Behavioral Analyst
esearch Idea using Single-Case Design
Question type: Comparison (Kennedy, 2005)
Experimental Question: Does providing immediate verbal praise contingent on engaging in targeted social behaviors (independent variable) increase the frequency of those social behaviors (dependent variable) in a child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared to a baseline condition with no immediate praise (control condition)?
Dependent Variable: Frequency of targeted social behaviors, measured as the number of instances of the following behaviors exhibited within a pre-determined observation period (e.g., initiating eye contact, smiling, sharing toys).
Independent Variable: Immediate verbal praise delivered contingent on the targeted social behaviors, operationalized as a brief but enthusiastic verbal statement (e.g., "Great job making eye contact!", "Wow, sharing is awesome!") within 5 seconds of the behavior occurring.
Quantification of Dependent Variable: Count. The number of instances of the targeted social behaviors will be counted during each observation period under both conditions (baseline and intervention).
Possible IOA formula: Percent of non-overlapping data (PND):
- Calculate the percentage of data points in the intervention phase that fall above the highest data point in the baseline phase.
- Calculate the percentage of data points in the baseline phase that fall below the lowest data point in the intervention phase.
- Add these two percentages and subtract 100 to get the PND score.
This PND score provides a measure of the percentage of data that does not overlap between the two conditions, indicating the strength of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
Rationale:
This research idea addresses a common challenge in managing individuals with ASD, who often require specific interventions to promote social engagement. The use of single-case design allows for a flexible and individualized approach to examine the effectiveness of the intervention (immediate verbal praise) for a specific participant, while the chosen measures offer clear and objective ways to quantify the results.