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Based on the concept of latency in single-subject research, explain how the psychologist should interpret this immediate change in the child's behavior, and explain why this pattern affects the strength of the evidence for the treatment's effectiveness.
Case context: A psychologist is evaluating the effectiveness of a new social skills intervention for a child with ADHD using a single-subject research design. During the visual inspection of the data, the psychologist observes that the child's frequency of positive peer interactions (the dependent variable) began to increase immediately after the social skills intervention (the condition change) was introduced.
Question: Based on the concept of latency in single-subject research, explain how the psychologist should interpret this immediate change in the child's behavior, and explain why this pattern affects the strength of the evidence for the treatment's effectiveness.
Sample answer: The psychologist should interpret the immediate behavior change as a short latency. This pattern provides strong evidence that the treatment (the social skills intervention) was directly responsible for the change in positive peer interactions, because the behavioral shift began almost immediately after the condition changed.
Key points:
- The immediate shift in positive peer interactions represents a short latency.
- A short latency indicates the dependent variable began altering swiftly after conditions changed.
- This pattern provides strong evidence that the social skills intervention was directly responsible for the behavior change.
Rubric: Graders should look for the identification of the behavior change as a short latency due to its immediate onset. The answer must also explain that short latency increases confidence that the treatment was directly responsible for the behavior change.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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Based on the concept of latency in single-subject research, explain how the psychologist should interpret this immediate change in the child's behavior, and explain why this pattern affects the strength of the evidence for the treatment's effectiveness.
A researcher changes conditions in a single-subject study. If they observe a behavior shift that occurs only after a long delay versus a behavior shift that occurs almost immediately, how should they apply the concept of latency to evaluate which scenario provides stronger evidence of the treatment's effect? Limit your answer to one to three sentences.