Weighing Up the Pros and Cons
The idiographic approach gives you incredibly rich, detailed insights into individual behaviour, but it's seriously time-consuming and expensive. Imagine studying just one person for months versus surveying hundreds in a week - you can see why researchers might prefer the quicker option.
The nomothetic approach wins points for being scientific and efficient. It allows for precise measurement, replication of studies, and generalisation to larger populations. You can design one questionnaire and gather data from thousands of participants relatively quickly.
However, the nomothetic approach has a major flaw: whilst it can predict group behaviour, these predictions might not apply to you as an individual. Critics argue it loses sight of the "whole person" by reducing complex human experiences to mere statistics.
Reality Check: Both approaches have their place - idiographic for understanding unique cases, nomothetic for discovering general patterns!