nonmothtci and idiographic

Question 1

Nomothetic approaches…

Answer 1

Tries to establish genal laws for everybody

Question 2

Idiographic approaches…

Answer 2

Bfocus on individual differences.

Question 3

Which research method is nomothetic?

Answer 3

Dcorrelational studies

Aexperiments

Question 4

Nomothetic methods use data because they are trying to establish general laws about an entire population.

Answer 4

Quanatative

Question 5

Idiographic methods involve…

Answer 5

Cdetailed studies of individuals

Question 6

Idiographic methods tend to use…

Answer 6

Acase studies

Question 7

Because idiographic methods try to get a detailed understanding of an individual’s differences, they often use qualitative data like…

Answer 7

Bwords

Cdescriptions

Question 8

Name two idiographic methods of data collection.

Answer 8

You needed to say the following: Unstructured interviews.
You also needed to say the following: Open questions.

Question 9

Which of the approaches primarily use nomothetic methods?

Answer 9

ABehaviourist

BSocial Learning Theory

DBiological

ECognitive

Question 10

And the psychodynamic approach…

Answer 10

Aaims for nomothetic theories, but only uses idiographic methods.

Question 11

The humanistic approach…

Answer 11

Csays we should only use idiographic methods.

Question 12

Which of the following is a nomothetic method?

Answer 12

Correlational studies and experiments use are nomothetic methods because they gather quantitative data and focus on explaining and predicting general patterns of behaviour rather than focusing on the details of individual people.

Question 13

One argument in favour of nomothetic methods is that they are more scientific, because they aim to establish ______, which allow us to make ______.
Conversely, idiographic methods are often criticised for being ________, because they don’t try to establish general laws.

Answer 13

One argument in favour of nomothetic methods is that they are more scientific, because they aim to establish general laws , which allow us to make predictions .
Conversely, idiographic methods are often criticised for being unscientific , because they don’t try to establish general laws.

Question 14

Allport argued against the criticism that idiographic methods do not allow us to make _____.
He pointed out that there are limitations to how predictive methods can be.
In fact, Allport argued that _____ allow better predictions than nomothetic methods, because they allow us to understand far more about an individual.

Answer 14

Allport argued against the criticism that idiographic methods do not allow us to make predictions .
He pointed out that there are limitations to how predictive nomothetic methods can be.
In fact, Allport argued that idiographic methods allow better predictions than nomothetic methods, because they allow us to understand far more about an individual.

Question 15

diographic research is often ______ than nomothetic research.

Answer 15

more feasible

Question 16

It may be more to undertake idiographic research than nomothetic research, either because like time and money are too limited to study lots of participants, or because there aren’t enough participants to study nomothetically.
But on the other hand, idiographic methods like conducting interviews and interpreting data take a long time per participant. Therefore, idiographic methods are only more feasible because they involve fewer participants.

Answer 16

It may be more feasible to undertake idiographic research than nomothetic research, either because resources like time and money are too limited to study lots of participants, or because there aren’t enough participants to study nomothetically.
But on the other hand, idiographic methods like conducting interviews and interpreting qualitative data take a long time per participant. Therefore, idiographic methods are only more feasible because they involve fewer participants.

Question 17

Idiographic methods are often criticised because they do not aim to establish .
But, by providing greater insight into an individual, idiographic methods might actually allow better , as Allport argued.
However, nomothetic methods are often preferred, when they are , because they are seen as more scientific

Answer 17

Idiographic methods are often criticised because they do not aim to establish general laws .
But, by providing greater insight into an individual, idiographic methods might actually allow better predictions , as Allport argued.
However, nomothetic methods are often preferred, when they are feasible , because they are seen as more scientific.

Question 18

Why doesn’t it make sense to ask the question, ‘Should psychologists be using either nomothetic or idiographic methods?’

Answer 18

ASome methods combine lots of detail and lots of participants.

BThe scientific process needs both idiographic and nomothetic methods, depending on the situation.

Question 19

. Explain why some psychologists consider idiographic methods to be unscientific.

Answer 19

Idiographic methods are often criticised for being unscientific, because they don’t try to establish general laws. Because conclusions from idiographic research aren’t meant to be true in all cases, this means that idiographic research is impossible to falsify, and is therefore seen as unscientific.

Question 20

Write an evaluation paragraph on whether idiographic and nomothetic methods can be combined. [4 marks]

Answer 20

Both idiographic and nomothetic methods are vital to the scientific process. Ultimately, a scientific approach to psychology aims to establish general laws, and this requires nomothetic methods. However, nomothetic methods are often only feasible after idiographic research has taken place because idiographic methods are often less resource-intensive, especially when they involve fewer participants. Furthermore, idiographic methods often provide more detail, so idiographic and nomothetic methods are often combined within the same approach. However, some researchers argue that we can go further by combining idiographic and nomothetic elements within the same methodology. One example is Q methodology, which combines a greater level of detail with a higher number of participants. However, ultimately, Q methodology fails to achieve as much detail as an idiographic study, and usually involves fewer participants than a nomothetic study. Therefore, researchers ultimately need to consider more nomothetic and more idiographic methods and make compromises between the advantages and limitations of each.