Idiographic and nomothetic approach

Question 1

What is the idiographic approach ?

Answer 1

• focuses on the individual
• no attempt to generalise
• Case studies and small groups

Question 2

What research methods are used with idiographic ?

Answer 2

• Qualitative data - detailed information
• Unstructured interviews - conversation like
• Unstructured observation - no behavioural categories

Question 3

What are examples of idiographic ?

Answer 3

• Humanistic - client-centred therapy
• Clive Wearing - memory patient

Question 4

What is the nomothetic approach ?

Answer 4

• aims to produce general laws
• classifies people into groups
• allows for comparison

Question 5

What are examples of the nomothetic approach ?

Answer 5

• e.g. attachment types
• e.g. internal and external LoC
• e.g. biological approach - genetics and applies to all

Question 6

What research methods are used with the nomothetic approach ?

Answer 6

• structured interviews - closed questions - means a large sample can be created
• Quantitative - allows comparison
• Lab experiments - scientific

Question 7

What are the evaluations of the nomothetic approach ?

Answer 7

Strength: Scientific methods
- most are lab experiments
- large amounts of internal validity
- high levels of control

Limitation: Loses understanding of the individual
- sees people as numbers and units
- means theres a loss of understanding
- this approach fails to relate to experience

Question 8

What are the evaluations of the idiographic approach ?

Answer 8

Limitation: Subjective
- only applied to those with conditions
- e.g. schizophrenic, epilepsy
- researchers leave it open to bias as they have to generalise with no numerical data

Strength: Idiographic contributes to nomothetic
- in-depth information
- without the small cases, it would be hard to make general laws