2.6 Idiographic And Nomothetic Approaches To Psychological Investigation

Question 1

what are the main features of an idiographic research?

Answer 1

• focus on the individual and recognition of uniqueness.
• private, subjective and conscious experiences.
• quantitative methods of investigation

Question 2

what are the main features of an nomothetic research?

Answer 2

• focuses on similarities between people
• attempts to establish laws and generalisations about people.
• objective knowledge through scientific methods
• quantitative methods of investigation

Question 3

Methods of investigation for idiographic research?

Answer 3

• tends to include qualitative data, investigating individuals in a personal and detailed way.
• methods of research include: case study, unstructured interviews, self-reports, autobiographies and personal documents

Question 4

Strengths of idiographic research?

Answer 4

• provides a more complete or global understanding of the individual
• satisfies key aim of science, description and understanding of behaviour
• findings can serve as a source of ideas or hypothesis for later study
• the focuses mean the individual feels valued and unique

Question 5

Limitations of idiographic research?

Answer 5

• difficult to generalise from detailed subjective knowledge about one person
• Often regarded as non-scientific as subjective experience cannot be empirically tested.
• largely neglects biological, especially genetic influences

Question 6

Nomothetic research attempts to establish laws and generalisations about people, these laws can be categorised into three kinds, name and give an example.

Answer 6

classifying people into groups
- such as the DSM-V for classifying people with mood disorders
establishing principles
- such as the behaviourist law of learning
establishing dimensions
- such as Eysenck’s personality inventory which allows for comparisons between people

Question 7

strengths of nomothetic research?

Answer 7

• combines biological and social aspects
• has helped psychology as a whole become scientific by developing laws and theories which can be empirically tested.
• regarded as scientific as it is: precise measurement; prediction and control of behaviour; investigations of large groups; objective and controlled methods allowing replication and generalisation
• much more likely to achieve funding

Question 8

methods of investigation for nomothetic research?

Answer 8

• uses scientific and quantitative data.
• usually uses experiments and observations
• group averages are statistically analysed to create predictions about people in general.

Question 9

limitations of nomothetic research?

Answer 9

• predictions can be made about groups but these may not apply to individuals
• approach has been accused of losing sight of the ‘whole person’
• gives a superficial understanding - people may act the same but for different reasons
• extensive use of controlled lab experiments creates a lack of generalisation to everyday life

Question 10

Idiographic vs Nomothetic working together…

Answer 10

• both have a role but relative value of each depends on the purpose of the research
• two approaches can be complementary - idiographic can further develop nomothetic law
• both can contribute to scientific approach - idiographic suited to description; nomothetic to predictions.

Question 11

what is the idiographic approach?

Answer 11

focuses on the individuals and emphasises uniqueness; favours qualitative methods in research

Question 12

what is the nomothetic approach?

Answer 12

seeks to formulate general laws of behaviour based on the study of groups and the use of statistical (quantitative) techniques.
it attempts to summarise the differences between people through generalisations