Idiographic & Nomothetic

What is the idiographic approach?

Focuses on an individuals unique experience

What is the nomothetic approach?

Focuses on general laws that apply to larger groups

What methods are associated with idiographic research?

Case studies, unstructured interviews, qualitative data

What methods are associated with nomothetic research?

Experiments, questionnaires, large samples, statistics

Give an example of idiographic research in psychology

Freud’s case study of Little Hans

Give an example of nomothetic research in psychology

Biological research into brain localisation

Which approaches favour idiographic methods?

Humanistic, Psychodynamic

Which approaches favour nomothetic methods?

Biological, cognitive, behaviourist

AO3- strengths and limitations of the idiographic approach

(A) rich, detailed insight into individuals

(B) limited generalisability, hard to replicate

AO3- strengths and limitations of the nomothetic approach

(A) scientific, large-scale findings=generalisable

(B) may ignore individual differences and subjective experience