SOCW 6311/6070 Wk3 Discussions
SOCW 6311/6070 Wk3 Discussions
Discussion1: 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 causeand-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
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Discussions for SOCW 6311/6070 Wk3
SOCW 6311/6070 Wk3 Discussions
Discussion1: 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 causeand-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
