Idiographic and nomothetic approaches

Question 1

Idiographic approaches

Answer 1

view people as unique and so they focus on the subjective experience of the individual and so collect data using qualitative methods such as case studies and unstructured interviews.

Question 2

idiographic example

Answer 2

The humanistic approach where Rodgers would use in-depth case studies like Gloria to illustrate the principles of their approach. (unstructured interview)

Question 3

Nomothetic approaches

Answer 3

are scientific in the sense that they attempt to establish general laws that apply to everybody. They attempt to measure and classify human behaviour so that future behaviour can be accurately predicted. Lab experiments with large numbers of participants using operationalised variables, standardised procedures and quantitative data.

Question 4

Nomothetic example

Answer 4

The behaviourist approach where Skinner uses standardised studies to generalise animal behaviour to humans.

Question 5

Evaluation strength: can complement each other

Answer 5

For example, a case study can be used as a starting point for future research.

Question 6

Evaluation weakness: case studies issues

Answer 6

difficult to generalise findings of case studies to apply to all people. For example, Little Hans of the psychodynamic approach to support Oedipus complex.

Question 7

Evaluation strength: nomothetic are highly scientific

Answer 7

research on learning has been successfully applied to fields such as education which shows the findings have been proved useful in the real world.

Question 8

Evaluation weakness: nomothetic lack depth

Answer 8

Research methods like experiments produce quantitative data that can easily be analysed but overlook the richness of human experience.