Power to detect differences between alternative treatments in comparative psychotherapy outcome research.
Power to detect differences between alternative treatments in comparative psychotherapy outcome research.
复制标题
在比较心理治疗结果研究中发现替代疗法之间差异的能力。
DOI:
10.1037//0022-006x.57.1.138
复制
发表时间:
1989
影响因子:
5.9
通讯作者:
Bass,D
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Kazdin,AE;Bass,D
Comparative studies of psychotherapy often find few or no differences in the outcomes that alternative treatments produce. Although these findings may well reflect the comparability of alternative treatments, as a rule, studies are often not sufficiently powerful to detect the sorts of effects sizes likely to be found when two or more treatments are contrasted. The present survey evaluated the power of psychotherapy outcome studies to detect differences for contrasts of two or more treatments and treatment versus no-treatment control conditions. Outcome studies (N= 85) were drawn from nine journals over a 3-year period (1984–1986). Data in each article were examined first to provide estimates of effect sizes and then to evaluate statistical power at posttreatment and follow-up. The findings indicate that the power of studies to detect differences between treatment and no treatment is generally quite adequate given the relatively large effect sizes usually evident for this comparison. On the other hand, the power is relatively weak to detect the small-to-medium effect sizes likely to be evident when alternative treatments are contrasted with each other. Thus, the equivalent outcomes that treatments produce (ie,“no difference”) may be due to the relatively weak power of the tests. The implications for interpreting current outcome studies and for designing future comparative studies are highlighted.