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Explain how the psychologist's actions in this scenario align with each of the three foundational assumptions of single-subject research.
Case context: A school psychologist is working with a student who exhibits disruptive behavior during class. Instead of comparing the student to a larger norm group, the psychologist records the frequency of the behavior for this individual student over a week. The psychologist then introduces a token economy system while maintaining strict classroom conditions, monitoring if the behavior decreases, and subsequently removes it briefly to confirm if the change is indeed caused by the system. Finally, the psychologist ensures that the reduction in disruptive behavior is large enough to allow the student to successfully participate in group lessons.
Question: Explain how the psychologist's actions in this scenario align with each of the three foundational assumptions of single-subject research.
Sample answer: The psychologist's actions demonstrate all three assumptions of single-subject research: first, by recording the individual student's behavior over a week instead of using group averages, they focus intensively on individual behavior to uncover unique differences. Second, by introducing, maintaining, and briefly withdrawing the token economy under strict conditions to confirm it caused the behavior change, they seek to discover causal relationships through rigorous experimental control. Third, by ensuring the behavior change is sufficient to allow successful participation in group lessons, they prioritize an effect that has significant social importance in a real-world setting.
Key points:
- Individual tracking aligns with focusing intensively on individual behavior to uncover unique differences.
- Introducing and withdrawing the token economy under strict conditions aligns with discovering causal relationships through experimental control.
- Improving group lesson participation aligns with prioritizing effects of social importance in real-world settings.
Rubric: The student must connect the psychologist's individual monitoring to the focus on individual behavior/unique differences, the introduction and withdrawal of the token economy to discovering causal relationships through experimental control, and the participation in group lessons to prioritizing socially important real-world effects.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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