The single subject design is a family of designs that share fundamental concepts and methodologies. The basic components of a single subject design are similar to other research designs, which include the measurement of a variable of interest or outcome variable, and the effect of an intervention on this variable. In general, the researcher expects the intervention or treatment (i.e., the independent variable) to have an impact on the outcome (i.e., the dependent variable). Research conducted in the area of psychology and social sciences commonly refers to the dependent variable as the target behavior [1–3]. In contrast, researchers in the biomedical sciences commonly refer to the dependent variable as the outcome, or more specifically, the clinical impact as measured by laboratory values, intensity, number, or duration of a symptom, and so forth. The term “target behavior” can be limiting when applied to biomedical research, as biomedicine involves numerous types of outcomes, in which behavior is of one possibility. Thus, the terms “outcome” or “outcome of interest” will be used, as these are more accurate descriptors for dependent variables in biomedicine.
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Janosky, J.E., Leininger, S.L., Hoerger, M.P., Libkuman, T.M. (2009). The Application of the Single Subject Design. In: Single Subject Designs in Biomedicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2444-2_2
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