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support group

a group similar in some ways to a self-help group in that members who share a problem come together to provide help, comfort, and guidance. A primary distinguishing feature of support groups is in their leadership: a professional or agency-based facilitator who often does not share the problem of members. In addition, support groups often last for only a limited predetermined number of sessions, and a fee for attendance is sometimes charged. Also called social support group.

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Psychology term of the day

November 22nd 2024

asymptotic method

asymptotic method

any statistical procedure for estimating a population quantity that becomes more accurate as the number of observations involved in the calculation increases. Asymptotic methods use assumptions—including efficiency, normality, and symmetry—that generally are not absolutely true for finite samples but that become steadily more true as sample sizes increase. Also called large-sample method.