Define and explain the meaning of a nomothetic causal explanation and an idiographic causal explanation.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A nomothetic causal explanation is one involving the belief that variation in an independent variable will be followed by variation in the dependent variable, when all other things are equal (ceteris paribus), or when all other potentially influential conditions and factors are taken into consideration. For instance, researchers might claim that the likelihood of committing violent crimes is higher for individuals who were abused as children than it would be if these same individuals had not been abused as children. Or, researchers might claim that the likelihood of committing violent crimes is higher for individuals exposed to media violence than it would be if these same individuals had not been exposed to media violence. The situation as it would have been in the absence of variation in the independent variable is termed the counterfactual.
An idiographic causal explanation is the concrete, individual sequence of events, thoughts, or actions that resulted in a particular outcome for a particular individual or that led to a particular event (Hage and Meeker 1988). An idiographic explanation also may be termed an individualist or a historicist explanation.