SPCE 630 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Strongest threats to internal validity for withdrawal/reversal designs include all of the
following except - Answer -history
The primary ethical concern associated with withdrawal designs is - Answer -removing
a successful intervention
External validity of an ABAB design can be improved by - Answer -having at least 3
participants
Unlike withdrawal designs, reversal designs involve - Answer -a second intervention
phase
Which is the most powerful within-subject design? - Answer -ABAB
In withdrawal designs, when is procedural infidelity most likely to occur? - Answer -
immediately after condition changes
When using "ABC Notation," the B stands for - Answer -intervention 1
Which of the following is NOT a limitation of an AB design (intervention is not
withdrawn, lack of control for internal validity, lack of control for external validity, cannot
determine functional relationships) - Answer -intervention is not withdrawn
What can researchers do to help avoid attrition in withdrawal designs? - Answer -
disclose and describe the withdrawal condition during the consent process
The withdrawal design is not particularly sensitive to which threats to internal validity?
A) history, maturation, data instability
B) procedural infidelity, attrition, maturation
C) carryover effects, hawthorne effect, irreversibility of behaviors
D) testing, procedural infidelity, data instability - Answer -d
History - Answer -refers to events that occur during an experiment, but are not related
to planned procedural changes that may influence the outcome
Maturation - Answer -changes in behavior due to passage of time
Testing - Answer -threat in any study that requires participants to respond to the same
test repeatedly
Facilitative effect - Answer -an improvement in performance over successive baseline
or probe testing or observation sessions
, Inhibitive effect - Answer -a deterioration in performance over successive baseline or
probe testing or observation sessions
Cyclical veriability - Answer -a specific type of data instability that refers to a repeated
and predictable pattern in the data series over time
Variability - Answer -also referred to as data instability
Regression to the mean - Answer -refers to the likelihood that following an outlying data
point, data are likely to revert back to levels closer to the average value
Instrumentation threats - Answer -refers to the concerns of the measurement system
Procedural infidelity - Answer -refers to the lack of adherence to condition protocols by
study implementers
Selection bias - Answer -involves choosing participants in a way that differentially
impacts the inclusion or retention of participants in a study, when compared to the
population of interest
Attrition - Answer -refers to the loss of participants during the course of a study
Attrition bias - Answer -refers to the likelihood that participant loss impacts the outcome
of the study
Sampling bias - Answer -occurs in SCD studies when researchers use additional, non-
explicated reasons for including or excluding potential participants
Adaptation - Answer -refers to a period of time at the start of an investigation in which
participants' recorded behavior may differ from their natural behavior due to the novel
conditions under which data are collected
Multiple-treatment interference - Answer -occurs when a study participant's behavior is
influenced by more than one planned "treatments" or interventions during the course of
a study
Sequential confounding - Answer -when the order in which experimental conditions are
introduced to participants influences their behavior
Carryover effect - Answer -the effect when a procedure used in one experimental
condition influences behavior in an adjacent condition
Instability - Answer -the amount of variability in the data over time
Strongest threats to internal validity for withdrawal/reversal designs include all of the
following except - Answer -history
The primary ethical concern associated with withdrawal designs is - Answer -removing
a successful intervention
External validity of an ABAB design can be improved by - Answer -having at least 3
participants
Unlike withdrawal designs, reversal designs involve - Answer -a second intervention
phase
Which is the most powerful within-subject design? - Answer -ABAB
In withdrawal designs, when is procedural infidelity most likely to occur? - Answer -
immediately after condition changes
When using "ABC Notation," the B stands for - Answer -intervention 1
Which of the following is NOT a limitation of an AB design (intervention is not
withdrawn, lack of control for internal validity, lack of control for external validity, cannot
determine functional relationships) - Answer -intervention is not withdrawn
What can researchers do to help avoid attrition in withdrawal designs? - Answer -
disclose and describe the withdrawal condition during the consent process
The withdrawal design is not particularly sensitive to which threats to internal validity?
A) history, maturation, data instability
B) procedural infidelity, attrition, maturation
C) carryover effects, hawthorne effect, irreversibility of behaviors
D) testing, procedural infidelity, data instability - Answer -d
History - Answer -refers to events that occur during an experiment, but are not related
to planned procedural changes that may influence the outcome
Maturation - Answer -changes in behavior due to passage of time
Testing - Answer -threat in any study that requires participants to respond to the same
test repeatedly
Facilitative effect - Answer -an improvement in performance over successive baseline
or probe testing or observation sessions
, Inhibitive effect - Answer -a deterioration in performance over successive baseline or
probe testing or observation sessions
Cyclical veriability - Answer -a specific type of data instability that refers to a repeated
and predictable pattern in the data series over time
Variability - Answer -also referred to as data instability
Regression to the mean - Answer -refers to the likelihood that following an outlying data
point, data are likely to revert back to levels closer to the average value
Instrumentation threats - Answer -refers to the concerns of the measurement system
Procedural infidelity - Answer -refers to the lack of adherence to condition protocols by
study implementers
Selection bias - Answer -involves choosing participants in a way that differentially
impacts the inclusion or retention of participants in a study, when compared to the
population of interest
Attrition - Answer -refers to the loss of participants during the course of a study
Attrition bias - Answer -refers to the likelihood that participant loss impacts the outcome
of the study
Sampling bias - Answer -occurs in SCD studies when researchers use additional, non-
explicated reasons for including or excluding potential participants
Adaptation - Answer -refers to a period of time at the start of an investigation in which
participants' recorded behavior may differ from their natural behavior due to the novel
conditions under which data are collected
Multiple-treatment interference - Answer -occurs when a study participant's behavior is
influenced by more than one planned "treatments" or interventions during the course of
a study
Sequential confounding - Answer -when the order in which experimental conditions are
introduced to participants influences their behavior
Carryover effect - Answer -the effect when a procedure used in one experimental
condition influences behavior in an adjacent condition
Instability - Answer -the amount of variability in the data over time
