Evaluation - Idiographic and Nomothetic Debate

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  • Created by: niamhkm08
  • Created on: 18-03-21 09:43

Evaluation - Idiographic and Nomothetic Debate

Advantages

  • One strength of the idiographic approach is that IT CONTRIBUTES TO THE NOMOTHETIC APPROACH; the idiographic approach uses in-depth qualitative methods and this provides a global description of one individual. This may complement the nomothetic approach by shedding further light on general laws or indeed by challenging such laws. This suggests that even though the focus is on fewer individuals, the idiographic approach may still help form 'scientific' laws of behaviour.
  • A strength of both approaches is that THEY FIT WITH THE AIMS OF SCIENCE. The processes involved in nomothetic research are similar to those used in the natural sciences, e.g. establishing objectivity through standardisation, control and statistical testing. However, researchers using the idiographic approach also seek to objectify their methods, e.g. triangulation is used whereby findings from a range of studies using different qualitative methods are compared as a way of increasing their validity. This suggests that both the nomothetic and idiographic approaches raise psychology's status as a science.

Disadvantages

  • However, supporters of the idiographic approach should still acknowledge THE NARROW AND STRICT NATURE OF THEIR WORK. Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples, as this means there is no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour. This suggests that it is difficult to build effective general theories of human behaviour in the complete absence of nomothetic research.
  • A limitation of the nomothetic approach IS LOSS OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE INDIVIDUAL. The fact that the nomothetic approach is preoccupied with general laws means it has been accused of 'LOSING THE WHOLE PERSON', e.g. knowing that there's a 1% lifetime risk if developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for someone who has been diagnosed about the disorder. This means, in its search for generalities, the nomothetic approach may sometimes fail to relate to 'experience'.

Evaluation

It is important to identify the two approaches because they're distinct. Each is appropriate in different situations for different research aims, e.g. in attachment research, Schaffer's stages describe general stages of development (nomothetic) whereas case studies of extreme neglect highlight the subjective experience of never having formed an attachment (idiographic).

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