used to evaluate the effects of 2 or more treatments. A group is added every time there is an additional treatment tested

Question 48

What are the pros of a single subject study design?

Answer 48

allows for the integration of research and clinical practice; clients can benefit from treatment if they are participants; can replicate; can generalize results to other clients

Question 49

What are the cons of a single subject study design?

Answer 49

cannot be used to predict a client's behavior; cannot be used to generalize to the public.

Question 50

What is a longitudinal study?

Answer 50

a method used in developmental research in which the same study participants are studied over a period of time

Question 51

What is a cross-sectional study?

Answer 51

a method used in developmental research in which study participants from different ages are selected and then observed