Deck 11: Small-N Experimentation

Question 1

When using an AB design in the clinical treatment of changing maladaptive behavior,the first step is to:

A) extinguish the behavior
B) reinforce the behavior
C) reinforce other behaviors
D) obtain a baseline of behavior

Answer 1

obtain a baseline of behavior

Question 2

Of the following,which is the most likely potential threat to validity when using an alternating-treatments design?

A) no baseline
B) insufficient number of observations
C) confounding variable
D) carryover effects

Answer 2

carryover effects

Question 3

Which small-n design is most susceptible to confounding from the order of conditions?

A) AB
B) ABA
C) ACABCBCB
D) all are equally susceptible

Answer 3

AB

Question 4

Which small-n design is most susceptible to confounding from the order of conditions?

A) AB
B) ABA
C) ACABCBCB
D) alternating treatments

Question 5

A small-n design with more than one independent variable is:

A) a reversal design
B) a between-subjects design
C) an alternating-treatment design
D) not possible

Question 6

The ABA design:

A) is a mixed design
B) is a between-subjects design
C) is also called a reversal design
D) is used to counterbalance order effects

Question 7

Which of the following is generally agreed to be a characteristic disadvantage of (or threat to validity in)a reversal design?

A) the lack of a baseline measure
B) the possibility of carryover effects
C) the fact that it is time consuming
D) potential confound of order
E) an increased likelihood of a selection bias

Question 8

You are using an ABA (i.e.,reversal)design to evaluate whether or not a new miracle drug improves retention for psychological material.Four to six hours after introducing the drug treatment,performance returns to levels that were equivalent to those observed before the treatment.You are likely to conclude that:

A) the treatment is confounded with order.
B) there are substantial carryover effects from the drug.
C) an unknown factor was responsible for the improvements in performance.
D) the drug has the desired effect on retention.

Question 9

Which of the following is the optimum small-n design?

A) AB
B) ABA
C) ABBA
D) ABC

Question 10

Most behavioral studies in cognitive psychology,which are usually characterized by having many randomized conditions,could easily be considered a form of ____ design.

A) alternating treatments
B) multiple baseline
C) AB
D) changing-criterion

Question 11

All of the following are characteristics of a functional analysis of behavior except:

A) specifying the behavior of interest
B) determining the baseline occurrence of the behavior
C) identifying the outcome of the behavior
D) experimental manipulation of the independent variable

Question 12

Use with permanent carryover effects:

A) ABA
B) AB
C) multiple baseline
D) changing-criterion

Question 13

Which of the following types of research would most likely rely on a small-n design?

A) clinical behavior modification
B) medical drug treatment trials with humans
C) social psychology survey
D) developmental study of factors influencing a general measure of intelligence

Question 14

Use when there should not be any carryover effects,but you want to rule out potential confounds:

A) ABA
B) AB
C) multiple baseline
D) changing-criterion

Question 15

Which of the following is most clearly an asset of an alternating treatments design?

A) It minimizes possible ceiling effects.
B) It does not need a control group.
C) It permits multiple samples of behavior.
D) It requires very little time to complete.

Question 16

Which of the following is a characteristic of an alternating treatments design?

A) It is most frequently used in medical research.
B) There is confounding from the fact that treatments are always presented in the same order.
C) It provides multiple samples of a given behavior.
D) It allows for both within- and between-subjects versions of an experiment.
E) It is the least effective small-n design.

Question 17

A primary source of confounding in an AB design comes from:

A) the order of conditions
B) the lack of any baseline measure
C) the reliance on multiple treatments
D) the relative brevity of the experiment

Question 18

In an ABA design,we can conclude that it was the treatment variable that affected the change during phase B if:

A) behavior in the third phase did not return to the baseline
B) behavior in the third phase did return to the baseline
C) behavior in the third phase was the same as in the second
D) behavior in the second phase was the same as in the first

Question 19

Which of the following is most like an alternating treatments design?

A) increasing the amount of bar presses required by a rat for a food reward
B) randomly presenting ten auditory conditions to collect perceptual judgments
C) after a baseline measure of behavior is complete providing a drug treatment
D) giving a test both before and after hearing Research Methods lecture material

Question 20

A student officer in a campus organization adopted an ABA design to test whether rewarding club members with beer and chips will encourage them to increase their attendance.Assume that "A" in the design represented no reward,and "B" represented provision of beer and chips.What should the student conclude if attendance improved following "B",but returned to its original level at the end of the experiment?

A) There is a carryover effect of the reward.
B) The improvement was due to a variable that was confounded with the reward.
C) The reward had an effect on behavior.
D) The improvement in behavior was due to time or maturation effects.

Question 21

Small-n experimentation is a recent innovation in psychological research.

Question 22

A functional analysis of behavior is rarely applied to real-world behavioral problems.

Question 23

One example of a(n)____ design is to gradually increase the number of chores required for a child to earn her allowance.

A) multiple baseline
B) alternating treatments
C) reversal
D) AB
E) changing-criterion

Question 24

Which of the following is a characteristic of a changing-criterion design?

A) It is most frequently used in psychophysical research.
B) There is confounding from the order of conditions.
C) It provides multiple samples of a given behavior.
D) The researcher manipulates the contingency for a particular outcome.
E) It is the most effective small-n design.

Question 25

An AB design is usually quite effective in revealing factors that could potentially be confounded with the independent variable(s).

Question 26

The alternating-treatments design as used by Rose was argued to show that artificial colors in food might lead to hyperactivity.

Question 27

In the ABA design,the A refers to baseline periods of observation.

Question 28

Which of the following small-n designs can be used as either a within-subjects or a between-subjects approach?

A) AB
B) multiple baseline
C) reversal
D) changing-criterion

Question 29

A primary source of confounding in an AB design comes from the order of conditions.

Question 30

Small-n designs are not relied upon very often in psychophysical research.

Question 31

Which small-n design would probably be most effective if unwanted,permanent carryover effects were anticipated?

A) ABA
B) AB
C) multiple baseline
D) changing-criterion

Question 32

The memory studies by Nissen and colleagues (1988)showed that multiple personalities:

A) are completely independent of each other
B) are completely dependent on each other
C) share ambiguous information with each other
D) do not share ambiguous information with each other

Question 33

After previously rewarding the class for simply generating a research question,your instructor decides to only reward writing a complete results section,and later rewards nothing short of a complete proposal in APA style.With which small-n design is this approach most consistent?

A) AB
B) reversal
C) alternating treatments
D) changing-criterion
E) case study

Question 34

Which statement is true of within-subjects multiple baseline experiments?

A) Effects cannot be attributed to the independent variable if the measured behaviors interact.
B) Each participant receives a given baseline condition more than once.
C) They are most commonly used in medical research.
D) They frequently suffer from confounding with order.

Question 35

Studies with a small number of participants are often just as valid as studies with a large number of participants.This is because small-n studies often insure a reliable result from each participant by including lots of trials.

Question 36

If behavior returns to baseline in the reversal design,the experimenter cannot conclude that it was the independent variable that changed behavior in the second phase.

Question 37

Assume that you are designing a study on the effect of a proposed treatment (or treatments)on two different behaviors in children (e.g.,crying and fighting).For each individual child,one behavior could simply be measured while the other behavior is being treated.Alternatively,the measurement of a behavior (in the absence of treatment)could occur for a variable length of time for each participant.You are developing a(n)____.

A) changing-criterion design
B) AB
C) reversal
D) multiple baseline

Question 38

A functional analysis of behavior is the result of systematic,detailed observations that are acquired to establish the potential cause of a problem behavior.

Question 39

The smallest possible small-n design:

A) is always done between subjects
B) is uninformative because it is so small
C) is also known as a case study
D) is the best use of an AB design

Question 40

After previously rewarding the class for simply generating a research question,your instructor decides to only reward writing a complete results section,and later rewards nothing short of a complete proposal in APA style.With which small-n design is this approach most consistent?

A) AB
B) reversal
C) alternating treatments
D) changing-criterion
E) case study

Question 41

Case studies sometimes include experiment-like conditions.

Question 42

A multiple-baseline approach should not be used if there are likely to be permanent carryover effects from an independent variable.

Question 43

A changing-criterion design refers to the participant's decision to alter how he/she will respond during the experiment.

Question 44

Recent research is consistent with the notion that amnesia is responsible for why patients with dissociative identity disorder (DID)are unaware of experiences that were not shared across identities.

Question 45

Tests on a person with multiple personalities using ambiguous memory tasks,such as repetition priming,show that the personalities do not share information with each other.