There are 2 distinct approaches to knowledge, each one corresponding to a different intellectual tendency, and each one corresponding to a different branch of academe.
The problem of which approach to use is most sharply felt in the social sciences.
Nomothetic (Objective=Generic)
Nomothetic (Objective=Generic)
- Based on what Kant described as a tendency to generalize and is typical for the natural sciences.
- Certain general properties or behaviour according to general rules rather than specific properties.
- Describes the effort to derive laws that explain types or categories. of objective phenomena, in general.
- Describes the study of classes or cohorts of individuals.
- The subject is seen as an exemplar of a population and their corresponding personality traits and behaviors.
- In sociology, this model tries to find independent variables that account for the variations in a given phenomenon. (e.g. What is the relationship between timing/frequency of childbirth and education).
- Explanations are probabilistic and usually incomplete.
Idiographic (Subjective=Unique)
- Based on what Kant described as a tendency to specify and is typical for the humanities.
- Describes the effort to understand the meaning of contingent, unique, and often cultural or subjective phenomena.
- In psychology, it describes the study of the individual, who is seen as a unique agent with a unique life history, with properties setting him/her apart from other individuals (see idiographic image).
- A common method to study these unique characteristics is an (auto)biography, i.e. a narrative that recounts the unique sequence of events that made the person who she is.
- In sociology, this model focuses on a complete, in-depth understanding of a single case (e.g. Why do I not have any children).
Reference -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomothetic_and_idiographic