Single-Subject Research in Gifted Education

Abstract

Single-subject research (SSR) is an experimental research tradition that is well established in other fields (e.g., special education, behavior analysis) but has rarely been applied to topics in gifted education. In this Methodological Brief, Brandi Simonsen and Catherine A. Little from the University of Connecticut highlight the key features of SSR, describe typical SSR designs, and present examples to illustrate how each design could be applied to topics in gifted education. This Methodological Brief by Brandi Simonsen and CatherineLittle from the University of Connecticut focuses on singlesubject research designs. These designs, although rarely used in gifted education research, have the potential to help us better understand treatment effects when dealing with small samples. Enjoy! Tonya R. Moon, PhD GCQ Methodological Briefs, Editor Associate Editor, GCQSingle-subject research (SSR) design is a well-established tradition in behavior analysis, positive behavior support, special education, and related fields (e.g., Horner et al., 2005;Richards, Taylor, Ramasamy, & Richards, 1999). The SSR approach is applicable to lower incidence or exceptional populations and has a strong potential for use in gifted education. In addition, SSR has been applied to studying adult (e.g., teacher) behavior. Foster (1986) made an argument for SSR as a method for gifted education research more than two decades ago. He suggested that not all research in the field should focus on large-scale studies and establishing generalizability, in part because "the very nature of this exceptionality means that we are attempting to describe and explain the unusual, the atypical, the unique," and because in an applied field, we must be concerned with the "educational and psychosocial well-being of the individuals with whom we work" (p. 33). Nevertheless, few studies have emerged in the intervening decades to demonstrate the applicability and utility of SSR in gifted education. Recent recommendations, however, have begun to appear around using SSR for gifted education research (e.g., Tieso, 2009). Given its emphasis on internal validity, experimental control, and within-participant comparison, as well as its applicability to lower incidence populations, this method may be ideally suited to the study of specific questions in the field related to student and teacher behavior. In this Methodological Brief, we discuss key features and types of SSR designs, with examples of how each design may be applied to questions in gifted education research.

Coaching Parents to Use Higher Level Questioning With Their Twice-Exceptional Children

“…Most recently, Walsh and Kemp (2013) used a single-case study design to investigate the impact of an HLQ intervention on the language complexity of one gifted child. Single-case research may most feasibly address the call in gifted education for research that demonstrates causal relationships (Simonsen & Little, 2011). Walsh and Kemp recommended systematic replication of their study “with other potentially gifted children to determine whether the effect can be generalized to others within this population” (p. 118).…”

A Complex quest: The development and research of underachievement interventions for gifted students

“…The significance of this study lies not only in its findings, but also in its approaches. Simonsen and Little (2011) have called for additional research in the field of gifted education using single‐subject methodology. The study presented here is the first to use this methodology to examine an underachievement intervention for gifted students.…”

Single‐subject designs in special education: advantages and limitations

“…In addition, the fact that single‐subject designs possess high internal validity but can be accomplished in a cost‐effective manner causes these designs to represent an attractive alternative to traditional experimental designs, which require much larger sample sizes (Simonsen and Little, ). Moreover, single‐subject designs are flexible and can be adapted to various situations and educational settings, allowing the progress of experimental subjects to be monitored in actual educational contexts.…”

“…According to Simonsen and Little (), the use of single‐subject designs provides a method to examine interventions for exceptional populations ‘because it allows for a small sample size while maintaining high internal validity’ (p. 161). Similarly, Pace and Colbert () indicated that the use of single‐subject designs helps manage the costs of treatment (Alberto and Troutman, ).…”

“…In addition, Simonsen and Little () suggested that the replication of treatment effects across multiple participants and studies would suffice to overcome concerns about the limited generalisability of the results from single‐subject experiments which involve small sample sizes. Barlow and Hersen () suggested three strategies to improve the external validity of single‐subject designs.…”