Idiographic And Nomothetic Flashcards
Idiographic - qualitative
Approach to research that focuses on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour rather than formulating general laws of behaviour
Nomothetic- quantitative
Find laws of behaviour that apply to all humans
Idiographic- nomothetic debate
Idiographic- study individual, gathering about a person we can understand human behaviour better
Nomothetic- study large and varied groups, make generalisations about what is typical in different aspects of human behaviour
Idiographic psychological investigation
Small number of participants, focus on detail
Initial focus is understanding individual - what can we learn from this individual case?
Idiographic qualitative research
Firsthand accounts-interviewed in depth-data analysed-themes identified-Conclusions help those experiencing similar
Help professionals determine best practice
Idiographic examples in psychology
Humanistic and psychodynamic
Carl Rogers -in depth conversations to explain self development
Freud -observations to explain human nature
Nomothetic psychological investigations
Generalisation to create laws and principles of behaviour
Can be applied to individual situations-drug therapy
Nomothetic quantitative research
Scientific method-hypothesis formulated-samples are assessed-numerical data produced-analysed for statistical significance
Seeks to quantify human behaviour
Nomothetic examples in psychology
Behaviourist and biological approach
Skinner - looked at one aspect of behaviour in a few animals-aim to establish general laws
Sperry -split brain research -repeated testing-form basic understanding of hemispheric lateralisation
Objective versus subjective
Nomothetic= objective-insures replication and removal of bias
Idiographic= subjective-peoples individual experience of their unique context
Strength of idiographic approach
In-depth qualitative methods
Contributes to nomothetic by shedding light on general laws or challenging them
HM ‘ the pebble that starts in avalanche’- single case may generate a hypothesis for further study
Still helps form scientific laws of behaviour
Limitations of ideographic
Narrow and restricted-generalisations can’t be made
Methods are less scientific -subjective-open to bias
Difficult to build effective general theories without nomothetic research
Strength of idiographic and nomothetic
Fit with aims of science
Nomothetic-research similar to those in natural sciences
Idiographic-objectify their methods-used different qualitative methods to increase validity
Most qualitative reflect upon biases as part of the research
Limitations of nomothetic
Loss of understanding of individual- preoccupied with laws prediction and control
Loses the whole person within psychology
1% risk of sz doesn’t tell us what life is like with it
