Idiographic vs Nomothetic

What is nomothetic research?

• Research that uses a large and representative sample of participants, and findings generate new laws of behaviour or support existing theories

• Inferences are made about the broader population based on the behaviour of the sample

• This process of generalisation allows researchers to make predictions

• Experimental techniques include highly controlled experiments and structured observations

• Quantitative data is collected

• Scientific generalisations are made from the data to create universal laws of human behaviour

• Data tends to have high reliability, arguably at the expense of validity

• Approaches- Behaviourism, SLT, Biological and Cognitive

What is idiographic research?

• Research that studies individuals’ subjective experiences, behaviours and personalitites

• There is also an attempt to understand the cultural, social, and environmental context that influences and individual

• As each individual is assumed to be unique, there is usually no attempt to generalise to find general laws

• Uses non-experimental techniques including in depth case studies, content analysis and unstructured interviews

• Qualitative data is collected (words) (rich in detail)

• Unscientific and therefore data is unreliable as two case studies will always differ

• However data is arguably more valid (truthful) in its description of behaviour

• Approaches- Humanistic psychology and partially psychodynamic

Nomothetic examples

• Peterson et al (1988)- Used fMRI scans to identify areas of the brain involved in language

• Sperry (1968)- Controlled tests to establish hemispheric lateralisation

• Baddeley (1966)- STM vs LTM encoding- Controlled experiment establishing general laws of memory encoding

• Ainsworth (1978)- Strange situation categorised attachment types

• Asch (1951)- Lab experiment finding general laws of conformity

• Milgram (1963)- Obedience to authority research identified universal principles of compliance

Idiographic examples

• Scoville and Milner (1957)- Research on patient HM provided rich data which was fundamental to understanding memory systems, STM vs LTM

• Shallice and Warrington (1970)- Patient KF research ave evidence for separate memory stores

• Watson and Rayner (1924)- Little Albert’s study highlights how individual cases can demonstrate psychological principles

• Phineas Gage (1848)- Frontal lobe damage highlights personality changes in documented detail

Evaluations of nomothetic

• Produces objective, scientific and measurable data

• Findings are generalisable to large populations

• Useful for making predictions and forming psychological laws

• However can ignore individual differences

• May oversimplify behaviour by reducing people to statistics

• Lacks the rich qualitative insight that idiographic research has

Evaluation to Idiographic

• Provides rich, detailed qualitative data

• Captures the complexity of human behaviour

• Can result in the generation of new hypotheses

• However can be time consuming and difficult to generalise

• Data can be subjective and open to researcher bias

• Limited use for establishing laws of behaviour

Complementary research

• An integrative/interactionist approach to research via using idiographic and nomothetic methods

• Provides a more holistic understanding of behaviour

• Trends can be identified by the nomothetic approach and an idiographic study can be used

• Idiographic findings can also generate hypotheses tested on a larger scale using nomothetic methods