Single-Case Experimental Designs
Published 1 January 1985
Michel Hersen
Citations1,005
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
Abstract
Behavior modification and therapy perhaps are best distinguished from other therapeutic and educational approaches by their dependence on the experimental-empirical methods for solving human problems. Thus, in evaluating the efficacy of emerging therapeutic and educational techniques, a large variety of experimental strategies has been carried out by behavioral researchers. Included, of course, are both group-comparison designs (cf. Kazdin, 1980) and single-case experimental designs (cf. Hersen & Barlow, 1976).
Keywords
PsychologyMathematicsNeuroscience
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisSOME CURRENT DIMENSIONS OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS<sup>1</sup>
3,903 Citations1968Donald M. Baer, Montrose M. Wolf +1 more
The use of optical character-recognition software was used in preparing this document and it is suggested that users of this software should consult the original article before making reference to the material herein.
Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical SocietyTheory of Statistical Estimation
2,865 Citations1925Ronald Aylmer Fisher
It has been pointed out to me that some of the statistical ideas employed in the following investigation have never received a strictly logical definition and analysis, and it is desirable to set out for criticism the manner in which the logical foundations of these ideas may be established.
Journal of Experimental PsychologyConditioned emotional reactions.
1,924 Citations1920John B. Watson, Rosalie Rayner
Internet Archive (Internet Archive)Studies on Hysteria
1,622 Citations1895Josef Breuer, Sigmund Freud +3 more
Behavior ModificationAssessing the Clinical or Applied Importance of Behavior Change through Social Validation
1,113 Citations1977Alan E. Kazdin
Behavior modification in applied settings
1,041 Citations1975Alan E. Kazdin
Behavioral Assessment: A Practical Handbook
924 Citations1998Michel Hersen, Alan S. Bellack
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisMULTIPLE‐PROBE TECHNIQUE: A VARIATION OF THE MULTIPLE BASELINE<sup>1</sup>
911 Citations1978R. Don Horner, Donald M. Baer
The technique is designed to provide a thorough analysis of the relationship between an independent variable and the acquisition of a successive-approximation or chain sequence and provides answers to the following questions.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisSOME GENERALIZATION AND FOLLOW‐UP MEASURES ON AUTISTIC CHILDREN IN BEHAVIOR THERAPY<sup>1</sup>
798 Citations1973O. Ivar Lövaas, Robert L. Koegel +2 more
Inappropriate behaviors decreased during treatment, andappropriate behaviors increased, and appropriate behaviors (appropriate speech, appropriate play, and social non-verbal behaviors) increased in autistic children treated with behavior therapy.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisSOME STILL‐CURRENT DIMENSIONS OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS
749 Citations1987Donald M. Baer, Montrose M. Wolf +1 more
Cambridge University Press eBooksResearch Design in Clinical Psychology
660 Citations2023Alan E. Kazdin
New England Journal of MedicineDetermining Optimal Therapy — Randomized Trials in Individual Patients
587 Citations1986Gordon Guyatt, David L. Sackett +4 more
Double-blind randomized trials are used in which a single patient undergoes a series of pairs of treatments, consisting of one active and one placebo or alternative treatment per pair, with the order determined by random allocation.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental PsychiatryThe non-concurrent multiple baseline across-individuals design: An extension of the traditional multiple baseline design
451 Citations1981P. J. Watson, Edward A. Workman
It is argued that the multiple baseline across-individuals design can be usefully subdivided into two separate designs—concurrent and non-concurrent designs.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of BehaviorTHE MEASUREMENT AND REINFORCEMENT OF BEHAVIOR OF PSYCHOTICS<sup>1</sup>
391 Citations1965Teodoro Ayllón, Nathan H. Azrin
An attempt was made to strengthen behaviors of psychotics by applying operant reinforcement principles in a mental hospital ward by standardizing the objective criteria and placing emphasis on objective definition and quantification of the responses and reinforcers and upon programming and recording procedures.
Child DevelopmentEffects of Social Reinforcement on Isolate Behavior of a Nursery School Child1
351 Citations1964K. Eileen Allen, Betty Hart +3 more
Archives of General PsychiatrySingle-Case Experimental Designs
345 Citations1973David H. Barlow
Examples of different single-case designs actually employed in applied clinical research are presented and discussed and practical problems arising during the course of research are highlighted.
New England Journal of MedicineCrossover and Self-Controlled Designs in Clinical Research
340 Citations1984Thomas A. Louis, Philip W. Lavori +2 more
This work investigated the use of the crossover design in 13 crossover studies that appeared in the Journal during 1978 and 1979 and reported briefly on 28 additional studies of a single treatment each, in which each patient served as his or her own control before or after treatment or both.
Changing Frontiers in the Science of Psychotherapy
292 Citations2017Irving Babbitt
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis“PERHAPS IT WOULD BE BETTER NOT TO KNOW EVERYTHING”1
279 Citations1977Donald M. Baer
It appears that the individual-subject-design paradigm is more likely to contribute to the development of a technology of behavior, and it is suggested that this orientation should not be abandoned.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisSOCIAL‐SKILLS TRAINING FOR UNASSERTIVE CHILDREN: A MULTIPLE‐BASELINE ANALYSIS<sup>1</sup>
238 Citations1977Mitchell Bornstein, Alan S. Bellack +1 more
The effects of social-skills training consisting of instructions, feedback, behavior rehearsal, and modelling were examined in four unassertive children and overall assertiveness in all subjects increased from baseline assessment to the conclusion of treatment and into followup.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisTHE CHANGING CRITERION DESIGN
236 Citations1976Donald P. Hartmann, R. Vance Hall
This article describes and illustrates with two case studies a relatively novel form of the multiple-baseline design called the changing criterion design, and suggests target behaviors and circumstances for which the design might be useful.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisOPPOSITIONAL CHILDREN: A QUEST FOR PARENTAL REINFORCEMENT CONTROL<sup>1</sup>
210 Citations1969Robert G. Wahler
Results showed that the children's oppositional behavior varied predictably with the presence and absence of parental use of timeout and differential attention, and parental reinforcement value for the children was higher during treatment periods than during baseline periods.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisSTATISTICAL INFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL ORGANISM RESEARCH: MIXED BLESSING OR CURSE?1
207 Citations1974Jack Michael
It is seen that it is not possible to effect adequate levels of experimental control with much human applied research, and that in such cases a significance test would be quite valuable as a judgemental aid, both of which points are considered to be essentially incorrect, and if accepted, potentially harmful.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisTIME‐SERIES ANALYSIS IN OPERANT RESEARCH1
186 Citations1977Richard R. Jones, Russell S. Vaught +1 more
A time-series method is presented, nontechnically, for analysis of data generated in individual-subject operant studies, and is recommended as a supplement to visual analysis of behavior change in reversal or multiple-baseline experiments.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisTHE BEHAVIOR‐THERAPEUTIC USE OF CONTINGENCY CONTRACTING TO CONTROL AN ADULT BEHAVIOR PROBLEM: WEIGHT CONTROL<sup>1</sup>
167 Citations1972Ronald A. Mann
This study demonstrated that items considered valuable by the subject and originally his property, could be used successfully to modify the subject's weight when these items were used procedurally both as reinforcing and as punishing consequences.
History of Behavior Modification
167 Citations1982Alan E. Kazdin
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisAN ANALYSIS‐OF‐VARIANCE MODEL FOR THE INTRASUBJECT REPLICATION DESIGN<sup>1</sup>
162 Citations1972J. Ronald Gentile, Aubrey H. Roden +1 more
One- and two-way analysis-of-variance procedures are shown logically to be appropriate for testing hypotheses in successive treatment reversal designs for one-subject and N-subject experiments, respectively.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisMETHODOLOGICAL AND ASSESSMENT CONSIDERATIONS IN EVALUATING REINFORCEMENT PROGRAMS IN APPLIED SETTINGS<sup>1</sup>
160 Citations1973Alan E. Kazdin
The logic of the within-subject design is reviewed and specific designs employed in reinforcement programs are discussed, and effects that make that design less powerful with respect to demonstrating the effect of the experimental variable are discussed.
Oxford University Press eBooksDesign and Analysis of Time Series Experiments
155 Citations2017Richard McCleary, David McDowall +1 more
The Psychological RecordMethodology for Experimental Studies of Young Children in Natural Settings
153 Citations1969Sidney W. Bijou, Robert F. Peterson +3 more
Behaviour Research and TherapyGeneralization effects of social skills training in chronic schizophrenics: An experimental analysis
134 Citations1976Alan S. Bellack, Michel Hersen +1 more
Social skills training was administered to three chronic schizophrenic patients in a Partial Hospitalization Service, indicating that the effects of training generalized from trained to untrained, and trained to novel role-played interactions.
Archives of General PsychiatryBehavior Modification of Anorexia Nervosa
120 Citations1974W. Stewart Agras
Positive and negative reinforcement, informational feedback, and the size of meals contributed to increased eating behavior and feedback of information as to weight and caloric intake may be the most important variable in that it sets the occasion for reinforcement.
Behavior TherapyOn resolving ambiguities of the multiple-baseline design: Problems and recommendations
115 Citations1975Alan E. Kazdin, Steven A. Kopel
Archives of General PsychiatrySocial Reinforcement in the Modification of Agoraphobia
111 Citations1968W. Stewart Agras
The evidence suggests that behavioral change occurs during psychotherapy, but is masked in largesample statistical-outcome studies, where positive and negative therapeutic effects cancel out.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisTHE EFFECTS OF TOKEN REINFORCEMENT AND FEEDBACK ON THE DELUSIONAL VERBAL BEHAVIOR OF CHRONIC PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENICS<sup>1</sup>
91 Citations1972John P. Wincze, Harold Leitenberg +1 more
It would appear that using token reinforcement can reduce the percentage delusional speech of chronic paranoid schizophrenics.
The LancetSINGLE-PATIENT RANDOMISED CLINICAL TRIAL Use in Determining Optimum Treatment for Patient with Inflammation of Kock Continent Ileostomy Reservoir
90 Citations1986Robin S. McLeod
A single-patient randomised clinical trial was used to determine optimum treatment for a patient with inflammation of her continent ileostomy, and both the diagnosis of inflammation and the efficacy of metronidazole in treating it were confirmed.
Behaviour Research and TherapyCase histories and shorter communications
90 Citations1971Robert Ross, Donald Meichenbaum +1 more
The present case study illustrates that other sleep state mal Adaptive behavior, in this case nocturnal headbanging, is amenable to the same behavior modification techniques which are used to modify maladaptive behavior during the waking state.
Educational and Psychological MeasurementA One-Way Analysis of Variance for Single-Subject Designs
88 Citations1971Lester C. Shine, Samuel M. Bower
The Journal of General PsychologyThe Single Case in Clinical-Psychological Research
85 Citations1966M. B. Shapiro
Archives of General PsychiatryCompulsive Rituals Treated by Response Prevention
72 Citations1973Harry L. Mills
Observation of patients with discrete rituals suggests that expectancy of improvement, exposure, and instructions were not sufficient conditions for the elimination of rituals, although these variables influence change in interaction with the prevention of the response for a period of time.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisA FURTHER CONSIDERATION IN THE APPLICATION OF AN ANALYSIS‐OF‐VARIANCE MODEL FOR THE INTRASUBJECT REPLICATION DESIGN
63 Citations1974Thomas R. Kratochwill, Kieran Alden +7 more
It is argued that the analysis-of-variance model is inappropriate for assessing treatment effects in single-subject designs and is demonstrated to violate the crucial assumption concerning the statistical independence of observations.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisFORCING SQUARE PEGS INTO ROUND HOLES: SOME COMMENTS ON “AN ANALYSIS‐OF‐VARIANCE MODEL FOR THE INTRASUBJECT REPLICATION DESIGN”
63 Citations1974Donald P. Hartmann
This paper critically examines the application of fixed-effect one-way analysis-of-variance procedures to learning data from a single subject.
Behavior TherapyEffects of token economy on neurotic depression: An experimental analysis
61 Citations1973Michel Hersen, Richard M. Eisler +2 more
Behavior TherapyLimitations and problems in the clinical application of behavioral techniques in psychiatric settings
53 Citations1979Michel Hersen
Limitations and problems in the clinical application of behavioral techniques in psychiatric settings were examined with respect to: the use of drugs vis-a-vis behavior therapy, the application of clinical techniques to patients based on findings with college students, and the continuous term maintenance of initial behavioral changes.
Behaviour Research and TherapyBehavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive neurosis
52 Citations1979Samuel M. Turner, Michel Hersen +2 more
The results suggest that response prevention was effective in reducing ritualistic behavior while the effects of flooding and antidepressant medication added little to outcome and that a comprehensive approach to treatment is needed.
Behavior TherapyEffects of videotape and instructional feedback on nonverbal marital interaction: An analog study
51 Citations1973Richard M. Eisler, Michel Hersen +1 more
Physical TherapyEvaluating Treatment Effectiveness in Cerebral Palsy: Single-Subject Designs
49 Citations1976John E. Martin, Leonard H. Epstein
Methods to empirically evaluate treatment effectiveness for individual patients or small groups of patients are presented and the procedures are shown to produce reliable data from which conclusions about the relationship between treatment and behavior change can be made.
Social Work Research and AbstractsResearch and service in singlecase experimentation: conflicts and choices
47 Citations1978Edwin J. Thomas
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental PsychiatryTripartite assessment of the effects of systematic desensitization in a multi-phobic child: An experimental analysis
46 Citations1979Vincent B. Van Hasselt, Michael Hersen +3 more
CHEST JournalSingle-Patient Randomized Clinical Trial
45 Citations1986Dajuandra Eugene, M. Burke Conor
Behaviour Research and TherapyThe contribution of therapeutic instruction to covert sensitization
43 Citations1972David H. Barlow, W. Stewart Agras +3 more
It is possible that therapeutic instructions and the resulting expectancy of improvement present in both covert sensitization phases, were responsible for the effectiveness of the treatment, since the patient may have viewed the middle extinction phase as non- therapeutic.
Behavior TherapySimultaneous-treatment design comparisons of the effects of earning reinforcers for one's peers versus for oneself
41 Citations1977Alan E. Kazdin, Sally Geesey
Journal of Mental ScienceA Preliminary Experiment on Paranoid Delusions
38 Citations1959M. B. Shapiro, A. T. Ravenette
It is made clear that further experimentation is necessary before the generalizations described above could be accepted with any confidence, and that the results serve to indicate that the direct experimental analysis of psychological disorder might lead to useful results.
Behavior TherapyAn experimental analysis of retention control training in the treatment of nocturnal enuresis in two institutionalized adolescents
37 Citations1973Peter M. Miller
An experimental analysis of a procedure labeled “retention control training” (RCT) is described for treatment of nocturnal enuresis, with marked decreases in both daytime urinations and bedwetting episodes observed during RCT with increases in these measures when baseline conditions were reinstated.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisTRAINING PROFOUNDLY RETARDED CHILDREN TO STOP CRAWLING<sup>1</sup>
36 Citations1972F. O'Brien, Nathan H. Azrin +1 more
A training program was designed to increase the ease and speed of walking relative to that of crawling, and consisted of restraint-for-crawling and priming-of-walking, which successfully reduced crawling and began to walk instead.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis“AN ANALYSIS‐OF‐VARIANCE MODEL FOR INTRASUBJECT REPLICATION DESIGN”: SOME ADDITIONAL COMMENTS1
34 Citations1974Carl E. Thoresen, Janet D. Elashoff
The fixed effects ANOVA procedure utilized by Gentile, Roden, and Klein (1972) for single subjects is found inappropriate and time series analysis that takes serial correlation effects into account is recommended.
Applied Psychophysiology and BiofeedbackSingle-case designs and clinical biofeedback experimentation
33 Citations1977David H. Barlow, Edward B. Blanchard +2 more
Basic procedures in the use of single-case experimental designs are described and illustrations in clinical biofeedback research are provided.
The Journal of Nervous and Mental DiseaseRESEARCH DESIGN FOR ANALYZING DRUG-ENVIRONMENT-BEHAVIOR INTERACTIONS
32 Citations1973Robert Paul Liberman, John M. Davis +2 more
The phenothiazine was shown to be the primary causal variable for altering social withdrawal, contributory for increases in eye contact, and irrelevant in the control of delusional speech.
Journal of Visual Impairment & BlindnessApplications of Single-Case Designs to Research with Visually Impaired Individuals
29 Citations1981Vincent B. Van Hasselt, Michel Hersen
A Cognitive-Behavior Modification Approach to Assessment
29 Citations1977Donald Meichenbaum
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental PsychiatryThe repeated pretest-posttest single-subject experiment: A new design for empirical clinical practice
28 Citations1983Bruce A. Thyer, George C. Curtis
The logic of a new design for empirical clinical practice, the repeated pretest-posttest experiment, is described, which is readily applicable by individual practitioners in the human services, possesses high internal validity, and presents minimal intrusiveness into the delivery of service.
Journal of Intellectual Disability ResearchA SINGLE‐SUBJECT STUDY OF IMIPRAMINE IN A MENTALLY RETARDED WOMAN WITH DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS
28 Citations1986Carolyn Field, M. G. Aman +2 more
There was no evidence that imipramine impaired cognitive functioning as assessed by IQ performance, and drug effects were fairly specific and a number of other clinical variables were unaffected by treatment.
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisCONCERNING THE STATISTICAL PROCEDURES ENUMERATED BY GENTILE et al.: ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
26 Citations1974H. J. Keselman, Les Leventhal
It is recommended that a more powerful test of the experimental hypotheses can be obtained by performing Bonferroni t statistics rather than analysis of variance F tests.
PsychometrikaA Special Latin Square for the Use of Each Subject “As His Own Control”
23 Citations1965Lorna Smith Benjamin
When the purpose of the experiment is to compare treatments, the Sequences × Positions Latin Square has been employed to control unwanted effects attributable to individuals, position, and sequence; if subject interactions are present, square uniqueness may be used as the error term and the bias in the test of treatments will be conservative.
Behavior TherapyThe use of social reinforcement in a case of conversion reaction
22 Citations1975William M. Kallman, Michel Hersen +1 more
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisSTATISTICAL INFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL ORGANISM RESEARCH: SOME REACTIONS TO A SUGGESTION BY GENTILE, RODEN, AND KLEIN1
21 Citations1974Jack Michael
Behaviour Research and TherapyEffects of massed practice and meprobamate on spasmodic torticollis: an experimental analysis
21 Citations1974Samuel M. Turner, Michel Hersen +1 more
In the present single case experimental analysis (Barlow and Hersen), the effects of massed practice (see Yates. 1958) and meprobamate on a subject exhibiting spasmodic torticollis were systematically examined.
Behavior TherapyConsumer acceptability of the single case withdrawal design: Penalty for early withdrawal?
19 Citations1986Timothy A. Cavell, Carol Frentz +1 more
Teachers' acceptability of withdrawal designs was investigated, and results would suggest teachers viewed withdrawal designs as generally acceptable.
Behavior ModificationThought-Stopping in the Control of Obsessive Ruminations
16 Citations1979Thomas W. Lombardo, Samuel M. Turner
Behavior TherapyCase study: Implementation of behavior modification techniques in summer camp settings
16 Citations1973George J. Allen
Journal of Applied Behavior AnalysisRELAXATION EXERCISE WITH CEREBRAL PALSIED ADULTS SHOWING SPASTICITY
16 Citations1978Deems F. Ortega
Behavior ModificationTreating Hyperactivity with Dexedrine and Activity Feedback
14 Citations1981Donald A. Williamson, James P. Calpin +3 more
The results showed that Dexedrine improved classroom on-task behavior and lunchroom gross motor behavior but had no effect on activity level, as measured by a movement monitor worn on the child's wrist.
…
