PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO USING RESEARCH FOR EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE 2ND EDITION By RUBIN – Test Bank

PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO USING RESEARCH FOR EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE 2ND EDITION By RUBIN – Test Bank

Test Bank Questions for Chapter 7

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The key feature of time-series designs is:
2. The use of multiple pretests.
3. The use of multiple posttests.
4. The use of multiple data points before as well as after an intervention, program, or policy is introduced.
5. None of the above.

2. A well-designed simple time-series design will:
3. eliminate history as a possible alternative explanation.
4. control for passage of time and regression to the mean.
5. control for selectivity biases.
6. None of the above.

3. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of a simple time-series design study evaluating the effects of a new school program that aims to decrease the number of school dropouts?

Year: 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 X 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Number of 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12

Dropouts:

1. The intervention was effective.
2. The results appear to be attributed to an ongoing trend that was improving with the passage of time.
3. The results appear to be attributed to regression to the mean.
4. The results appear to be attributed to history.
5. All but a are correct.

4. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of a simple time-series design study evaluating the effects of a new school program that aims to decrease the number of school dropouts?

Year: 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 X 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Number of 20 21 19 20 32 20 21 19 20 20

Dropouts:

1. The intervention was effective.
2. The results appear to be attributed to an ongoing trend that was improving with the passage of time.
3. The results appear to be attributed to regression to the mean.
4. The results appear to be attributed to history.
5. All but a are correct.

5. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of a simple time-series design study evaluating the effects of a new school program that aims to decrease the number of school dropouts?

Year: 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 X 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Number of 20 21 19 20 21 17 15 14 14 12

Dropouts:

1. The intervention was effective.
2. The results appear to be attributed to an ongoing trend that was improving with the passage of time.
3. The results appear to be attributed to regression to the mean.
4. Both b and c are correct.

6. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of a multiple time-series design evaluating the effects of a new program in School A that aims to decrease the number of school dropouts?

Year: 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

School A: 20 21 19 20 21 X 17 15 14 14 12

School B : 22 22 21 23 22 18 16 15 14 13

1. The intervention in School A was effective.
2. The results for School A appear to be attributed to an ongoing trend that was improving with the passage of time.
3. The results for School A appear to be attributed to regression to the mean.
4. The results for School A appear to be attributed to history.
5. All but a are correct.

7. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of a multiple time-series design evaluating the effects of a new program in School A that aims to decrease the number of school dropouts?

Year: 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

School A: 20 21 19 20 21 X 17 15 14 14 12

School B: 22 22 21 23 22 22 23 22 21 23

1. The intervention in School A was effective.
2. The results for School A appear to be attributed to an ongoing trend that was improving with the passage of time.
3. The results for School A appear to be attributed to regression to the mean.
4. The results for School A appear to be attributed to history.
5. All but a are correct.

8. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of an ABAB design evaluating the effects of an intervention that aims to improve scores on a scale measuring child rearing knowledge?

First baseline phase: 30 30 31 29 30 31 29 29

First intervention phase: 35 40 43 46 50 60 65 70

Second baseline phase: 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70

Second intervention phase: 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70

1. The intervention clearly was effective.
2. The results clearly appear to be attributed to history.
3. The results could be attributed to history or could mean that the intervention had irreversible effects.
4. The results appear to be attributed to regression to the mean.
5. The results appear to be attributed to an ongoing trend that was improving with the passage of time.

9. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of a multiple-baseline design evaluating the effects of an intervention that aims to increase the number of hours spent studying each week by three boys in the same cabin in a residential treatment center?

Moe: 0 0 0 X 1 2 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5

Larry: 0 0 0 1 2 3 X 4 5 5 5 5 5

Curly: 0 0 0 1 2 3 5 5 X 5 5 5

1. The intervention clearly was effective.
2. The results clearly appear to be attributed to history.
3. The results could be attributed to history or to generalization of effects.
4. The results appear to be attributed to regression to the mean.
5. The results appear to be attributed to an ongoing trend that was improving with the passage of time.

10. Which is the best interpretation for the following results of a multiple-component design evaluating the effects of an intervention containing two components that aims to reduce trauma symptoms?

First Baseline: 20 20 20 20 20 20

Component A Phase: 10 10 10 10 10 10

Second Baseline: 10 10 10 10 10 10

Component B Phase: 10 10 10 10 10 10

1. Component A was effective, and component B added nothing to the treatment effects.
2. Only component B was effective.
3. Neither component was effective.
4. Both components were effective.

True–False Questions

1. A key limitation in all single-case designs, no matter how well they control for threats to internal validity, is their extremely restricted external validity.
2. The key feature of time-series designs is their use of multiple data points before as well as after a new intervention, program, or policy is introduced.
3. Multiple time-series designs combine time-series logic with the logic of the nonequivalent comparison groups design.
4. The AB design has the strongest internal validity of all single-case designs.
5. Visual significance means that you can rule out the plausibility of rival explanations (threats to internal validity) merely by eyeballing a graph.
6. The results of an ABAB design are deemed visually significant when the graph shows that improvement occurs in every phase after the first A phase, including improvement in the second baseline phase.
7. In a multiple baseline design, if improvement consistently coincides with the introduction of the B phase, then history becomes far-fetched as an alternative explanation.
8. The main purpose of a multiple component design is to ascertain whether any part of an intervention is unnecessary and whether any part is most responsible for the intervention’s effects.

Essay Questions

1. Explain how time-series designs can provide a reasonable degree of internal validity.
2. Discuss the difference between simple and multiple time-series designs and why the latter provides more internal validity than the former.
3. Discuss the advantages of ABAB designs and multiple baseline designs.
4. Draw graphs illustrating results of ABAB designs and multiple baseline designs that indicate that both history and intervention effectiveness can be plausible interpretations of the same graph.

Answer Key—Chapter 7

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. c
2. b
3. b
4. c
5. a
6. d
7. a
8. c
9. c
10. a

True–False Questions

1. T
2. T
3. T
4. F
5. T
6. F
7. T
8. T