Idiographic vs Nomothetic

• Idiographic

  • focuses on the individual and emphasis on uniqueness, qualitative methods instead of formulating general laws of behaviour
• Nomothetic

  • formulated general basis of laws of behaviour based on the study of groups and the use of quantitative data
• Epistemology

  • the theory of knowledge, in particular the methods used, validity, scope and the distinction between justifies belief and opinion
• Idiographic - methods and characteristics

  • study if the individual
  • unique insights about human behaviour
  • using qualitative methods which can be used to determine genera characteristics
  • quality of information, rather than quantity
  • unstructured interviews
  • case studies
  • thematic analysis
  • non-scientific, non-reliable
• Examples of idiographic

  • Sigmund Freud- case of little Hans
  • 150 pages of quotes recorded by Little Hans' father
  • Descriptions of Little Hans' life events
  • Freud's interpretations of the events
  • generalisations of the case study drawn from unique individuals
• What type of research does the idiographic evaluation represent?

  Non-scientific
• What is the purpose of reflexivity in qualitative research?

  To provide evidence-based principles
• Why is the idiographic approach rarely able to find generalizations about behavior?

  It is too time-consuming to find individual treatments
• What does Allport suggest about the idiographic approach after detailed observations?

  It can make predictions
• Who stated that a combined approach is more ideal in research?

  Holt (1967)
• What does Holt (1967) suggest about the idiographic approach?

  It often becomes nomothetic for predictions
• What are the key characteristics of the idiographic approach in research?

  • Focuses on individual cases
  • Non-scientific methodology
  • Uses reflexivity for evidence-based principles
  • Limited ability to generalise findings
• What are the implications of combining idiographic and nomothetic approaches?

  • Allows for detailed individual observations
  • Facilitates predictions and generalisations
  • Enhances the overall research methodology
• Nomothetic - methods and characteristics

  • a large number of people involved
  • making generalisations
  • developing new laws/theories about behaviour
  • quantitative behaviour, numbers, statistics, measures of dispersion, and further analysis
  • can involve thousands of people at once (e.g. IQ tests)
  • making inferences about the wider population based on the behaviour of the sample
  • carefully controlled experiments/structured observations - high reliability but at the expense of validity
• Nomothetic examples (biological)

  • biological psychologists take a nomothetic approach when explaining psychological disorders, such as OCD and depressions
  • general laws of behaviour through operant and classical conditioning but they only tested it on men
• Examples of Nomothetic (behaviourist)

  • conducted experiments with animals in order to establish laws of learning that could be generalised to humans and non-human animals
  • general laws of behaviour through operant and classical conditioning - seeking out tules for humans/animals
• Examples of nomothetic (cognitive)

  • Cognitive psychologists, such as Atkinson and Shiffrin (MSM), developed general laws, which they believed to be generalisable to everyone
  • psychologists aim to develop general laws of behaviour that applies all, such as memory processes
• Examples of Nomothetic

  • Social psychologists such as Milgram and Asch used a nomothetic approach to create general conclusions about human behaviour - that situational factors are responsible for both obedience and conformity
• Evaluation of Nomothetic

  • large amounts of data so potentially time consuming
  • Millon and Davis (1996) - research often starts being nomothetic, and once laws have been produced, researchers can then start to take more of an individual look
  • Established laws about behaviour - large numbers so greater reliability
  • Production of generalisations/predictions may be unsuitable for the individual
• NHS - new era of medicine

  • informed/intelligent therapy
  • Why- impact, time, cost, tailored, prediction/prevention, precise diagnosis. personalised interventions, participatory role
  • How - clinical procedures and scientific procedures, holistic approach
  • What does this mean - economical implications, nomothetic to idiographic approaches and faster results and recovery rates