Single Subject design

tep 1: Think of a behavior you would like to change. This could be eating habits, exercise habits, or another area you would like to improve. If you’re having trouble coming up with a behavior you would like to change, recall any New Year’s resolutions! 😊 Make sure you come up with a behavior that is measurable and think about how you would measure it. (For example, how would you measure something like anxiety? That behavior would be tricky to quantify.)

Step 2: Design a single-subject evaluation for the behavior you would like to change.

[IMPORTANT: You do not have to complete the intervention. I just want to see that you understand how you would go about designing and implementing a single-subject design.]

Consider:
1) the behavior to change or improve and how you will measure it
2) the intervention you could use to change the behavior
3) the data collection method and how many repeated observations (i.e., data points) you will measure during baseline (before the intervention) and the intervention phase (measured after the intervention is implemented)
4) the desired outcome

Remember, the behavior to change is the independent variable, and the outcome is the dependent variable.

Example using the AB single-subject design:

Problem/behavior I would like to address: Insomnia (not enough hours of sleep a night)
Intervention: Drinking Sleepytime Tea an hour before bedtime
Data Collection Method: Record how many hours of sleep I get per night before and after the intervention
Outcome: How many hours of sleep I get per night

Step 3: Write up your results in a Word document using Use 12-point Times New Roman font with one-inch margins. Complete the following tasks in at least 2 double-spaced pages, and number your answers from 1 to 5:

1. Problem statement (i.e., why are you conducting an intervention?) and description of the design you are proposing to use in order to assess the intervention (example: AB single-system design)

2. Research Question
Example: Does an intervention that implements drinking SleepyTime Tea an hour before bedtime increase the number of hours of sleep achieved per night?

3. Hypothesis, Independent Variable, and Dependent Variable
Example:
Hypothesis: An intervention that implements drinking SleepyTime Tea an hour before bedtime will increase the number of hours of sleep achieved per night.
Independent Variable: The intervention that implements drinking SleepyTime Tea an hour before bedtime
Dependent Variable: The number of hours of sleep achieved per night

4. Data Collection Method
(i.e., how will you record the target behavior? How many data points will you include?)

Example: 1) I recorded how many hours of sleep I got for three nights prior to implementing the intervention, and 2) I recorded how many hours of sleep a night I got for three nights after implementing the intervention.

5. Limitations of this design and how you might address/improve these limitations
Example: Since the AB design has only one baseline phase (A) and one intervention phase (B), researchers cannot control for the fact that another event or factor may have led to the changes observed after the intervention was introduced. To improve this limitation, I might have added more data points before and after the intervention.

You’re getting there! This looks like it is not quite focused enough. Think of one problem. Then, think about something that could be done individually to intervene on that problem. For example–if you wanted to increase emotional comprehension, what is an intervention that you could do to help people increase that emotional comprehension? And maybe the problem is stress, and when you’re stressed, you aren’t able to access that emotional intelligence or comprehension as well or quickly. Think about those and try an update–email me if you want to start with the problem statement and email me that! And of course, email me with any other questions as well!