Idiographic & Nomothetic Approaches (AQA A Level Psychology): Exam Questions

Using an example of a research study you have learned about in psychology, outline what is meant by a nomothetic approach to psychological investigation.

Referring to the example used in your answer above (Question 1a), briefly explain how the same behaviour might be studied using an idiographic approach to psychological investigation.

Two psychology students investigated the effect of type of play area on friendly behaviours. They watched the behaviour of six-year-old children in two different play areas and recorded their observations using a set of behavioural categories.

They observed 25 children in the first play area and another 25 children in a second play area.

Play Area 1 was a grass space, surrounded by trees and plants. Play Area 2 was a paved space, surrounded by brick and concrete walls.

What are behavioural categories? Explain why it was important to use behavioural categories in this observation.

Table 1 shows the raw data for the observation.

Table 1.

After the observation, the students showed their raw data table to their psychology teacher.

The teacher suggested that some of the behavioural categories in Table 1 were not valid examples of friendly behaviour.

Suggest two better examples of friendly behaviours that the students could have used in their observation. Explain why these might be more valid examples of friendly behaviour than the behaviours in Table 1.

When she looks at the results in Table 1, the teacher says, “I can see there is a difference in behaviour between the two conditions, but is the difference significant at the 0.05 level of significance?”

What do the students need to do with the data in Table 1 so that they can answer their teacher’s question? Explain your answer.

In this study, the students used a nomothetic approach for their research.

Name the opposite approach to the nomothetic approach. Briefly outline what this opposite approach might have involved in a study of friendly behaviour.

A prison psychologist used an idiographic approach to study offending. He asked two offenders to record their thoughts about their childhood and their offending behaviour in a journal over a period of four weeks.

Qualitative analysis of the journals showed that the offenders often thought about sad childhood events and believed that their childhood experiences had influenced their offending.

Findings from idiographic research like the study described above are often used as a basis for other investigations.

Explain how the researcher might develop the above investigation through taking a nomothetic approach.