Single-Case Research Methods: History and Suitability for a Psychological Science in Need of Alternatives

Hurtado-Parrado, Camilo; López‐López, Wilson

doi:10.1007/s12124-014-9290-2

Cited by 33 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…The first foundational pillar comprises a unique research methodology-single-case research methods (SCRMs) [29]. Research in the experimental and applied analysis of behaviour has extensively used inductive methods of investigation, in which many data points are collected on a few participants with the aim of assessing causal relations between environmental events and behaviour [16].…”

Section: Introduction To Applied Behaviour Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Principles from Applied Behaviour Analysis to Address an Undesired Behaviour: Functional Analysis and Treatment of Jumping Up in Companion Dogs

Pfaller-Sadovsky

Arnott

Hurtado-Parrado

2019

Animals

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The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of procedures successfully used in human related applied behaviour analysis practices to the field of clinical animal behaviour. Experiment 1 involved functional analyses to identify the reinforcement contingencies maintaining jumping up behaviour in five dogs. Experiment 2 comprised teaching dog owners a noncontingent reinforcement intervention (i.e., time-based reinforcement) via behavioural skills training. Single-case experimental methods were implemented in both experiments. The results of Experiment 1 showed that access to a tangible (dogs D01, D02, D03, and D04) and owner attention (dog D05) were reliably maintaining the jumping up behaviour. Experiment 2 demonstrated that noncontingent reinforcement effectively reduced jumping in three out of four dogs (Tau −0.59, CI 90% [−1–0.15], p = 0.026, Tau −1, CI 90% [−1–−0.55], p = 0.0003, and Tau −0.32, CI 90% [−0.76–0.11], p = 0.22 for dyads D01, D02, and D05, respectively), and that behavioural skills training was successful in teaching owners to perform a dog training intervention with high fidelity. Although the results are promising, more canine-related research into functional analysis and noncontingent reinforcement, as well as implementation of behavioural skills training with animal caregivers, is needed.

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Section: Introduction To Applied Behaviour Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Principles from Applied Behaviour Analysis to Address an Undesired Behaviour: Functional Analysis and Treatment of Jumping Up in Companion Dogs

Pfaller-Sadovsky

Arnott

Hurtado-Parrado

2019

Animals

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“…Hurtado-Parrado and López-López (2015) describe the history of Single Case Methods (SCM), e.g., being related to Behaviour Analysis (BA), as a problematic feature when acknowledging the method in psychological research today. This is though not the only misunderstanding of the SCM in contemporary psychology.…”

Section: Misunderstandings Of Single Case Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single Case Method in Psychology: How to Improve as a Possible Methodology in Quantitative Research

Krause-Kjær¹,

Nedergaard²

2015

Integr. psych. behav.

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Awareness of including Single-Case Method (SCM), as a possible methodology in quantitative research in the field of psychology, has been argued as useful, e.g., by Hurtado-Parrado and López-López (IPBS: Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 49:2, 2015). Their article introduces a historical and conceptual analysis of SCMs and proposes changing the, often prevailing, tendency of neglecting SCM as an alternative to Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST). This article contributes by putting a new light on SCM as an equally important methodology in psychology. The intention of the present article is to elaborate this point of view further by discussing one of the most fundamental requirements as well as main characteristics of SCM regarding temporality. In this respect that; "…performance is assessed continuously over time and under different conditions…" Hurtado-Parrado and López-López (IPBS: Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 49:2, 2015). Defining principles when it comes to particular units of analysis, both synchronic (spatial) and diachronic (temporal) elements should be incorporated. In this article misunderstandings of the SCM will be adduced, and further the temporality will be described in order to propose how the SCM could have a more severe usability in psychological research. It is further discussed how to implement SCM in psychological methodology. It is suggested that one solution might be to reconsider the notion of time in psychological research to cover more than a variable of control and in this respect also include the notion of time as an irreversible unity within life.

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“…A single-case experimental design was implemented in Experiment 1 ( Johnston & Pennypacker, 2009 ; Perone & Hursh, 2013 ). The decision to use this approach resulted from consideration of the advantages offered by this design for the purposes of the first experiment compared to a group design ( Hurtado-Parrado & Lopez-Lopez, 2015 ), namely, (a) requiring a reduced number of subjects, which aligned with the recommendations of IACUC, (b) studying in depth—i.e., with repeated measures and until subjects reached stable performance—the acquisition and extinction of the behavioral phenomena of interest under the two variations of the chosen parameter (foot shock intensity, namely 0.5 and 1.0 mA), and (c) establishing feasible steady-state performance criteria extrapolated from a wide range of behavioral research conducted with this type of design using animal models ( Perone & Hursh, 2013 ; see Stability criteria below).…”

Section: Experiments 1: Adaptation Of the Step-down Protocol And Compamentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Mongolian gerbil emotional behavior: effects of two shock intensities and response-independent shocks during an extended inhibitory-avoidance task

Hurtado-Parrado

González-León

Arias-Higuera

et al. 2017

PeerJ

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Despite step-down inhibitory avoidance procedures that have been widely implemented in rats and mice to study learning and emotion phenomena, performance of other species in these tasks has received less attention. The case of the Mongolian gerbil is of relevance considering the discrepancies in the parameters of the step-down protocols implemented, especially the wide range of foot-shock intensities (i.e., 0.4–4.0 mA), and the lack of information on long-term performance, extinction effects, and behavioral patterning during these tasks. Experiment 1 aimed to (a) characterize gerbils’ acquisition, extinction, and steady-state performance during a multisession (i.e., extended) step-down protocol adapted for implementation in a commercially-available behavioral package (Video Fear Conditioning System—MED Associates Fairfax, VT, USA), and (b) compare gerbils’ performance in this task with two shock intensities – 0.5 vs. 1.0 mA—considered in the low-to-mid range. Results indicated that the 1.0 mA protocol produced more reliable and clear evidence of avoidance learning, extinction, and reacquisition in terms of increments in freezing and on-platform time as well as suppression of platform descent. Experiment 2 aimed to (a) assess whether an alternate protocol consisting of a random delivery of foot shocks could replicate the effects of Experiment 1 and (b) characterize gerbils’ exploratory behavior during the step-down task (jumping, digging, rearing, and probing). Random shocks did not reproduce the effects observed with the first protocol. The data also indicated that a change from random to response-dependent shocks affects (a) the length of each visit to the platform, but not the frequency of platform descends or freezing time, and (b) the patterns of exploratory behavior, namely, suppression of digging and rearing, as well as increments in probing and jumping. Overall, the study demonstrated the feasibility of the extended step-down protocol for studying steady performance, extinction, and reacquisition of avoidance behavior in gerbils, which could be easily implemented in a commercially available system. The observation that 1.0 mA shocks produced a clear and consistent avoidance behavior suggests that implementation of higher intensities is unnecessary for reproducing aversive-conditioning effects in this species. The observed patterning of freezing, platform descents, and exploratory responses produced by the change from random to periodic shocks may relate to the active defensive system of the gerbil. Of special interest is the probing behavior, which could be interpreted as risk assessment and has not been reported in other rodent species exposed to step-down and similar tasks.

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Single-Case Research Methods: History and Suitability for a Psychological Science in Need of Alternatives

Cited by 33 publications

References 102 publications

Using Principles from Applied Behaviour Analysis to Address an Undesired Behaviour: Functional Analysis and Treatment of Jumping Up in Companion Dogs

Using Principles from Applied Behaviour Analysis to Address an Undesired Behaviour: Functional Analysis and Treatment of Jumping Up in Companion Dogs

Single Case Method in Psychology: How to Improve as a Possible Methodology in Quantitative Research

Assessing Mongolian gerbil emotional behavior: effects of two shock intensities and response-independent shocks during an extended inhibitory-avoidance task

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