Comparison of multiple research designs

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To compare the effectiveness of multiple conditions to improve the target behavior. A typical alternating treatment design has conditions.
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Internal validity

External validity

Social validity

Multiple baseline design takes three basic forms to change target behaviors. The multiple baseline across behaviors design, consisting of two or more different behaviors of the same subject
The multiple baseline across settings design, consisting of the same behavior of the same subject in two or more settings, situations or time periods.
The multiple baseline across subjects design, consisting of the same behavior of two or more different participants

One of the most important advantages of the multiple baseline designs is that it does not require the withdrawal of an effective treatment (Cooper, 2007). When working with extreme target behaviors such as self-injurious behaviors the withdrawal of an effective means of treatment can be crucial to the ethical care of the subject. An added benefit of the multiple baseline design is when working in the school setting. Teachers often have a classroom of children in which they are entrusted with to oversee. The multiple baseline design is ideal to use for multiple behaviors, in a variety of settings or subjects. The evaluation of the subjects progression while maintaining the students' needs in the classroom can be met while intervention is taking place. The intervention can be put into place by the treatment team and the teacher or parent who may or may not be formally trained in multiple baseline design can carry out the treatment with ease.
Drawbacks of the multiple baseline design are that it does not allow for a strong experimental control. This should however be ...

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