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Single-case experimental designs: a systematic review of published research and current standards
Open accessAbstract
This article systematically reviews the research design and methodological characteristics of single-case experimental design (SCED) research published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2010. SCEDs provide researchers with a flexible and viable alternative to group designs with large sample sizes. However, methodological challenges have precluded widespread implementation and acceptance of the SCED as a viable complementary methodology to the predominant group design. This article includes a description of the research design, measurement, and analysis domains distinctive to the SCED; a discussion of the results within the framework of contemporary standards and guidelines in the field; and a presentation of updated benchmarks for key characteristics (e.g., baseline sampling, method of analysis), and overall, it provides researchers and reviewers with a resource for conducting and evaluating SCED research. The results of the systematic review of 409 studies suggest that recently published SCED research is largely in accordance with contemporary criteria for experimental quality. Analytic method emerged as an area of discord. Comparison of the findings of this review with historical estimates of the use of statistical analysis indicates an upward trend, but visual analysis remains the most common analytic method and also garners the most support among those entities providing SCED standards. Although consensus exists along key dimensions of single-case research design, and researchers appear to be practicing within these parameters, there remains a need for further evaluation of assessment and sampling techniques and data analytic methods.
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“A minimum of 5 points per phase is considered the standard in multiple baseline design (Smith 2012).”
From Towards a Treatment for Intolerance of Uncertainty for Autistic Adults: A Single Case Experimental Design Study. (2018) · cites this paper as Smith 2012
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The increasing baseline rates for some incident types may have contributed to the significant declines observed during implementation. However, program effects persisted after excluding agencies with significant baseline trends, making regression to the mean a less plausible explanation for our findings (Smith 2012).”
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 Smith 2012
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“Single case experimental designs (SCED) provide a pragmatic alternative that, when well-designed and executed, rival the scientific rigor of randomized controlled trials while requiring far fewer participants (Barlow, Nock, & Hersen, 2008; Smith, 2012; Vilardaga, 2014).”
From Acceptance and Commitment Therapy modules: Differential impact on treatment processes and outcomes (2016) · cites this paper as Smith, 2012
In the citing paper
“We followed guidelines in the design, analysis and reporting of case series to ensure the method was applied optimally”
From Bringing light into darkness: A multiple baseline mixed methods case series evaluation of Augmented Depression Therapy (ADepT) (2019) · cites this paper as Smith, 2012
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Abalo-Rodríguez, I., Pardo-Cebrián, R., Doval, S., Blithikioti, C., & Arévalo-Saiz, L. (2025) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2025.2597425 · Cited by 1
Hagiwara, N., & Mende‐Siedlecki, P. (2025) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/josi.70019 · Cited by 1
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Féres‐Carneiro, T., de Mello, R. M., Machado, R. N., & Magalhães, A. S. (2017) · Temas em Psicologia · doi:10.9788/tp2017.4-13pt · Cited by 1
Klobodu, S. S., Theron, W. O., & Carpio, C. (2018) · African Journal of Food Agriculture Nutrition and Development · doi:10.18697/ajfand.83.17625 · Cited by 1
“Single system designs are used widely in the study of the effect of interventions in behavioral sciences including social work, psychology, and education [20].”
BackgroundBergemann, N., Bruhn, K., Loscheider, K., Vogt, D., Böhnke, J. R., & Gerhards, F. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.03.010 · Cited by 1
“, 2002); and (4) pharmacological treatment recommendations, which should best be monitored in single case studies (Smith, 2012).”
Background(2019) · Frontiers research topics · doi:10.3389/978-2-88963-146-9 · Cited by 2
“Although previous work on this issue has stated that a minimum of three assessment time-points per phase is necessary to observe change in participants, a targeted number of five per phase has been recommended, and would thus solidify future MBI n-of-1 trial designs (Smith, 2012).”
BackgroundMethodClassical Conditioning for Pain: The Development of a Customized Single-Case Experimental Design
De, T. K., & Madden, V. J. (2022) · Journal of Trial and Error · doi:10.36850/e8 · Cited by 1
Inflexibility in Flexible Business Request, Case of Organisations in Slovakia
Baráth, M. (2022) · Studies in systems, decision and control · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97008-6_14 · Cited by 1
Manejo de metáforas em psicoterapia analítico-comportamental
Filho, E. F. S. (2014) · doi:10.11606/d.47.2014.tde-17032015-152454 · Cited by 1
Davies, K. (2018) · Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) · doi:10.24385/lincoln.24325960 · Cited by 1
Kajimura, S., Masuda, N., Lau, J. K., & Murayama, K. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/664573 · Cited by 2
Individual case formulation for post-traumatic stress disorder : a single case series
Griffiths, A. (2017) · Cited by 1
Sniewski, L. (2020) · Tuwhera (Auckland University of Technology) · Cited by 1
Aydın, O., & Tanious, R. (2021) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/dcnjz · Cited by 1
Monte Carlo Simulations to Develop Guidelines for the Use of Single-Case Designs: A TutorialPreprint
Lanovaz, M. J. (2021) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/te3gn · Cited by 1
Lewis, K. C., & Hopwood, C. J. (2026) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2026.2668416 · Cited by 1
“These studies should align with contemporary standards in single-case research (Kazdin, 2019; Smith, 2012).”
Ogunsakin, O. (2015) · ScholarWorks (Walden University) · Cited by 1
Bash, K. L. (2015) · Lincoln (University of Nebraska)
Techaphulphol, K. (2014) · UC Research Repository (University of Canterbury) · doi:10.26021/4895
Market Orientation in Government Markets and Veteran-Owned Small Businesses
Moye, A. M. (2016) · ProQuest Demo Repository
The “RACE” national database for recurrent acute rhinosinusitis may need a relook
Nishioka, G. J. (2016) · International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology · doi:10.1002/alr.21812
Priestley, J. (2016) · Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) · doi:10.24385/lincoln.24325639
Hopwood, C. J., & Smith, J. D. (2017) · Personality and Mental Health · doi:10.1002/pmh.1386
Self-citationBera, A., Malav, S., Tiwari, B. L., & Vaijapurkar, S. G. (2017) · International Journal of Advanced Chemistry · doi:10.14419/ijac.v5i2.8136
Wilkinson-Tough, M. (2018) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781526429032
“…rely entirely on visual inspection of graphs instead, as many researchers regard this as the best or simplest way of detecting an effect of the intervention and there is no consensus as to which statistical analysis is the preferable alternative as there are many different options (Smith, 2012).”
Identifying Games as Consequences of Choice Behavior for Children
Sacramento, B. C., Escobal, G., & Goyos, C. (2017) · Temas em Psicologia · doi:10.9788/tp2017.4-12en
“We used an experimental design of a single subject (Smith, 2012), to verify if the games identifi ed as high preference changed the percentage of choices in the choice task using different geometric shapes.”
MethodIdentificação de jogos como consequências de comportamentos de escolha para crianças
Sacramento, B. C., Scobal, G., & Goyos, C. (2017) · Temas em Psicologia · doi:10.9788/tp2017.4-12pt
“Foi utilizado um delineamento experimental de sujeito único (Smith, 2012), para verifi car se as brincadeiras e jogos identifi cados como de maior preferência alteraram a porcentagem de escolhas na tarefa de escolha envolvendo formatos geométricos diferentes.”
BackgroundDolecka, U. E. (2016) · Griffith Research Online · doi:10.25904/1912/612
Intervention psychosociale en autisme : examen de la portée de la littérature francophone
Préfontaine, I., & Lanovaz, M. J. (2017) · Revue de psychoéducation · doi:10.7202/1042252ar
Moyo, E., Shihomeka, S. P., & Chirimbana, M. (2018) · Journal of Social and Political Sciences · doi:10.31014/aior.1991.01.01.8
Aryani, R., & Nurulhuda, U. (2018) · International Journal of Indonesian National Nurses Association (IJINNA) · doi:10.32944/ijinna.v1i1.21
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“Single-case study approaches rely on a visual inspection of graphed data (allowing an analysis of a change in the rate and level of change), together with inferential statistics (Nock, Michel, & Photos, 2007; Smith, 2012).”
MethodPal, A. (2018) · University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) · doi:10.12794/metadc1157584
Cozart, R. M. (2019) · Digital Commons (Liberty University)
Methods for Effect Size Analysis of Single-subject Research Data in Art Therapy
Cho, Y., & 유경미 (2018) · 임상미술심리연구 · doi:10.34167/cliart.8.3.201812.1
Cazabat, E. H. (2015) · Universidad Nacional de Lanús. Maestría en Metodología de la Investigación Científica eBooks · doi:10.18294/rdi.2018.173249
Ingram, S. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-22845-3_9
Actividades de aprendizaje aut onomo y presencial en Metodolog a de las Ciencias del Comportamiento
Manolov, R., Solanas, A., Leiva, D., Losada, L. A., & Gu, J. (2014)
Goebel, S. (2020) · Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie · doi:10.1024/1016-264x/a000282
Sowell, S. M., Hunter, Q., Richey, K., & Baxter, C. (2020) · Professional School Counseling · doi:10.1177/2156759x20904491
“However, rather than comparing a control group to a treatment group, as with traditional experimental design, each individual participant in SCRD provides their own control and treatment data for a within-subject comparison (Smith, 2012).”
BackgroundCollaborative/Therapeutic Assessment with Psychiatric Inpatients Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder
Armstrong, D. L. (2020) · ERA: Education and Research Archive (University of Alberta) · doi:10.7939/r3-gzwt-ep85
Rééducation cognitive chez l’enfant
Peyroux, É., & Krasny‐Pacini, A. (2018) · De Boeck Supérieur eBooks · doi:10.3917/dbu.segui.2018.01.0181
Knowledge generation processes and the role of the case study method in the field of psychotherapy
Kaluževičiūtė, G. (2021) · Open Access at Essex (University of Essex)
Idier, L., Godest, C., Calcagni, N., Lasseur, C., Prezelin‐Reydit, M., Chauveau, P., & Quintard, B. (2021) · Pratiques Psychologiques · doi:10.1016/j.prps.2021.05.001
Therapeutic Assessment as Preparation for Psychotherapy
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Un homenaje a Carlos Fuentes : sus lectores
Álvarez, A., & Víctor, A. (2000) · DSpace (Universidad Veracruzana)
Specialist Applications of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disorders and Depression
Todd, G., & Branch, R. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108355605.029
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Introduction: International use of single‐case research design in the schools
Wilczynski, S., & Hu, X. (2022) · Psychology in the Schools · doi:10.1002/pits.22661
Graphing in Single Case Design StudiesPreprint
Ledford, J. R., & Tuck, K. N. (2019) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/sqm7r
A Comprehensive Method of Single-Case Data Analysis: Interrupted Time-Series Simulation (ITSSIM)Preprint
Tarlow, K. R., & Brossart, D. F. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/bejd7
An Examination of Measurement Procedures and Baseline Behavioral Outcomes in Single-Case Research
Pustejovsky, J. D. (2019) · American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (AERA) · doi:10.3102/1434763
Baek, E. (2019) · American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (AERA) · doi:10.3102/1434760
A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyzing Single-Case Data Using Multilevel Modeling
Baek, E. (2019) · American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (AERA) · doi:10.3102/1434762
STORYTELLING PADA ANAK DENGAN KETERLAMBATAN PERKEMBANGAN BERBAHASA EKSPRESIF
Sari, A. P. (2022) · Proyeksi · doi:10.30659/jp.17.2.84-94
“Desain ini dipilih karena pemeriksaan efektivitas intervensi merupakan area yang paling sering diteliti dalam single case experimental design (Smith, 2012).”
Stewart, E. M., & Lah, S. S. (2023) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-85757-4.00011-0
Implementation research: Design and analysis
Reynolds, C. D., Bittle, S., Kruse, J. J., & Woodhead, G. J. (2023) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-823026-8.00082-1
Moffat, Z. L., & McCarthy, P. J. (2023) · Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/cssep.2022-0029
Multivariate Treatment of Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia
POTTER, C. E. (2023) · Education and human development · doi:10.5772/intechopen.110287
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Agbangla, N. F., Caby, I., & Albinet, C. T. (2023) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1256645 · Cited by 1
Trends in Research on Special Needs Education:
Ito, H. (2023) · The Annual Report of Educational Psychology in Japan · doi:10.5926/arepj.62.108
de Oliveira, G. N. (2023) · Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo) · doi:10.11606/d.27.2023.tde-02042024-094947
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Testing the efficacy of a single-session intervention to reduce work-related distress
Peterson, L., Friedlander, M. L., Moeyaert, M., Peterson, C., & Peterson, E. K. (2024) · Counselling Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.1080/09515070.2024.2440525
Most mezi nomotetickou a idiografickou metodologií: úvod k N-1 experimentálním designům
Psychologický ústav, F. F., Ptáček, M., Květoň, P., & Jelínek, M. (2024) · Ceskoslovenska psychologie · doi:10.51561/cspsych.68.6.514
Moreira, F. D. D. S. (2024) · Educação em Foco · doi:10.36704/eef.v27i53.8136
Weems, C. F. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-5937985/v1
Assessing the Quality of Single-Case Designs in Occupational Therapy: A Scoping Review
Choji, Y., Kaneko, T., Shikata, M., Tokuchi, R., Sano, T., & Yabuwaki, K. (2025) · American Journal of Occupational Therapy · doi:10.5014/ajot.2025.050932
“Smith (2012) similarly reported that statistical methods were used for data analysis in only 13.9% of SCD studies, supporting the low prevalence of visual analysis in the field of occupational therapy.”
InfluentialGopaul, U., van Vliet, P., Nilsson, M., Bayley, M. T., Carey, L. M., & Callister, R. (2025) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/09638288.2025.2487204
“…participant, visual analyses of the time-series data of maximal tactile pressures (with and without vision) were performed to assess the baseline stability, identify variability within any phase (fluctuation of scores) and the magnitude of changes between baseline and intervention phases [22,50].”
Fanti, E., Halberstadt, A. L., Asan, A. E., & Pincus, A. L. (2025) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2025.2515576
“To examine whether and how interpersonal dynamics changed over time, we employed Simulation Modeling Analysis (SMA; Borckardt et al., 2008; Borckardt & Nash, 2014), a method developed for analyzing case-study short time-series data (<30 observations) (Smith, 2012).”
D’Amico, A., Paci, G., di Domenico, L., & Geraci, A. (2025) · Computers in Human Behavior Artificial Humans · doi:10.1016/j.chbah.2025.100175
Expert Perspectives on Single-Case Design PracticesPreprint
Eyler, P. B., & Ledford, J. R. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-6839404/v1
Mengurangi Kebiasaan Mengigit Kuku pada Anak Melalui Habit Reversal Training
Purwaningrum, D., & Astriani, D. (2025) · Jtpigc. · doi:10.33367/jtpigc.v2i1.6986
Hall, K., Reid, D., Keenan, M., & Bones, R. (2025) · The Psychological Record · doi:10.1007/s40732-025-00649-w
Green, E., Kellett, S., Gaskell, C., & Hobbs, M. (2025) · BMJ Open Quality · doi:10.1136/bmjoq-2024-002956
“16 The impact of the intervention was anticipated not to be immediate and therefore long time-series (ie, 19 months pre intervention and post intervention) were deemed necessary.”
Improving applications of a design-comparable effect size in single-case designs
Chen, Y.-K., Yang, T.-R., Chen, L., Hsieh, C.-Y., Cheng, C., Wu, P.-J., & Peng, C. J. (2025) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-025-02715-1
“Among the five types, the multiple-baseline (MB) design is by far the most popular design, accounting for nearly 50% of published SCED studies (Hammond & Gast, 2010; Horner & Odom, 2014; Pustejovsky et al., 2019; Shadish & Sullivan, 2011; Smith, 2012; Tanious & Onghena, 2021).”
Farley, C. D., Renshaw, T. L., & Caldarella, P. (2025) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi:10.1007/s10826-025-03163-3
“Investiga - tors value single-case designs because of their power to iso - late an independent variable as responsible for experimental effects while controlling for chance and error variance, rul - ing out alternative plausible hypotheses and maximizing internal validity (Smith et al., 2012 ).”
InfluentialMüller, A. R., den Hollander, B., van Eeghen, A. M., van de Ven, P. M., Cornel, M. C., van Haelst, M. M., Sprengers, J. J., Bruining, H., Brands, M. M. M. G., & van Karnebeek, C. (2025) · Genetics in Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.gim.2025.101592
Timmerman, K., Haeyen, S., Radstaak, M., & Westerhof, G. J. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-7723063/v1
Why to Use “Idiographic” Approaches in Psychological Research?
Nuovo, S. D. (2022) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/979-8-88730-029-020251006
SAZAK, E., & Terzioğlu, N. K. (2025) · Child & Family Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1080/07317107.2025.2596202
“An adapted alternating treatments design was employed to allow comparison of both interventions within the same participants while controlling for potential carry-over effects (Ledford & Gast, 2018; Smith, 2012).”
Sypré, S., Onghena, P., Verschueren, K., Vansteenkiste, M., & Soenens, B. (2025) · Gifted Child Quarterly · doi:10.1177/00169862251388967
“Stability across phases and minimal overlap with subsequent phases were baseline requirements; differences from baseline patterns indicated intervention effects (Kratochwill et al., 2010; Smith, 2012).”
Prinz, K., Lüke, T., Seifert, S., & Gasteiger‐Klicpera, B. (2025) · Zeitschrift für Bildungsforschung · doi:10.1007/s35834-025-00524-2
O'Campo, P. J., Metheny, N., Buhariwala, P., Rasiah, S., & Yakubovich, A. R. (2025) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/67450
“When multiple SCED cases are aggregated, SCED can explain small but meaningful causal variations in intervention effects using fewer participants than an RCT [28].”
Design and analysis of individually randomized multiple baseline factorial trials
Ouyang, Y., Avila, M. L., & Heath, A. (2026) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-025-02874-1
“…a family of designs that use repeated measurements to establish a stable baseline and demonstrate experimental control after an intervention is introduced, allowing for valid causal inferences even with a single participant (Epstein & Dallery, 2022; Krasny-Pacini & Evans, 2018; Smith, 2012).”
Glazebrook, A. J., Shakespeare‐Finch, J., Andrew, B., & van der Meer, J. N. (2026) · Journal of Loss and Trauma · doi:10.1080/15325024.2025.2585079
“Waitlisting two participants added a level of rigor by controlling for extraneous date-sensitive community-level variables (Smith, 2012), including the effects of natural disasters and the COVID19 pandemic which was in progress.”
Altunel, M. C., & Metin, T. C. (2026) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781800625822.0046
Metadata
- Authors
- Smith, J. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Oregon (US)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Justin D.
- ORCID
- Smith, Justin D.
- Venue
- Psychological Methods
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 510-550
- ISSN
- 1082-989X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1463
- PMC
- PMC3652808
- OpenAlex
- W1978096047
- Cited by
- 630
- References
- 648
- Citations by year
- 2026: 37 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 73 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 3.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Psychological Methods (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH20012)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychology Research and Bibliometrics
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Research and Methods
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Keywords
- single-case experimental design, study design quality, methodological standards, visual analysis, statistical analysis methods, methodological quality
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Research Design, Benchmarking
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