Hypothesis is more important in → Nomothetic approach

Nomothetic Approach

• Focus: General laws, regularities, universal patterns
• Method: Scientific, positivist
• Uses variables, measurement, comparison
• Strong reliance on hypotheses for:
  • Prediction
  • Explanation
  • Law-like generalisations
• Typical methods: surveys, experiments, statistics

📌 Hence, hypothesis is central and indispensable.

Examples

• Durkheim’s study of Suicide (hypotheses relating social integration to suicide rates)
• Structural–functional and positivist sociology

Idiographic Approach

• Focus: Particular, unique, context-specific meanings
• Method: Interpretive, qualitative
• Emphasis on:
  • Verstehen
  • Subjective meanings
  • Holistic understanding
• Does not begin with fixed hypotheses
• Hypotheses (if any) are:
  • Emergent
  • Flexible
  • Secondary to understanding

📌 Hence, hypothesis is relatively unimportant.