Discuss how single subject designs are evaluated through visual analysis of data

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Five ways that single subject designs are evaluated through visual analysis:
1) Means – Compare the means between phases by drawing a line for each phase that represents the mean for that particular phase. Then through visual analysis can easily examine the graph for changes in means across phases.
2) Levels – Level of performance indicates the magnitude and direction of change from the end of one phase to the beginning of the next phase. This can be analyzed by simply looking at the changes between the last data points of one phase and the initial data points of the next phase.
3) Trends – Examine the graph visually for trends within phases of the data, either ascending or descending trends.
4) Percentage of Overlapping Data Points – By calculating percent of overlapping data points the researchers are provided with an estimated effect size.
5) Rapidity of Behavior Change – The length of time between onset or termination of one phase and changes in performance in the next phase.