idiographic/nomothetic approach to investigation

• idiographic approach


  focus on the individual and emphasis on the unique personal experiences of human nature

  methods of investigation include case studies, unstructured interviews and thematic analysis as they provide in-depth insight into individual behaviour

  a single case study can highlight flaws within a theory and significantly undermine other research
• an example of idiographic research would be that of Shallice and Warrington (1970) who investigated patient KF who experienced a motorbike accident - his short-term forgetting of auditory information was greater than his forgetting of visual information, suggesting STM consists of multiple components undermining the idea of it being a unitary store

  humanism also follows a purely idiographic approach
• nomothetic approach

  concern with establishing general laws of behaviour based on the study of large groups of people

  methods of investigation include experiments, correlational research and psychometric testing as they are scientific and can produce results based upon evidence
• an example of nomothetic research would be the biological approach to disorders such as OCD and depression - they typically pinpoint biological factors that may play a role and use biological (drug therapies) to treat all patients

  behaviourists also tried to apply universal laws of behaviour to everyone as a result of animal studies
• ao3 - for idiographic

  the case study method is imperative to evaluate existing theories, whether it may provide more support or refute their existence as a single case study can generate research for alternatives or research further into a particular phenomenon (such as memory) to contribute to the development of new theories

  for example, the case study of HM provided invaluable evidence for the existence of multiple LTM stores and their differing localisation of function
• ao3 - against idiographic

  unable to produce general laws of behaviour which allows for predicting and controlling behaviours e.g., treatment for psychological disorders - singular case studies cannot be used to create general laws of behaviour (Freud - Little Hans and the Oedipus Complex) as there is no baseline of behaviour, meaning that the applications of case studies are narrow and restricted

  as case studies lead to conclusions made by the researcher, they are subjective and open to bias in their interpretation, meaning that they are unscientific
• ao3 - for nomothetic

  the processes involved in nomothetic methods of investigation tend to be more scientific due to lab experiments allowing for the control of variables and the possibility of replication, undergoing standardised testing and statistical analysis meaning findings are often reliable

  this has enabled psychologists to establish norms of typical behaviour, giving psychology more scientific credibility and allowing for prediction and control of behaviour with useful applications for treatments - drug therapy for OCD (Soomro et al, 2009)
• ao3 - against nomothetic

  the focus on creating universal laws of behaviour has led to accusations of the approach losing sight of the 'whole person' - knowing there is a 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for someone with the disorder

  the nomothetic approach also adopts a 'one-size fits all' approach and overlooks the richness of human experience, not establishing how some laws of behaviour may not apply to everyone