Pragmatic Multiple Baseline Design — Real-World Single-Case Experimental Design

The Pragmatic Multiple Baseline Design is a single-case experimental design that staggers intervention introduction across multiple participants, settings, or behaviors in real-world conditions where strict experimental control is impractical. By relaxing some idealized constraints — such as perfectly stable baselines or rigid staggering timelines — it preserves the core logic of the multiple baseline while accommodating clinical, educational, or community realities. It is especially valued when withholding treatment for ethical reasons is untenable and when practitioners need evidence from naturalistic settings.