ao3 idiographic

Question 1

Qualitative data produces an in-depth and more complete account of an individual

Answer 1

• This may support existing theories or challenge general laws
• For example, the case studies conducted on HM and Clive Wearing demonstrated that different types of long-term memory are located in different areas of the brain.
• This led to further research of localisation and memory.

Question 2

The research methods used, such as case studies and unstructured interviews, lack scientific evidence

Answer 2

• rely heavily on individual and subjective interpretation.
• open to researcher bias, which reduces the reliability of the findings and the extent to which they can be generalised to other individuals
• lack of validity when developing theories and assumptions based upon the idiographic approach.

Question 3

offers a narrow and restrictive perspective

Answer 3

• case studies and (unstructured) interviews may struggle to be generalised beyond the individual = reducing the ecological validity of these findings.
• For example, humanism widely uses the idiographic approach but is still viewed by many as a set of rather loose, abstract concepts, due to a lack of empirical evidence as well as being specific to the individual. - Generalisations cannot be made without further examples to act as a baseline comparison. This means that the idiographic approach does not improve the scientific credibility of psychology.