idiographic and nomothetic approaches

• The idiographic approach argues we should conduct a detailed study of one individual or one group to provide an in-depth understanding
• ideographic-Participants:

  • Number of pps used is small and often a single individual

  • The focus is on detail about the pp and what we can learn about their case

  • As the focus is on the individual, we try not to generalise too much
• idiographic -Type of research:

  • Mostly uses qualitative research e.g. unstructured interviews, case studies, thematic analysis

  • E.g pps with depression may be interviewed and emergent themes identified and conclusions formed.

  • This can help psychologists and mental health professionals determine best practice.
• idiographic-Examples

  • Mostly associated with humanist and psychodynamic approaches

  • Humanistic approach – Rogers explained the process of self-development including the role of unconditional positive regard using in-depth conversations with his clients in therapy

  • Frued’s explanation of phobias was based on detailed case study of little Hans
• idiographic -Objective or subjective?

  • Researchers working with the idiographic approach tend not to believe in objectivity in psychological research

  • It is possible peoples individual experience of their unique context which is important – based in subjectivity
• The nomothetic approach argues we should study larger groups with the aim of discovering norms, universal principles or ‘laws’ of behaviour
• nomothetic-Participants:

  • Uses large groups of people to create laws and general principles (theories) which could then be applied to populations and individuals
• nomothetic -Type of research:

  • Mostly uses quantitative research and mostly follows scientific methods e.g. hypotheses formulated, sample of people assessed (e.g. using a structured questionnaire) and numerical data is analysed

  • Seeks to quantify human behaviour
• nomothetic -Examples

  • Mostly associated with behaviourist and biological approaches

  • Behaviourist approach –study on animals (skinners box and pavlovs dog) were used to develop general laws of learning that is applied to all humans

  • Biological approach - Sperry’s split brain research involved repeated, scientific testing to create generalisable laws
• nomothetic -Objective or subjective?

  • The nomothetic approach seeks to standardise methods of assessing people

  • Ensure true replication occurs across samples of behaviour and removes the contaminating influence of bias – objectively based
• strength

  One strength of the idiographic approach is that it contributes to the nomothetic approach.

  The idiographic approach uses in-depth qualitative methods of investigation and this provides a global description of one individual. This may complement the nomothetic approach by shedding further light on general laws or indeed by challenging such laws.

  This suggests that even though the focus is on fewer individuals, the idiographic approach may still help form 'scientific' laws of behaviour.
• weakness of the idiographic approach

  Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples, as this means there is no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour. In addition, methods associated with the idiographic approach, such as case studies, tend to be the least scientific in that conclusions often rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher and, as such, are open to bias.

  This suggests that it is difficult to build effective general theories of human behaviour in the complete absence of nomothetic research.
• strength

  One strength of both approaches is that they fit with the aims of science.

  The processes involved in nomothetic research are similar to those used in the natural sciences, However, researchers using the idiographic approach also seek to objectify their methods. Also, modern qualitative researchers are careful to reflect upon their own biases and preconceptions as part of the research process

  This suggests that both the nomothetic and idiographic approaches raise psychology's status as a science.
• weakness

  One limitation of the nomothetic approach is loss of understanding of the individual.

  The fact that the nomothetic approach is preoccupied with general laws, prediction and control means it has been accused of 'losing the whole person' within psychology. For example, Understanding the subjective experience of schizophrenia might well prove useful when it comes to devising appropriate treatment options, for example.

  This means, in its search for generalities, the nomothetic approach may sometimes fail to relate to 'experience'