Idiographic Vs Nomothetic

Question 1

Define idiographic approach

Answer 1

Focuses on individual cases to understand behaviour rather than attempting to make general laws

Question 2

Define nomothetic approach

Answer 2

Aims to study behavior through development of laws and general principles

Question 3

Evaluate the idiographic approach

Answer 3

+ holistic approach, produces detail rich data and does not suffer from gender/cultural biases doesn’t aim to generalise, uses triangulation increasing IV
High external validity —> data more reflective of individuals real behaviour
– Subjective, cannot be applied and made into general laws, data difficult to analyse, lacks scientific rigor

Question 4

Evaluate the nomothetic approach

Answer 4

+ objective, data easy to analyse, control of variables, can make general laws of behaviour
+ Universal laws allow for practical application e.g. treatments
– Less detailed data, overlooks influence of individual experiences, likely to suffer from bias as generalises behaviour

Question 5

Give examples of techniques used in the idiographic approach

Answer 5

Case studies, interviews, triangulation, qualitative data

Question 6

Give examples of techniques used in nomothetic approach

Answer 6

Surveys, classifying people into groups, objectivity, quantitative data