Debates - Idiographic + nomothetic

Question 1

What is idiographic?

Answer 1

Studies individuals to investigate what makes people unique.

Question 2

What is nomothetic?

Answer 2

This studies people to establish general laws about behaviour; compares different groups.

Question 3

What type of data does idiographic tend to use?

Answer 3

Qualitative data

Question 4

What type of data does nomothetic tend to use?

Answer 4

Quantitative data

Question 5

What types of research methods does idiographic use?

Answer 5

Case studies

Including observation, self-report or machine readings.

Question 6

What types of research methods does nomothetic use?

Answer 6

Experiments or large scale studies

Including observation, self-report, correlations and meta-analysis.

Question 7

Why does idiographic tend to collect qualitative data?

Answer 7

Qualitative data is more descriptive than numbers and you want to find out about an individual in depth. No comparisons will be made so you don’t need numbers.

Question 8

What are the strengths of qualitative data?

Answer 8

Detailed, full picture.

Question 9

What are the weaknesses of qualitative data?

Answer 9

• Collection and analysis are time consuming

- Comparisons cannot be compared directly

Question 10

Why is the humanistic approach mostly idiographic?

Answer 10

• It focuses on individual
• Holistic view of people
• Interested in uniqueness
• Focus on personal growth
• Believes in free will so not interested in discovering general ‘laws’ as we are all free to think + behave as we choose

Question 11

What are the strengths of quantitative data?

Answer 11

Analyse, calculate averages and make comparisons to draw conclusions.

Question 12

What are the weaknesses of quantitative data?

Answer 12

Lack of detail, may not tell us why or give us a complete picture.

Question 13

What are the 3 types of general law that can be established using nomothetic approach?

Answer 13

• Classifying people into groups (DSM-5 categorises people in disorders, attachment types)
• Creating general rules of how people are similar in their behaviour (‘most’ will conform, Zimbardo)
• Creating dimensions along which people can be placed relative to each other (IQ, F-Scale)