Creating Plots for Single-Subject Research Designs in R
Install the free RDARBS package to make every standard single-case graph in under a minute.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ruiz et al. (2025) built a free R package called RDARBS. It draws reversal, multi-element, changing-criterion, and multiple-baseline graphs in seconds.
The authors give step-by-step code you can copy-paste. No Excel formatting, no Prism license needed.
What they found
The paper is a how-to guide, not an experiment. It shows that one line of code can auto-label axes, draw phase lines, and size data points to journal specs.
How this fits with other research
Manolov et al. (2017) already offered free R tools for single-case graphs. Ruiz et al. (2025) refines the same idea with a single package that covers every major design.
Mitteer et al. (2018) taught techs to build Prism graphs with a 30-minute video. Ruiz gives the same publication look without hand-drawing or paid software.
Vecchia et al. (2025) used general-case teaching so undergrads could graph in Excel. Ruiz skips teaching and lets the code do the work.
Why it matters
If you run single-case studies, RDARBS saves hours per graph and keeps your figures journal-ready. Install once, then one command replaces dragging phase lines in PowerPoint. Share the script with students and they can reproduce your plots exactly.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The use of single-subject research designs is common among behavior analysts, as well as among other professionals interested in the study of behavior. Although there are clear guidelines for creating graphs to represent data collected with these designs, the type of tools used to produce them requires considerable time and effort to cover the specific criteria to plot data for each type of design and always involves the purchase of a software’s license. This manuscript describes four functions created in R language to automatically produce plots with specific characteristics for data collected using single-subject experimental designs. These functions were included in a package created in R to facilitate their sharing, installation, and use (R package for data analysis and representation in behavior science, https://github.com/ruizvja/RDARBS). The application of these functions is exemplified for the cases of reversal design, multi-element design, changing criteria, and multiple baseline. The relevance and convenience of functions is illustrated and discussed in the context of other proposals that have been made for the specialized production of plots for single-subject research designs.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s40617-024-01032-x