The Consecutive Controlled Case Series: Design, Data-Analytics, and Reporting Methods Supporting the Study of Generality

• Published in: Journal of applied behavior analysis Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 596 - 619
• Main Author: Hagopian, Louis P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Applied Behavior Analysis; Behavior Patterns; Case Studies; Clinical Diagnosis; Clinical Trials as Topic; Comparative Analysis; Data Analysis; Epidemiology; Humans; Phenomenology; Prospective Studies; Randomized Controlled Trials; Research Design; Retrospective Studies; consecutive controlled case series; generality; methodology; design; reliability
• ISSN: 0021-8855; 1938-3703
• DOI: 10.1002/jaba.691

Single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) have proven invaluable in research and practice because they are optimal for asking many experimental questions relevant to the analysis of behavior. The consecutive controlled case series (CCCS) is a type of study in which a SCED is employed in a series of consecutively encountered cases that undergo a common procedure or share a common characteristic. Additional design elements, data-analytic, and reporting methods enable researchers to ask experimental questions relevant to the study of generality of procedures and processes. The current paper discusses the CCCS methodologies, including the retrospective, prospective, and randomized CCCS. These methodologies can be applied to examine the generality of clinical procedures (including their general efficacy, the limits of their generality, and variables that may mediate generality); study the epidemiology and phenomenology of clinical problems; and compare the efficacy of 2 clinical procedures within a randomized controlled trial combining SCEDs with randomized group designs.