Explain how a multiple-baseline design across behaviors is implemented and how it allows a researcher to determine if a treatment was effective, using the example of an office worker's productivity on two tasks.
Question: Explain how a multiple-baseline design across behaviors is implemented and how it allows a researcher to determine if a treatment was effective, using the example of an office worker's productivity on two tasks.
Sample answer: In a multiple-baseline design across behaviors, a researcher first measures the baseline performance of the office worker on two distinct tasks, such as making sales calls and writing reports. Then, the researcher introduces a goal-setting treatment for only one of the tasks while continuing to monitor the baseline of the other. Later, the treatment is applied to the second task. If the worker's productivity increases on each specific task only after the treatment is introduced for that particular task, the researcher can confidently conclude that the treatment caused the productivity increase.
Key points:
- Establishes initial baselines for both tasks.
- Introduces the treatment to the first task while keeping the second at baseline.
- Introduces the treatment to the second task at a later time.
- Concludes treatment effectiveness if productivity only increases on a task after the treatment is applied to it.
Rubric: The essay should accurately describe the initial baseline phase for both behaviors, the staggered introduction of the treatment, and the logic used to draw causal conclusions.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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