The Value of Interrupted Time-Series Experiments for Community Intervention Research
Open accessAbstract
Greater use of interrupted time-series experiments is advocated for community intervention research. Time-series designs enable the development of knowledge about the effects of community interventions and policies in circumstances in which randomized controlled trials are too expensive, premature, or simply impractical. The multiple baseline time-series design typically involves two or more communities that are repeatedly assessed, with the intervention introduced into one community at a time. It is particularly well suited to initial evaluations of community interventions and the refinement of those interventions. This paper describes the main features of multiple baseline designs and related repeated-measures time-series experiments, discusses the threats to internal validity in multiple baseline designs, and outlines techniques for statistical analyses of time-series data. Examples are given of the use of multiple baseline designs in evaluating community interventions and policy changes.
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The multiple baseline interrupted time series design is recommended for evaluating interventions when randomized controlled trials are not practical.
“The multiple baseline interrupted time series design (ITS) is recommended for evaluating interventions when randomized controlled trials are not practical (Biglan et al. 2000; Shadish et al. 2002).”
From Intervening at the Setting Level to Prevent Behavioral Incidents in Residential Child Care: Efficacy of the CARE Program Model (2016) · cites this paper as Biglan et al. 2000
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“We compared the level of the outcome (% patients LWCC) and the rate of change over time between the time period prior to the intervention and the time period after the intervention [67].”
Method
- Authors
- Biglan, A., Ary, D., & Wagenaar, A. C.
- Affiliations
- Oregon Research Institute (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Venue
- Prevention Science
- Published
- 2000-03
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 31-49
- ISSN
- 1389-4986 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6695
- PMC
- PMC4553062
- OpenAlex
- W2138039555
- Cited by
- 444
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 0.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- Locations
- Prevention Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA009306, DA 09306, DA 09678, R01DA009678)
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA038273, CA38273)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Evaluation and Performance Assessment
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Keywords
- interrupted time series design, multiple baseline design, policy evaluation
- MeSH terms
- Community Health Services, Humans, Research Design, Time Factors, Reproducibility of Results, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
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