Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Relating to or concerned with discrete or unique facts or events.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Pertaining to or consisting of an idiograph or idiographs.
- Concerned with the individual; descriptive and interpretative of single and unique facts and processes: opposed to
nomothetic .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to an idiograph.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective psychology of or pertaining to
individuals . - adjective Of or pertaining to
idiography or to anidiograph .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective relating to or involving the study of individuals
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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I believe the distinction by Wilhelm Dilthey between "nomothetic" (= positing laws) and "idiographic" (= describing individuals) sciences, is still much more fruitful than other approaches that tend to blur the dividing line.
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Qualitative research may be idiographic or nomothetic.
The Bass Handbook of Leadership Bernard M. Bass 2008
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Qualitative research may be idiographic or nomothetic.
The Bass Handbook of Leadership Bernard M. Bass 2008
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It's also worth stating that one of the theoretical approaches associated with ethnographic research is an idiographic, rather than nomothetic, approach to data -- a concern with the particular, rather than the general.
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“Island biogeography has changed in a decade,” Simberloff wrote, “from an idiographic discipline with few organizing principles to a nomothetic science with predictive general laws.”
The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004
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“Island biogeography has changed in a decade,” Simberloff wrote, “from an idiographic discipline with few organizing principles to a nomothetic science with predictive general laws.”
The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004
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American tribes, point out the symbol of the sun, in their ancient muzzinabikons, or rock-inscriptions, and also amid the idiographic tracery and bark-scrolls of the hieratic and magical medicine songs.
The Myth of Hiawatha, and Other Oral Legends, Mythologic and Allegoric, of the North American Indians Henry Rowe Schoolcraft 1828
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Both can contribute to scientific approach - idiographic suited to description; nomothetic to predictions.
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Two approaches can be complementary - idiographic can further develop a nomothetic law.
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The Ballzheimer's cup first round must remain undecided, as both present maximal claims within their respective (nomothetic vs idiographic re: wars) approaches.
le joueur prussien 2010
qms commented on the word idiographic
The wind-tousled hairdo fantastic
Has turned to a video classic.
Like the visual tale
Of the umbrella fail
Its status is idiographic.
January 29, 2019