SPHSC 569: Seminar in Speech-Language Pathology--Single-Subject Research
Designs
Spring 2006: Thursdays 11:00-1:00 (Eagleson 111)
Lesley Olswang, Ph.D.
Office Hours - By appointment
TOPIC OUTLINE AND READINGS
Required Readings: Text and references marked with an *. All readings listed below, except the text, are available via UW Libraries electronic reserve. (Note: Readings may be added as the quarter progresses; I'll let you know.)
Text:
*Kennedy, C. H. (2005). Single-case designs for educational research. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
(Richards, S. B., Taylor, R., Ramasamy, R., & Richards, R. (1999). Single subject research: applications in educational and clinical settings. San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc.)
March 30: Course Overview; Experimental Research and History of Single-Subject Design
*Text: Chapters 1 and 2
*Parsonson, B., & Baer, D. (1978). The analysis and presentation of graphic data: A tale of two paradigms (pp.101-108). In T. Kratochwill. Single subject research: strategies for evaluating change. New York: Academic Press.
April 6: Basic Elements of Single-Subject Designs; Research Questions
*Text: Chapters 3, 4, 5
April 13: Defining Independent Variables and Subject Considerations
*LeLaurin, K. & Wolery, M. (1992). Research standards in
early intervention: defining, describing, and measuring the
independent variable. Journal of Early Intervention, 16,
275-287.
(pdf of page 283)
*Richards, S. B., Taylor, R., Ramasamy, R., & Richards, R. (1999). Single subject research: applications in educational and clinical settings. Chapter 2, Methods for changing target behaviors, (pp. 19-43). San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc.
April 20: Defining Dependent Variables
*Text: Chapter 6, 7, 16
*Baer, D. (1988). If you know why you're changing a behavior, you'll know when you've changed it enough. Behavioral Assessment, 10, 219-223.
*Schwartz, I. & Baer, D. (1991). Social validity assessments: is current practice state of the art? Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 189-204.
*Wolf, M. (1978). Social validity: the case for subjective measurement or how applied behavior analysis is finding its heart. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11(2), 203-214.
April 27-May 4: Reliability (Procedural and Measurement)
Text: Chapter 8
*McReynolds, L. & Kearns, K. (1983). Single-subject experimental designs in communicative disorders. Chapter 5. Reliability and observational codes (pp. 131-170). Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
*Billingsley, F., White, O., & Munson, R. (1980). Procedural reliability: a rationale and an example. Behavioral Assessment, 2, 229-241.
*Hollenbeck, A. (1978). Problems of reliability in observation research. In G.Sackett (Ed.) Observing behavior. Volume II: data collection and analysis methods (pp. 79-98). Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
Cicchetti, D. & Sparrow, S. (1981). Developing criteria for establishing interrater reliability of specific items: applications to assessment of adaptive behavior. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 86(2), 127-137.
Additional References: Distributed In Class
May 11, 18, 25: Single Case Designs/Validity and Replication
*Text: Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
*Kazdin, A. (1981). Drawing valid inferences from case studies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 183-192.
Article reviews (see two examples from Richards et al, 1999, and instructions below)
*Richards, S. B., Taylor, R., Ramasamy, R., & Richards, R. (1999). Single subject research: applications in educational and clinical settings. Multiple baseline across settings designs-example (pp. 184-189). San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc.
*Richards, S. B., Taylor, R., Ramasamy, R., & Richards, R. (1999). Single subject research: applications in educational and clinical settings. Alternating treatments with no baseline design-example (pp. 210-214). San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc.
June 1: Data Analysis
*Text: Chapter 15
*Komfrey, J., & Foster-Johnson, L. (1996).Determining the efficacy of intervention: the use of effect sizes for data analysis in single-subject research. The Journal of Experimental Education, 65(1), 73-93.
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Find one article that uses single-subject methodology and is related to your research interests. Prepare a written summary of this article according to the Article Review Guidelines on this web site. Examples are provided through the electronic reserve (see Richards et al, 1999). Be prepared to distribute your summary to your colleagues and discuss this article on the day the design is presented in class (this will be in May).
2. Final Project: You will meet with me individually to discuss how you might use single-subject research methodology in your current or anticipated research endeavors. We will plan together an appropriate final project that will allow you to demonstrate your learning in the course and advance your research efforts. This assignment will be due the week of June 5th.
Grading: I'll grade each of the above assignments separately. The course grade will be an average of the two plus class participation.