Identify two situations where it would not be appropriate to engage in the statistical analysis of data in single-subject research. In other words, what would be the evidence that statistical analysis would not be appropriate?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: This question calls for the identification of two situations where statistical analysis would not be warranted, but there are actually three such situations mentioned in the text: (1) when there is an ambiguous baseline, (2) when there is an erratic baseline, and (3) when there is a notable improvement in the target behavior during the baseline period. An ambiguous baseline would be exemplified by a trend that goes up for a part of the baseline and down for another part of the baseline (or down followed by up). An erratic baseline would be one with great variation in the baseline measurements, such as scores in sequence of 21, 14, 26, 31, 12, 13, 26. A baseline that demonstrates noteworthy growth would be exemplified by these scores: 14, 18, 19, 21, 21, 23, 24. In none of these situations should you engage in the statistical analysis of data.
Learning Objective: 15-5: Identify the steps in the employment of a single-subject research design.
Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Are the Data Amenable to Statistical Analysis
Difficulty Level: Hard