Week 3: Single-System (Subject) Design for Practice Evaluation

Week 3: Single-System (Subject) Design for Practice Evaluation

If a Social Worker conducts an intervention that might alter the outcome, the social worker can measure changes in clients’ progress. For example, types of measures can include but are not limited to anxiety, depression, and stress.

With these types of measures, you can see and graph results. This design is usually used with one client system (individual, family, or a small group) and is not generalizable to a larger population.

Only by studying a similar client system placed under comparable conditions and combining these results can the social worker draw general conclusions about the intervention and outcome variable for a client system for potential changes.

A social worker conducting a single-system design (SSD) research study has similar goals and must follow an organized process to generalize results to the same client system. The results of several successful single-system design studies must be combined for an intervention to qualify as an evidence-based.

This week, you evaluate the applicability and evaluation of a single-system (subject) design and make recommendations to improve that design. Then, you create a proposal for a single-system (subject) research design.

Students will:

• Evaluate single-system (subject) research design in a case study
• Design a research plan for a single-system (subject) research study

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do (3rd ed.) Oxford University Press.

• Chapter 9, “Is the Intervention Effective?” (pp. 236–241: Read from “Client Satisfaction & Effectiveness” to “Target Problem Scale”)

Document: Corcoran, K., & Hozack, N. (2010). Locating assessment instruments. In B. Thyer (Ed.), The handbook of social work research methods (2nd ed., pp. 65–74). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (PDF)

Copyright 2010 by Sage Publications, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Document: Mattaini, M. A. (2010). Single-system studies. In B. Thyer (Ed.), The handbook of social work research methods (2nd ed., pp. 241–273). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (PDF)

Copyright 2010 by Sage Publications, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014b). Social work case studies: Concentration year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].

Read the following section:

• “Social Work Research: Single Subject” (pp. 70–72)

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013b). Cortez family [Interactive media]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Discussion: Choosing and Using Single-System Design

Many people receive their first introduction to the scientific method in their early school years. The first experiments which students undertake typically involve plants, chemicals, or small animals in a tightly controlled experimental environment.

These experiments enable students to establish a relatively clear cause-and-effect relationship between the outcome of the experiment and the manipulation of the variables.

As soon as a researcher introduces a human element, proving a cause and effect relationship becomes more difficult—as the researcher cannot enact total control of another person even in an experimental environment. Social workers serve clients in highly complex real-world environments. Clients often implement recommended interventions outside of social workers’ direct observation.

Yet, evidence-based research calls for social workers to establish cause-and-effect relations between selected interventions and client outcomes as much possible. To meet this challenge, social workers must understand the study designs available to them and all of the variations of that design that can increase the rigor of the experiment and improve the likelihood of verifying a cause-and-effect relationship.

In this week’s case study, you decide whether the social worker in the case study has appropriately chosen a single-system (subject) design and implemented it in such a way that it can be considered an appropriate example of evidence-based research.

To prepare for this Discussion, read the case study Social Work Research: Single Subject and criteria for using single-system (subject) designs as evidence of effective practices in this week’s resources.

Consider whether the study design described in the case study will serve the purpose of evaluating the program’s practice approach (case management with solution-focused and task-centered approaches). Consider whether these approaches are well suited to evaluation by the types of measurement used in the study.

Consider to what objective measurement the numerical scales used to measure problem-change and task completion corresponds. Consider what new knowledge and evidence for the efficacy of the treatment approaches Chris has generated with her study.

By Day 3

Post an evaluation of the proposed study design described in the case study file. Explain whether the outcome of Chris’ study with her client George would lead you to adopt the model of case management with solution-focused and task-centered approaches, and substantiate your choice.

Provide recommendations for improvements should Chris and her colleagues wish to submit the study to the evidence-based practice registry. Include a rationale for your recommendations.

By Day 5

Respond to at least two colleagues by doing all of the following:

• Offer an analysis of their evaluations and subsequent recommendation. Note both strengths and areas that could be improved.
• Identify areas where your own original recommendations or evaluation was similar to or different from your colleagues’ original evaluation and explain why.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 3 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 3 Discussion

Assignment: Creating a Single-System (Subject) Design Study

The steps at the heart of single-system (subject) research are part of the everyday practice of social work. Each day social workers implement interventions to meet clients’ needs and monitor results. However, conducting proper single-system (subject) research entails far more than these simple day-to-day practices.

Proper single-system research requires a high degree of knowledge and commitment. Social workers must fully understand the purpose of single-system (subject) research and the variations of single-system (subject) design. They must develop a hypothesis based upon research and select the right design for testing it.

They must ensure the reliability and validity of the data to be collected and know how to properly analyze and evaluate that data. This assignment asks you to rise to the challenge of creating a proposal for a single-subject research study.

To prepare for this Assignment, imagine that you are the social worker assigned to work with Paula Cortez (see the case study, “Social Work Research: Single Subject” in this week’s resources). After an initial assessment of her social, medical, and psychiatric problems, you develop a plan for intervention.

You also develop a plan to monitor progress in your work with her using measures that can be evaluated in a single-system research design. As a scholar practitioner, you rely on research to help plan your intervention and your evaluation plan.

Complete the Cortez Family interactive media in this week’s resources. Conduct a literature search related to the chronic issues related to HIV/AIDS and bipolar mental disorder. Search for additional research related to assessing outcomes and theoretical frameworks appropriate for this client.

For example, your search could include terms such as motivational interviewing and outcomes and goal-oriented practice and outcomes. You might also look at the NREPP database identified in Week 1, to search for interventions related to mental health and physical health.

By Day 7

Submit a 5- to 7-page proposal/research plan for single-system (subject) evaluation for your work with Paula Cortez. Identify the problems that you will target and the outcomes you will measure, select an appropriate intervention or interventions (including length of time), and identify an appropriate evaluation plan.

Include a description of:

• The problem(s) that are the focus of treatment
• The intervention approach, including length of time, so that it can be replicated
  • A summary of the literature that you reviewed that led you to select this intervention approach
• The purpose for conducting a single-system (subject) research evaluation
• The measures for evaluating the outcomes and observing change including:
  • Evidence from your literature search about the nature of the measures
  • The validity and reliability of the measures
  • How baseline measures will be obtained
  • How often follow-up measures will be administered
• The criteria that you would use to determine whether the intervention is effective
• How the periodic measurements could assist you in your ongoing work with Paula

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK3Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 3 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 3 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK3Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 3 Assignment Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

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Submit your Week 3 Assignment draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

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Week 3 Assignment

Week in Review

In this week, you evaluated the applicability and evaluation of a single-system (subject) design and made recommendations to improve that design. Then, you created a proposal for a single-system (subject) research design.

In the next week, you will analyze the relationship between study design and statistical analysis in a case study.

To go to the next week:

Week 4