Idiographic and nomothetic ID

Question 1

ideographic approach

Answer 1

derived from the Greek ‘idios’ meaning ‘private’ or ‘personal’. An approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour

Question 2

nomothetic approach

Answer 2

derived from the Greek ‘nomos’ meaning law. This approach aims to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws.

Question 3

The idiographic approach suggests that…….

Answer 3

psychology should be the study of individuals as by gaining lots of detail on an individual, we can understand human behaviour better.

Question 4

The nomothetic approach suggests that……..

Answer 4

psychology should be the study of large groups to be able to make generalisations and establish norms in behaviour.

Question 5

Qualitative research

The idiographic approach to psychological investigation

Answer 5

most idiographic research, first hand accounts, case study, in-depth interviews, unstructured interviews, data is then analysed and frequent themes are identified, conclusions might help people going through similar experiences or even mental health professionals

Question 6

examples of idiographic research in psychology

Answer 6

• Humanistic and psychodynamic approaches
• Rodgers and unconditional positive regard was derived from in-depth conversations
• Freud used observations

Question 7

Quantitative research

The nomothetic approach to psychological investigation

Answer 7

hypothesis are formulated , structured questionnaires, psychological tests, numerical data is analysed for statistical significance, quantify human behaviour

Question 8

examples of nomothetic research in psychology

Answer 8

• Behaviourist and biological approaches
• Skinner studied animals to develop general laws of learning

Question 9

Objective versus subjective

Answer 9

A key difference between the two is how they address subjectivity and objectivity. Nomothetic is objective as it uses standardised procedures and idiographic is subjective.

Question 10

Complete account

strength

Answer 10

The idiographic approach contributes to the nomothetic approach.
* Idiographic approach uses in-depth qualitative methods of investigation, providing a global description of one individual
* Can be complementary to nomothetic approach as it can add detail to general laws
* A single case may generate hypothesis for further study such as the case of HM
Thus suggesting that the focus is on fewer individuals to help form ‘scientific’ laws.

Question 11

counterpoint to complete account

limitation

Answer 11

• Supported of the idiographic approach should still acknowledge the narrow and restricted nature of their work
• Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples
• No adequate baseline to compare behaviour
• Methods related to idiographic research are not very scientific due to subjective nature and open to bias
  Difficult to build effective general theories of human behaviour without using nomothetic research.

Question 12

scientific credibility

strength

Answer 12

Both fit with the aims of science
* Nomothetic technics aline with ‘natural science’
* Idiographic are used to check objectivity by using triangulation to increase validity
Both approaches raise psychology’s status as a science.