Single Case Methods in Clinical Psychology: A Practical Guide

Single-Case Methods in Clinical Psychology: A Practical Guide provides a concise and easily-accessible introduction to single-case research. This is a timely response to the increasing awareness of the need to look beyond randomised controlled trials for evidence to support best practice in applied psychology. The book covers the issues of design, the reliability and validity of measurement, and provides guidance on how to analyse single-case data using both visual and statistical methods.

Single-case designs can be used to investigate an individual’s response to psychological intervention, as well as to contribute to larger scale research projects. This book illuminates the common principles behind these uses. It describes how standardised measures can be used to evaluate change in an individual and how to develop idiographic measures that are tailored to the needs of an individual. The issue of replication and generalising beyond an individual are examined, and the book also includes a section on the meta-analysis of single-case data. The critical evaluation of single-case research is examined, from both the perspective of developing quality standards to evaluate research and maintaining a critical distance in reviewing one’s own work.

Single Case Methods in Clinical Psychology will provide invaluable guidance to postgraduate psychologists training to enter the professions of clinical, health and counselling psychology and is likely to become a core text on many courses. It will also appeal to clinicians seeking to answer questions about the effectiveness of therapy in individual cases and who wish to use the method to further the evidence-base for specific psychological interventions.

Stephen Morley (1950-2017) was Professor of Clinical Psychology and former director of the clinical psychology training programme at the University of Leeds. He was best known for his research work on pain, for which we was awarded honorary membership of the International Association for the Study of Pain in 2016. He taught generations of trainee clinical psychologists, delivered many workshops and wrote several book chapters on the topic of single case methods.

Ciara Masterson is a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Leeds.

Chris J. Main is an Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at Keele University