Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches

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Which of the following best describes an idiographic approach in psychology?

A - Studying individuals in order to establish general laws of behaviour.
B - Studing individuals without intending to establish general laws of behaviour.
C - Studying large sa
B - Studing individuals without intending to establish general laws of behaviour.
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Which of the following statement best describes a nomothetic approach in psychology?

Psychologists taking a nomothetic approach...
A - Study single cases and do not formulate general laws.
B - Study groups of people and do not formulate general laws.
C -
C - Study groups of people and formulate general laws.
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What is a 'nomothetic approach'? Suggest one limitation of a nomothetic approach.

(2 marks)
A nomothetic approach is when a researcher studies groups of people in order to formulate general laws of behaviour.

A limitation of a nomothetic approach is that in-depth information cannot be found out about single cases.
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Read the item and then answer the question that follows.

A prison psychologist used an idiographic approach to study offending. He asked two offenders to record their thoughts about their childhood and their offending behaviour in a journal over the peri
When using a nomothetic approach, the researcher would need to test a larger sample of offenders. This sample could be gathered through sampling methods such as random sampling of the prison population. The researcher would most likely use a testable hypo
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q
a
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Which of the following statement best describes a nomothetic approach in psychology?

Psychologists taking a nomothetic approach...
A - Study single cases and do not formulate general laws.
B - Study groups of people and do not formulate general laws.
C -

Back

C - Study groups of people and formulate general laws.

Card 3

Front

What is a 'nomothetic approach'? Suggest one limitation of a nomothetic approach.

(2 marks)

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Read the item and then answer the question that follows.

A prison psychologist used an idiographic approach to study offending. He asked two offenders to record their thoughts about their childhood and their offending behaviour in a journal over the peri

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

q

Back

Preview of the front of card 5

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