Student will complete a research proposal of 2-3 pages plus a title page and references page for implementing a single subject research design with 1 to 4 participants (number dependent on the type of design selected).
The proposal should contain the research paragraph summarizing the intervention that will be used in the study, what it consists of, and how it has been used in previous research. You should include at least two references from journal articles.
The rest of the proposal should have sections outlining the proposed participants, settings, research design, dependent variable, independent variable, how interobserver agreement, treatment fidelity, and social validity will be assessed.
Participants can earn 5 bonus points on the assignment if they create a graph of fictitious data to show what data from the study would look like if carried out that matches APA style. The assignment will be submitted in parts to allow the instructor to give feedback and for you to make corrections.
Submission 1: Title page that identifies intervention that you will focus on and format document with running header. You may use one of the suggested interventions or may utilize a different intervention, but the instructor may contact you for more information after submission 1 if they have concerns about your intervention. (Suggested interventions: video prompting, least to most or most to least prompting, social stories, PECS, cover-copy-compare, parent training, discrete trial training)
Submission 2: In this submission you will create a reference page and write an introduction paragraph. Make any corrections to the title page and create references page with 2 references about the intervention you selected for submission 1 and also create a reference for the Richards book. These references should be single subject research studies in journals. You can use more than 2 references and the other references can be any type of article or book. Some good journals to look at would be Behavior Analysis in Practice, Journal of Behavior Education, Education and Treatment in Autism and Developmental Disabilities). For you introduction paragraph, you should summarize what your intervention is and describe previous research done on that intervention.
Submission 3: In this submission you will make any corrections and submit description of participants and setting for a single subject research study you are designing for the rest of the semester in this project. You should describe who your proposed participants are, description of any diagnosis, setting where the study would be conducted, who else is present in the setting. Please note you are making this up. It is NOT reporting what was in the articles you wrote about for part one.
Submission 4: Make any corrections and identify dependent and independent variables. Remember the dependent variable is the variable you are measuring/charting and should be observable, measurable, and clearly defined. The independent variable is the intervention. The dependent variable should also contain information about how you will measure it and collect data. The description of the independent variable should contain enough information about the intervention that it could be replication.
Submission 5: Make any corrections and identify procedures for IOA and treatment fidelity. Interobserver agreement is about consistently of measurement of the dependent variable. Treatment fidelity is about ensuring that the intervention is implemented correctly. A checklist of steps of the intervention is typically the easiest way to measure treatment fidelity. This is the final proposal submission. Make sure you have all the previous submissions in the same document.
