Advances in Single-Subject Design Research Summit

Faculty and doctoral students in the College of Education and across the university are invited to attend the first Advances in Single-Subject Design Research Summit at the University of Florida.

The event will be held on Monday, November 17 from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm in the Terrace Room in the College of Education. The event can accommodate 35 people, so please RSVP Rosie Connolly by Wednesday, November 12: rconnolly@coe.ufl.edu

This event will be a hands-on workshop focused on advancing attendees proficiency and skill applying effect sizes to single-subject design research. Drs. Tim Lewis, Kimberly Vannest, and Nicholas Gage, who bring a wealth of practical and technical experience in single-subject design research, will lead the summit.

Description of Activities

Single-subject design research has a long and storied history in diverse research fields, with its founding in the field of applied behavior analysis and extension and proliferation in special education. With the evolution of the evidence-based practice movement, single-subject design research has had to (a) defend its place as a valid and reliable approach in the development and advancement of knowledge, and (b) advance the science of the design. Over the past 10 years, significant developments have been made with regards to the analysis and interpretation of single-subject design research. This summit will focus on the advancement of effect sizes in single-subject design research, specifically (a) the role of effect sizes in the methodology, and (b) applications of parametric and non-parametric effect sizes. This summit will be a hands-on opportunity to advance skills and learn new approaches in single-subject research.

Guest Speakers

Dr. Tim Lewis – Dr. Lewis is Professor and Chair of Special Education at the University of Missouri, Co-Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Center for Positive Behavior Support (pbis.org), Co-Director for the Institute of Education Science (IES)-funded Center for Adolescent Research in Schools (ies-cars.org), and Director of the Missouri Center for School-wide Positive Behavior Supports (pbismissouri.org). Dr. Lewis has extensive experience supporting the needs of students with emotional and behavioral disorders and is a leading expert in single-subject research design.

Dr. Kimberly Vannest – Dr. Vannest is Professor of Special Education at the Texas A&M University. She is widely published in the advancement of single-subject design effect sizes and has helped develop a number of non-parametric and non-overlap procedures, including Percentage of All Non-Overlapping Data (PAND) and Tau-U. Dr. Vannest’s work focuses on the identification of reliable measurement of treatment effects and effect size indices in single-subject design research to improve prevention and treatment practices supporting the needs of students with emotional and behavioral disorders.

Dr. Nicholas A. Gage – Dr. Gage is an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the School of Special Education, School Psychology, and Early Childhood Studies in the College of Education at the University of Florida. Dr. Gage’s work has focused on advancing statistical and methodological rigor in the field of emotional and behavioral disorders. Part of that work has included a novel use of hierarchical linear modeling to conduct meta-analyses of single-subject design research.

Summit Details

Date: November 17, 2014

Schedule of Activities:

8:00 – 9:00 am – Registration and Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 am – Welcome and Overview: Dr. Nicholas A. Gage

9:15 – 10:30 am – Single-subject Design: Critical Features and Challenges by Dr. Tim Lewis

10:30 – 10:45 am – Break

10:45 – Noon – Advances in Parametric Effect-Sizes: Hierarchical Linear Modeling and Generalized Least Squares by Dr. Nicholas A. Gage

Noon – 12:30 pm – Lunch

12:30 – 1:45 pm – Advances in Non-parametric Effect Sizes: Tau-U and More by Dr. Kimberly Vannest

1:45 – 2:00 pm – Closing and Final Thoughts by Drs. Lewis, Vannest, and Gage