On the Integration of Nomothetic and Idiographic Research Methods in the Study of Personal Meaning

ABSTRACT This study presents the technique of self‐investigation as a research tool for the study of personal meaning from the perspective of the general and the particular After reviewing the nomothesis‐idiography debate, I argue that personality psychology can benefit from a combination of nomothetic and idiographic research methodologies This creates a need for new theoretical frameworks that incorporate both nomo‐concepts, enabling the study of people in general and idio‐concepts, enabling the psychologist to understand the particular world of the individual Allport's term “value” is reformulated as the idio‐concept “valuation,” which refers to personal meaning in an individual's history The term “affect,” as a central component in the process of valuation, is treated as a nomo‐concept The relation between the two concepts is demonstrated by studying specific concerns in the history of an individual as recurrent expressions of general winner and loser experiences