Year: 2020
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Idiographic research strategies, which focus on the intensive study of individual organisms over time, offer a proficient and flexible alternative to group comparison designs; however, they are rarely taught in graduate training programs and are seldom used by psychological scientists. This chapter highlights some of the unique strengths of idiographic methods, such as single case experimental designs, and suggests that psychological science will progress most efficiently with an increased use of such methods in both laboratory and clinical settings. B. F. Skinner and his colleagues in the animal laboratories are largely credited with developing and refining an experimental idiographic approach that came to be known as the experimental analysis of behavior. In clinical science, having established the effectiveness of a particular independent variable, one could then carry on with more idiographic efforts tracking down sources of intersubject variability and isolating factors responsible for this variability.
Source: Routledge eBooks
Authors: David H. Barlow, Matthew K. Nock
Language: English
Subfield: General Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4254030157