idiographic v nomothetic

• DEBATE : idiographic v nomothetic

  idiographic : focuses on individual behaviour

  nomothetic: aims to create general laws for behaviour.
• nomothetic research methods:

  • closed q's
  • structured interviews/ observations
  • experiments
  • coding (content analysis)
  • distribution curves
• idiographic research methods:

  • unstructured interviews/ observations
  • open questions
  • case studies
  • thematic analysis (content analysis)
• $strengths :$

  • can provide rich qualitive data on behaviour (idiographic)
  • is scientific - able to establish cause and effect relationships, has scientific credibility (nomothetic)
• $limitations :$

  • lacks scientific rigour (idiographic).
  • findings can lack context/ detail about individual experiences (nomothetic).