Lesson 4.3.1.5

4.3.1.5 Idiographic and nomothetic approaches Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.3.1.5, Idiographic and nomothetic approaches: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is the idiographic approach?

    • Discovering universal laws that apply in the same way to all people
    • Comparing two groups using random allocation and a control condition
    • Measuring large samples with statistical tests to find general patterns
    • Studying the unique individual in depth to understand their particular experiences and behaviour

  2. What is the nomothetic approach?

    • Describing a single person's unique life in rich, detailed narrative
    • Studying one brain region in isolation from the rest of the brain
    • Establishing general laws of behaviour that apply across many people
    • Interpreting one participant's diary entries to understand their feelings

  3. Which method is most typically idiographic?

    • The large-scale questionnaire survey
    • The laboratory experiment with a control group
    • The meta-analysis of hundreds of published studies
    • The case study

  4. Which method is most typically nomothetic?

    • An unstructured interview with one person about their life
    • A single case study of one patient's recovery
    • A laboratory experiment with a large sample
    • A diary study of one participant over a year

  5. Which type of data is most commonly associated with idiographic research?

    • Qualitative data, such as detailed interview or diary material
    • Quantitative data only, such as scores on a standardised scale
    • Ordinal rankings only, collected from many participants
    • Nominal frequencies only, counted across independent groups

  6. Which type of data is most commonly associated with nomothetic research?

    • Quantitative data, such as scores that can be compared and analysed statistically
    • Interview transcripts from a single person's life history
    • Unstructured observation notes about one individual
    • Qualitative diary entries from one participant

  7. What is a strength of the idiographic approach?

    • It always uses random sampling from the whole population of interest
    • It guarantees that results will generalise to whole populations
    • It provides a rich, detailed understanding of an individual's experiences
    • It removes the need for any ethical consideration in the research

  8. A psychologist studies one patient's memory loss in depth over several years. Which approach does this represent?

    • Experimental
    • Nomothetic
    • Reductionist
    • Idiographic

  9. A researcher tests 500 participants to find a general relationship between sleep and mood. Which approach is this?

    • Qualitative
    • Nomothetic
    • Idiographic
    • Holistic case study

  10. Which is a weakness of the nomothetic approach?

    • It is always carried out using only one participant
    • It cannot produce any quantitative data at all
    • It may miss individual differences that matter for particular people
    • It is always unethical because it involves groups of people

  11. A weakness of the idiographic approach is that its results are often:

    • Impossible to replicate in any form
    • Always statistically significant
    • Based only on animal samples
    • Difficult to generalise to other people

  12. Which approach is closest to the aims of clinical case formulation?

    • Idiographic
    • Experimental
    • Reductionist
    • Nomothetic

  13. A study surveys 1,000 people and reports averages across the sample. What approach does this represent?

    • A holistic diary
    • An idiographic approach
    • A nomothetic approach
    • A case study

  14. A researcher is interested in why one specific child developed a phobia. Which approach fits best?

    • Nomothetic
    • Androcentric
    • Ethnocentric
    • Idiographic

  15. Which statement best describes how the two approaches can be combined?

    • Idiographic and nomothetic approaches cannot be used in the same study at all
    • Nomothetic findings can be checked against idiographic detail to see how general laws apply to individuals
    • Nomothetic research always proves individual cases to be wrong
    • Idiographic research removes the need for any data collection

  16. Why is it argued that idiographic research may be less scientific than nomothetic research?

    • Single cases always produce statistically significant results
    • Idiographic research uses too many variables to measure at all
    • Idiographic research is never qualitative in any sense
    • Single cases are hard to replicate and generalise, so conclusions are less easily tested

  17. A drug works on average, but a few individuals show no benefit. Which approach would reveal this individual variation?

    • An idiographic approach using detailed analysis of individual cases
    • A nomothetic average alone, reported without any individual detail
    • A random sample with no follow-up of the participants
    • A purely reductionist brain scan of the average participant

  18. Why might a nomothetic approach be generalisable but not accurate for every individual?

    • Group averages always describe every person exactly as they are
    • Nomothetic research cannot involve more than one participant
    • Group averages may not describe any one person accurately
    • Nomothetic data never contain any numbers at all

  19. A criticism that idiographic case studies lack objectivity is linked to which feature of the method?

    • The use of standardised tests with set norms
    • The use of random allocation to conditions
    • The researcher's interpretation of rich, detailed data
    • The use of very large samples from the population

  20. Which statement best explains why researchers might use both approaches in one programme of research?

    • Neither approach can be used once a hypothesis has been stated
    • Both approaches always give identical results and so are interchangeable
    • Idiographic work is used only in ethics and nomothetic work only in statistics
    • Nomothetic work establishes general patterns, while idiographic work explains exceptions and individual mechanisms

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