critically evaluating applied research

Question 1

Baron-Cohen, 2001

Answer 1

theory of mind deficits autism hypothesis

Question 2

Shultz, 2005

Answer 2

social orienting theory of autism

Question 3

Chevalier et al., 2012

Answer 3

social motivation theory of autism

Question 4

Gray and Gerand, 1993

Answer 4

came up with social stories

Question 5

Gorwood and Van Loan

Answer 5

meta analysis that showed social stories had no significant effect on behaviour

Question 6

NAC, 2005

Answer 6

stated that there was not a sufficient amount of scientific research to say that social stories are empirically supported by evidence.

Question 7

Sutton et al., 2018

Answer 7

found that interventions for autism in schools that are able to be used or performed by teachers are more effective than those performed by external experts or helpers.

Question 8

Bennett, 2012

Answer 8

found that early interventions for autism are effective. this is a strength of social stories as they can be used by children of any age.

Question 9

Malmberg, 2013

Answer 9

social stories were found to be significantly less effective than video modelling.

Question 10

cost of autism per year

Answer 10

£32 billion

Question 11

what percentage of the population has autism?

Answer 11

0.02-0.5%

Question 12

what does having multiple theories of causes mean?

Answer 12

because there is no one theory for explaining every case or symptom of autism, there is no one universal treatment or intervention used.

Question 13

what is a social story?

Answer 13

it is a guideline, usually written down as a story with pictures or in a comic strip, that helps people with ASD navigate through different social situations. it can be personalised to the individual and can be made around any event they may face. in theory, anyone with training can write a social story and it can be used for individuals of any age.

Question 14

Adjornu et al. 2018

Answer 14

developed social stories that can be used with modern technology such as virtual reality headsets

Question 15

what is the long term risk of social stories?

Answer 15

that people may become dependent on them and then cope worse with new situations for which they have no social story.

Question 16

what are Carol Gray’s credentials

Answer 16

she doesn’t have any, she was a teacher and not an ASD expert in any way.

Question 17

what is the journal the research was published in like?

Answer 17

it is rated 65th of 73 for journals on developmental psychology and has an impact factor of 0.95 which is relatively low.

Question 18

what is the issue with training costing money?

Answer 18

it is not openly accessible to parents and teachers, and it has been shown that interventions performed by teachers are more effective.

Question 19

what empirical support does the paper provide?

Answer 19

none

Question 20

what did research autism find about previous literature?

Answer 20

it found that many studies used poor methodology and that many studies also included 3 participants or fewer.

Question 21

Wang et al., 2009

Answer 21

meta-analysis found that of the three most popular autism interventions (social stories, video modelling and peer mediated) only video modelling was sufficiently supported by evidence of its effectiveness.

Question 22

could social stories be credible?

Answer 22

yes. video modelling provides a very similar service, especially similar to social stories which use technology. this intervention has support and so therefore it is viable that social stories could be found to be effective in this way.

Question 23

Johnen et al., 2014

Answer 23

developmental prosopagnosia is a neurodevelopmental condition that is largely heritable

Question 24

Susilo and Duchaine, 2013

Answer 24

DP effects as many as 1 in 50 people

Question 25

Kennerknecht et al., 2006

Answer 25

one valid questionnaire for the diagnosis of DP did exist but this did not correlate well with actual behavioural traits so was not widely accepted

Question 26

Shah et al., 2015

Answer 26

developed the PI20, a 20 question questionnaire that can be used to diagnose DP.

Question 27

what are some potential issues with a questionnaire diagnosing DP?

Answer 27

• only suitable for adults
• may not relate to behavioural measures
• subjective scales within questions
• arbitrary cut off point

Question 28

what evidence was collected to say that the questionnaire was reliable?

Answer 28

• study found that it accounted for 61% of variance and had a Cronbach’s alpha of .96 so was reliable within itself.
• study matched people with DP and people without by age, sex and occupation and found a significant difference in their average scores
• correlation found between scores on a famous faces recognition test and the questionnaire
• no correlation found between questionnaire results and scores on an object recognition test.

Question 29

Bate and Tree, 2017

Answer 29

• no one universally accepted diagnostic criteria for DP so comparisons across studies and analyses are impossible
• point out the need to study children as the condition is developmental

Question 30

Dalrymple et al., 2015

Answer 30

found that there were many possible or proposed measures for DP in adults but only one was suitable for children.

Question 31

what is one theoretical problem with Shah’s questionnaire?

Answer 31

it does not distinguish between face memory and face perception which are different deficits.

Question 32

Bowles et al, 2009

Answer 32

found that people have very poor insight into their own ability to recognise faces

Question 33

Bate et al, 2016

Answer 33

identified a group called super-recognisers suggesting that the ability to recognise faces is a spectrum

Question 34

Lee et al, 2015

Answer 34

one example of many studies that use multiple different measures to test facial recognition ability

Question 35

Bate et al, 2009

Answer 35

found that response times should also be taken into account as people become very good at compensating for a lack of facial recognition ability.