Illustrate how you might evaluate your own practice using a group research design by answering each of the following questions: (1) What is the target behavior that you will measure? (2) What research design will you employ? (3) What threats to internal validity do you believe should be of special concern in this situation, and why do you believe this threat should be of special concern? (4) Does your chosen research design control for the threats of special concern (If there are no threats, just say so as your answer to this question)?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: There are many target behaviors that might be identified, such as anxiety, school grades, and whether a person got a job. The behavior should be specific enough that you would have guidance in the selection of a means for measuring it. A group design should be identified, such as, the one-group pretest–posttest design, the comparison group design, the alternative treatment design, or the basic experimental design. It would not be appropriate to identify the AB single-subject design because this is not a group design. The consideration of the threats to internal validity to be of special concern should include a discussion of the amount of time the client has possessed the target behavior and the amount of time of the intervention. The one-group pretest–posttest design does not address any of the threats to internal validity and would be an appropriate design if there are no threats that have been identified as being of special concern. The comparison group design (and the alternative treatment design) addresses both maturation and history.
Learning Objective: 14-3: Describe the various threats to internal validity
Cognitive Domain: Comprehension
Answer Location: Threats to Internal Validity
Difficulty Level: Hard