Single-Case Designs in Marital Research and Therapy

This paper describes the uses of single-case designs in marital research and therapy. Potential advantages of these designs in addressing such issues as the idiosyncratic nature of marital complaints, deterioration effects, marital satisfaction as an outcome variable, component analyses of interventions, and unit of analysis in therapy and research, are examined. Suggestions are given for innovative applications of single-case designs in marital research and practice. Selected examples of AB, reversal, and multiple baseline designs are critically reviewed.