Single-case design.Psychology Essay. How a single-case design can make a case study more experimental

Single-Case Design
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Explain how a single-case design can make a case study more experimental. What are some of the methodological limitations in doing so?
In the experimental design, the treatment group has more than one subject, while in the single-case designs (SCDs) there may be a single subject or entity with many observation where the design is N> 1 versus N=1 respectively. At the same time, data is collected from one or several subjects under conditions of absence or the presence of treatment. The single-case designs may focus on a single subject or unit that is an outlier and this is associated with bias and especially when there is nonrandomized control group. To make the single-case study more experimental it is necessary to manipulate the independent variable and control the other variables, eliminating threats to the internal validity and using more data.
The single-case design is appropriate when the design case is typical or representative, can test a well formulated theory, represents a revelatory case and a unique one. The researcher ought to record the pattern of changes that are directly attributed to the intervention. This includes the level changes, trend changes and immediateness of the effect. Typically, there is a baseline has prior to the treatment, where the results are contrasted to after the treatment, but there is no comparison with a group (Ray, 2015). When the introduction of the treatment is associated with the changes, this highlights that a functional relationship exists between the intervention and the changes.
The single-case study design is not considered an experimental design as there are many factors, which affect the internal validity of the investigation. As such controlling the threats the internal validity also makes the design more like the quasi-experimental study designs. The reversal of baseline conditions or replication of experimental effects is one way to reduce and eliminate the threats to internal validity (Smith, 2015). This can include using combined series design and alternating the treatment design where there are various baseline strategies. Reapplying the intervention is also conducted various times to establish the presence or absence of the intervention effect when the intervention is withdrawn.
Determining the appropriate number of data points in the baseline observations makes the case studies more experimental since it is possible to evaluate the causal relationship more objectively. It is more difficult to measure data in the single case-designs when compare to the experimental designs and even when there are more data points in eh approach researchers do not always evaluate the integrity of such data, potentially affecting the internal and external validity. Identifying methodica...