ABSTRACT
Practitioners have been doing individual research for decades. However, social workers has not called it research and has not seen it as a basic individual research design. A single subject design is a more precise way to define the outcome and obtain measured feedback about client progress and the efficacy of the intervention. Social workers can use single subject/single unit designs to evaluate their practice. The primary difference between the panel design and a single subject design is that a panel design measures many individuals over time and aggregates those measurements. The AB design is the most basic design with a baseline/pre-intervention phase (A) followed by the intervention phase (B). This design becomes a B design if there was no measurement prior to intervention. In practice, there are some other naturally occurring sequences that can be developed into an ABA, BAB or even an ABAB or BABA design.
