Short Answer

You are designing a study to increase a student's on-task behavior using positive attention. If you are utilizing a multiple-baseline design across settings, what is the specific methodological advantage of introducing the positive attention at school first, and then waiting to introduce it at home at a later time?

Question: You are designing a study to increase a student's on-task behavior using positive attention. If you are utilizing a multiple-baseline design across settings, what is the specific methodological advantage of introducing the positive attention at school first, and then waiting to introduce it at home at a later time?

Sample answer: Introducing the positive attention at school first and waiting to introduce it at home later allows the researcher to rule out setting-specific confounding variables. If on-task behavior improves at school but remains at baseline at home until the reinforcement is introduced there, it provides confidence that the positive attention caused the change, rather than a general developmental shift or external event.

Key points:

  • Staggering the treatment across environments isolates the effect of the intervention.
  • It demonstrates that the behavior changes only when the positive attention is applied.
  • It rules out setting-specific confounding variables or general time-related shifts.

Rubric: Full credit is awarded for stating that the staggered introduction allows the researcher to verify that the treatment caused the behavior change, effectively ruling out setting-specific confounding variables.

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Updated 2026-05-27

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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