CentralReach "ABA On Call" Season 8 Ep 8: Don't Just Trust the Abstract: Seven Questions for Evaluating Single-Case Research

Peer review does not guarantee good science, and publication in a respected journal does not relieve practitioners of the responsibility to think critically. In this episode of ABA on Call, Rick and Doug revisit seven questions Hank Pennypacker used to teach students how to evaluate research, beginning with the experimental question and moving through behavioral measurement, observation, experimental design, data analysis, and the ultimate question: Did the researchers actually answer their question, and does the answer matter? They apply this framework to a published single-case study evaluating the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol for children with childhood apraxia of speech. Along the way, they examine problems involving hypotheses versus experimental questions, measurement, percentage-based data, experimental control, and interpretation. The episode offers behavior analysts and other practitioners a practical framework for moving beyond conclusions and critically evaluating the evidence behind them. To earn CEUs for listening, click here, log in or sign up, pay the CEU fee, + take the knowledge check to generate your certificate! Don't forget to subscribe and follow and leave us a rating and review. Show Notes:  Article:  A single case experimental design study using an operationalised version of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol for children with childhood apraxia of speech Hank Pennypacker's exercise to review research articles 1. What question are you actually trying to answer? 2. What exactly is the behavior? 3. What dimension of that behavior matters? 4. How did you observe and record it? 5. Only now do we talk about experimental design. 6. How did they analyze the data? 7. Did they actually answer the question, and who cares?