Systematic Protocols for the Visual Analysis of Single-Case Research Data

Wolfe, Katie; Barton, Erin E.; Meadan, Hedda

doi:10.1007/s40617-019-00336-7

Technical and Tutorials
Published: 28 January 2019

Systematic Protocols for the Visual Analysis of Single-Case Research Data

Behavior Analysis in Practice volume 12, pages 491–502 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Researchers in applied behavior analysis and related fields such as special education and school psychology use single-case designs to evaluate causal relations between variables and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. Visual analysis is the primary method by which single-case research data are analyzed; however, research suggests that visual analysis may be unreliable. In the absence of specific guidelines to operationalize the process of visual analysis, it is likely to be influenced by idiosyncratic factors and individual variability. To address this gap, we developed systematic, responsive protocols for the visual analysis of A-B-A-B and multiple-baseline designs. The protocols guide the analyst through the process of visual analysis and synthesize responses into a numeric score. In this paper, we describe the content of the protocols, illustrate their application to 2 graphs, and describe a small-scale evaluation study. We also describe considerations and future directions for the development and evaluation of the protocols.

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Affiliations

Department of Educational Studies, University of South Carolina, 820 Main St, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
Katie Wolfe
Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Box 228 GPC, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
Erin E. Barton
Department of Special Education, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA
Hedda Meadan

Authors

Katie Wolfe
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Erin E. Barton
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Hedda Meadan
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Correspondence to Katie Wolfe.

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Conflict of Interest

Katie Wolfe declares that she has no conflict of interest. Erin E. Barton declares that she has no conflict of interest. Hedda Meadan declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The University of South Carolina Institutional Review Board approved the procedures in this study.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Wolfe, K., Barton, E.E. & Meadan, H. Systematic Protocols for the Visual Analysis of Single-Case Research Data. Behav Analysis Practice 12, 491–502 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00336-7

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Published: 28 January 2019
Issue Date: 17 June 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00336-7

Keywords

Visual analysis
Single-case research
Visual inspection
Data analysis