Designing Behavioral Research Studies

Designing Behavioral Research Studies

To prepare:

Read Chapter 11.

Think of a desirable behavior you would like to increase for a young child or a pet or, conversely, a problematic behavior you would like to decrease for a child or pet. Design a single-case experimental reversal design for your selected behavior that consists of a baseline condition (A), treatment condition (B), and return to baseline (A). Consider how you would determine the effectiveness of the intervention.

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Select a quasi-experimental design that you would implement to compare the effectiveness of two different teaching methods on improving memory retention in college students. Plan how the design would be set up and carried out, and consider the strengths and limitations of using the selected design applied to the study and its variables of interest.

Consider a contemporary topic or issue in developmental psychology that you could investigate with a cross-sectional design (e.g., the effects of social media usage on self-esteem across age groups) and how you would set up the design demonstrating at least three cross-sections (e.g., ages) of your population of interest. Assess the advantages and limitations of the cross-sectional design for investigating causal relationships for your topic/issue compared to other developmental research designs, such as longitudinal and/or true experiments.

Designing Behavioral Research Studies

By Day 7

Submit a 2- to 3-page paper that responds to the following:

With the “To Prepare” directions in mind, respond to the following prompts in essay format. The responses for the three numbered prompts below (including the sub-bullets under each number) are designed to be completed concisely within one to two thorough paragraphs for each numbered prompt.

1. Briefly explain the behavior of interest that you would like to either increase or decrease for a young child or a pet.

• Describe the single-case experimental reversal design set up that you devised (i.e., the ABA conditions).
• Explain how you would determine the effectiveness of the intervention.

2. Describe the quasi-experimental design, set up, and implementation you would use in order to compare the effectiveness of two teaching methods on improving memory retention in college students. Also, include:

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• Your rationale for selecting the design (over the other quasi-experimental designs)
• One strength and one limitation of using the selected design applied to the study and variables of interest

3. Briefly present the contemporary topic or issue in developmental psychology that you could

investigate with a cross-sectional Next:

• Describe how you would set up and execute the design.
• Explain one possible benefit and one limitation of the cross-sectional design for investigating causal relationships related to your topic/issue compared to other developmental research designs, such as longitudinal and/or true experiments.

Note: Support your responses within your Assignment with evidence from the assigned Learning Resources. Provide a reference list for resources you used for this Assignment. Use APA style for in-text citations and references.