idiographic and nomothetic

idiographic ao1

should study individuals as they are unique with their own subjective experiences

qualitative data is associated - case studies, unstructured interviews

humanistic approach - documenting conscious experience of self - concerned with unique experiences rather than creating general laws

provides rich data as it uses in depth qualitative methods. voices on the individual and their uniques experiences. case study of clive wearing gave valuable insigne into brain damaged people and amnesia, giving us support on how memory has septette stops. effective in helping understanding human behaviour

COUNTER: lack internal validity due to absence of scientific methods. subjective and open to bias. lowers credibility compared to nomothetic approach

nomothetic ao1

studies groups to produce general laws

quantitative data is associated

behaviourists studies animals to establish laws in learning

biological made generalisations about localisaiton of function

nomothetic eval

loss of understanding on individual. preoccupied with general laws it loses the whole person. telling us that there is 1% lifetime risk of developing SZ, does not tell us about life with someone diagnosed.

conclusion

holt claims that no matter what approach used, generalisation will be made and whilst people are unique there are significantly more similarities. researchers should not compare benefits of each approach but rather consider contribution each can give