Idiographic & Nomothetic^

Question 1

Idiographic

Answer 1

focus on uniqueness of the ind in detail

Question 2

Small Sample Sizes

Answer 2

investigate a single person
to undertand them
but general laws about the beh can still be made

Question 3

Qualitative Methods

Answer 3

case studies, interviews
get lot of details about a certain beh
themes are identified and applied
- help those going through similar experience

Question 4

Nomothetic

Answer 4

focus on groups of people
establish general laws of beh

Question 5

Quantitative Methods

Answer 5

experiments, structured interviews, statistical analyses
Establish general laws

Question 6

Large Sample Sizes

Answer 6

Which can be applied to individuals
Through medical diagnosis

Question 7

Statistically Analysed Data

Answer 7

produce that data to help account for beh

Question 8

Complete Account

Answer 8

IdA contributed to NA
gives more of an explanation or can erfute the general laws established by the NA
give areas of research that need to be studied more

Question 9

VS Complete Account

Answer 9

small sizes used
can’t generalise with validity without more examples giving the same results or without a baseline (CG) to compare
IdA is less likely to be scientific, more open to bias and can be subjective

Question 10

Scientific Credibility

Answer 10

Both approaches abide by the aims of science
IDA aims to make methods more objective via triangulation
Findings from various qualitative studies are compared to increase validity
Researchers try to be conscious of their own biases and how they influence the analysis of the results

Question 11

Losing the Person

Answer 11

With the NA we don’t get a lot of detail to the ind experience
Knowing the likelihood of someone developing a psychological condition is beneficial
But it tells us little about their experience with dealing with the info and developing it