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Although personality theory and research have recently made considerable progress, this work has also highlighted a number of unresolved issues in personality theory and measurement. We present a model of personality, embodied in a neural network, that addresses many of these issues. After first presenting our goal/motive-based model of personality, and then describing its implementation as a neural network, we address six key questions: (1) How can we integrate the structural and dynamic traditions in a single model? (2) How can a single model explain both the ideographic and nomothetic structure of personality? (3) How can stable personality structures nevertheless generate higher levels of within-subject variability than between subject variability? (4) What are the neurobiological systems that underlie personality? (5) How can a model of personality account for the effects of learning and experience on personality change? and (6) How should personality and situation be measured in order to maximize our ability to predict behavior? We argue that the current model can successfully answer all of these questions, providing a unified account of a number of core issues in personality psychology.

Religious change was an important theme in the psychology of religion from its beginning with a focus on conversion, but with the emergence of new religious movements and the recent growth of religious unaffiliation, religious exiting and deconversion received growing attention. This review evaluates recent progress in deconversion research by the inclusion of key psychological constructs, such as personality, values, attachment, prosociality, well-being, religious socialization and development, and by an engagement in longitudinal investigation. The Outlook calls for exploring more psychological constructs, focusing decisively on longitudinal assessment, accounting for cultural and religious differences, and keeping the balance and complementarity between nomothetic and idiothetic approaches in order to account for the varieties of biographical changes that are denoted by ‘deconversion.’

Humeanism about laws of nature—the view that the laws reduce to the Humean mosaic—is a popular view, but currently existing versions face powerful objections. The non-supervenience objection, the non-fundamentality objection, and the explanatory circularity objection have all been thought to cause problems for Humeanism. However, these objections share a guiding thought—they are all based on the idea that there is a certain kind of divergence between the practice of science and the metaphysical picture suggested by Humeanism. I suggest that the Humean should respond to these objections not by rejecting this divergence, but by arguing that it is appropriate. The Humean should distinguish between scientific and metaphysical explanation. And they should leverage this into distinctions between scientific and metaphysical fundamentality and scientific and metaphysical possibility. We can use these distinctions to respond to the objections that the Humean faces.

In this introductory essay, we review the development of the second edition of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. We place the first edition in historical context and note the main responses and critiques of professional colleagues to its publication. We then outline the developing process of this second, comprehensively revised edition. Finally, we preview the contributions to this Special Issue. Overall, we emphasize the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual’s innovative diagnostic framework, designed to assess the depth as well as the surface of patients’ emotional, cognitive, interpersonal, and social patterns and to foster in the field an integration between nomothetic understanding and the idiographic knowledge useful for case formulation and treatment planning.

Psychiatry remains in a permanent state of crisis, which fragmented psychiatry from the field of medicine. The crisis in psychiatry is evidenced by the many different competing approaches to psychiatric illness including psychodynamic, biological, molecular, pan-omics, precision, cognitive and phenomenological psychiatry, folk psychology, mind-brain dualism, descriptive psychopathology, and postpsychiatry. The current "gold standard" Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders/International Classification of Diseases taxonomies of mood disorders and schizophrenia are unreliable and preclude to employ a deductive reasoning approach. Therefore, it is not surprising that mood disorders and schizophrenia research was unable to revise the conventional classifications and did not provide more adequate therapeutic approaches. The aim of this paper is to explain the new nomothetic network psychiatry (NNP) approach, which uses machine learning methods to build data-driven causal models of mental illness by assembling risk-resilience, adverse outcome pathways (AOP), cognitome, brainome, staging, symptomatome, and phenomenome latent scores in a causal model. The latter may be trained, tested and validated with Partial Least Squares analysis. This approach not only allows to compute pathway-phenotypes or biosignatures, but also to construct reliable and replicable nomothetic networks, which are, therefore, generalizable as disease models. After integrating the validated feature vectors into a well-fitting nomothetic network, clustering analysis may be applied on the latent variable scores of the R/R, AOP, cognitome, brainome, and phenome latent vectors. This pattern recognition method may expose new (transdiagnostic) classes of patients which if cross-validated in independent samples may constitute new (transdiagnostic) nosological categories.

Scientific evidence in the field of psychiatry is mainly derived from group-based ("nomothetic") studies that yield group-aggregated results, while often the need is to answer questions that apply to individuals. Particularly in the presence of great inter-individual differences and temporal complexities, information at the individual-person level may be valuable for personalized treatment decisions, individual predictions and diagnostics. The single-subject study design can be used to make inferences about individual persons. Yet, the single-subject study is not often used in the field of psychiatry. We believe that this is because of a lack of awareness of its value rather than a lack of usefulness or feasibility. In the present paper, we aimed to resolve some common misconceptions and beliefs about single-subject studies by discussing some commonly heard "facts and fictions." We also discuss some situations in which the single-subject study is more or less appropriate, and the potential of combining single-subject and group-based study designs into one study. While not intending to plea for single-subject studies at the expense of group-based studies, we hope to increase awareness of the value of single-subject research by informing the reader about several aspects of this design, resolving misunderstanding, and providing references for further reading.

Current diagnoses of mood disorders are not cross validated. The aim of the current paper is to explain how machine learning techniques can be used to a) construct a model which ensembles risk/resilience (R/R), adverse outcome pathways (AOPs), staging, and the phenome of mood disorders, and b) disclose new classes based on these feature sets. This study was conducted using data of 67 healthy controls and 105 mood disordered patients. The R/R ratio, assessed as a combination of the paraoxonase 1 (PON1) gene, PON1 enzymatic activity, and early life time trauma (ELT), predicted the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol – paraoxonase 1 complex (HDL-PON1), reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), nitro-oxidative stress toxicity (NOSTOX), staging (number of depression and hypomanic episodes and suicidal attempts), and phenome (the Hamilton Depression and Anxiety scores and the Clinical Global Impression; current suicidal ideation; quality of life and disability measurements) scores. Partial Least Squares pathway analysis showed that 44.2% of the variance in the phenome was explained by ELT, RONS/NOSTOX, and staging scores. Cluster analysis conducted on all those feature sets discovered two distinct patient clusters, namely 69.5% of the patients were allocated to a class with high R/R, RONS/NOSTOX, staging, and phenome scores, and 30.5% to a class with increased staging and phenome scores. This classification cut across the bipolar (BP1/BP2) and major depression disorder classification and was more distinctive than the latter classifications. We constructed a nomothetic network model which reunited all features of mood disorders into a mechanistically transdiagnostic model.

Background. There is strong comorbidity between atherosclerosis (ATS) and depression which is attributed to increased atherogenicity, insulin resistance (IR), and immune and oxidative stress.Aim of the study. To examine the role of the above pathways and mu opioid receptor (MOR), β-endorphin, zinc, copper, vitamin D3, calcium, and magnesium in depression due to ATS / unstable angina (UA).Methods. Biomarkers were assayed in 58 controls and 120 ATS patients divided into those with moderate and severe depression according to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II score > 19 and > 29, respectively. Results. Neural network and logistic regression models showed that severe depression due to ATS/UA was best predicted by IL-6, UA, MOR, zinc, β-endorphin, calcium and magnesium and that moderate depression was associated with IL-6, zinc, MOR, β-endorphin, UA, atherogenicity, IR, and calcium. These neural networks yielded a significant discrimination of severe and moderate depression with an area under the ROC curve of 0.831 and 0.931, respectively. Using Partial Least Squares analysis, 66.2% of the variance in a latent vector extracted from the ATS/UA clinical features, BDI-II scores, atherogenicity, and IR could be explained by the regression on IL-6, IL-10, zinc, copper, calcium, MOR, and age. The BDI-II scores increased from controls to ATS to UA class III to UA class IV.Conclusions. Depression due to ATS/UA is a reflective manifestation of increased atherogenicity and IR, which are modulated by immune activation, aberrations in the endogenous opioid system, antioxidants, trace elements, and macrominerals.

Conducted within a mixed methods framework, this study focuses on the conversation-facilitation role of a lead therapist during group psychotherapy with adolescents. Conversation is an essential component of psychoanalytic psychotherapies and there is growing interest in describing and studying the impact of conversational techniques. One way to do this is to report on specific approaches, such as questioning, paraphrasing, and mentalization in intervention turns and to analyze their impact on the therapist-patient relationship. The main aim of this study was to investigate differences in communication strategies used by a lead therapist in the early and late stages of therapy with six adolescents aged 13–15 years. We employed a mixed methods design based on systematic direct observation supplemented by indirect observation. The observational methodology design was nomothetic, follow-up, and multidimensional. The choice of methodology is justified by our use of an ad hoc observation instrument for communication strategies combining a field format and a category system. We analyzed interobserver agreement quantitatively by Cohen’s kappa using GSEQ5 software. Following confirmation of the reliability of the data, we analyzed the lead therapist’s conversation-facilitation techniques in sessions 5 and 29 of a 30-session program by quantitatively analyzing what were initially qualitative data using T-pattern detection (THEME v.6 Edu software), lag sequential analysis (GSEQ5 software), and polar coordinate analysis (HOISAN v. 1.6.3.3.6. software and R software). The results show changes in the techniques used from the start to the end of therapy. Of the 28 communication strategies analyzed, three were particularly common: questioning and paraphrasing in session 5 and questioning and mentalization in session 29. This mixed methods study shows that combined use of T-pattern detection, lag sequential analysis, and polar coordinate analysis can offer meaningful and objective insights into group psychotherapy through the lens of the therapist.

This article maps a controversy in network science over the last 15 years, dividing the field about the epistemic status of a central notion, scale-freeness. The article accounts for the two main disputes, in 2005 and in 2018, as they unfolded in academic publications and on social media. This article analyzes the conflict, and the reasons why it reignited in 2018, to the surprise of many. It is argued that (1) the concept of complex networks is shared by the distinct subcultures of theorists and experimentalists; and that (2) these subcultures have incompatible approaches to knowledge: nomothetic (scale-freeness is the sign of a universal law) and idiographic (scale-freeness is an empirical characterization). Following Galison, this article contends that network science is a trading zone where theorists and experimentalists can trade knowledge across the epistemic divide.

The Coronavirus pandemic has raised questions about public health system fragility or lack of health phronesis (practical wisdom). The UK is one of the unhealthiest developed nations on the planet with over 35% of its population projected to be obese by 2025. Notwithstanding, local sports infrastructure is patchy, raising the spectre of ‘accumulation by dispossession’. To investigate English obesity problem and its eu̯daemonic impediments the study ignored lines of inquiry involving confectionary vested interests. Instead, it focused on bathing amenities that, since antiquity, signal civilisation. The phronetic bathing health research involved five sequential phases. First, the health issue was identified (1) and then bathing facilities put into historical context (2a). A structured literature review of contemporary facilities and health associations (2b) provided the backdrop for subsequent nomothetical (3a-e) and idiographic investigations (4a-c). The mixed research strands were finally synthesised (5). Statistical analysis of English local area standardised mortality (2013-2017) found a significant association with pool sparsity, controlling for deprivation, obesity and other environmental factors (3a-b). Longitudinal time series modelling of English swimming pool construction data since the Victorian era found that, recently, it has become erratic and diverges from its GDP and population growth fundamentals (3c-e). Idiosyncratically, the study considered three case studies, looking for qualitative insights (4). The closure of Bromley Lido in 1983 raises suspicions that short-termism or agency issues usurped public health phronesis (4a). In Cirencester, mistrust lingers about the privileged beneficiaries of local leisure service outsourcing (4b). An exemplary German pool complex in Ludenscheid illuminates comparative UK public bathing infrastructure deficiencies and intimates paradigm myopia or managerialist neglect (4c). Although the study is preliminary with acknowledged limitations, the literature reviews, nomothetic analyses and case studies impel phronetic deliberations to re-calibrate investment towards ecological public health and resilience in post-COVID ‘doughnut’ economy.

The study of the manner of execution (technique, and spatial aspects) can provide useful information to understand the game dynamics in beach volleyball and to obtain references values for the analysis of the game and the establishment of training goals. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of the manner of execution on serve and rally performance in elite women's beach volleyball players. A total of 3,009 serves from 44 women’s players were analyzed. The variables studied were: serve technique, serve zone, serve destination, serve performance, and rally performance. An observational punctual, nomothetic, multidimensional, and intragroup design was used. A descriptive and inferential analysis of the data (Chi-Square Test) was done using SPSS v.21.0 software. The level of significance was set at p < .05. The manner of execution influences the serve performance. The jump float serve was the most used. The most effective destination was the zone between players, probability due to the players' displacement and interference between them. An absence of association between serve technique and rally performance was found. These findings showed possible connections between the way of executing the serve with the following actions done by the players and the players' strategies to control their physical load. These values may be useful to guide to players training, or to evaluate players in competition. O estudo da forma de execução (técnica e aspectos espaciais) pode fornecer informações úteis para compreender a dinâmica do jogo no vôlei de praia e obter valores de referência para a análise do jogo e o estabelecimento de metas de treinamento. O objetivo do estudo foi determinar a influência da forma de execução no desempenho de saque e rali em jogadores de vôlei de praia de alto nível. Um total de 3.009 saques de 44 jogadoras de alto nível foram analisados. As variáveis ​​estudadas foram: técnica de saque, zona de saque, destino do saque, desempenho de saque e desempenho de rali. Um desenho observacional pontual, nomotético, multidimensional e intragrupo foi utilizado. Foi realizada uma análise descritiva e inferencial dos dados (Teste Qui-Quadrado) utilizando o software SPSS v.21.0. O nível de significância foi estabelecido em p

Neste artigo expomos uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo, desenvolvida de acordo com a abordagem fenomenológica, orientada pela interrogação: "Como o formador de docentes que ensinam Matemática nos anos iniciais se compreende professor em cursos EaD?" Ao perseguir essa questão, denominada por nós de orientadora, buscamos conhecer os diferentes modos de como o professor formador de docentes, que ensinarão matemática na Educação Básica, se compreende no movimento de ensinar matemática na modalidade a distância e no ambiente tecnológico, como viabilizadores do ensino. Para conseguir respostas que satisfizessem à pergunta, realizamos cinco entrevistas, as quais foram transcritas e, posteriormente analisadas cuidadosamente em dois momentos: o da análise ideográfica e o da análise nomotética. Na atenção dada ao dito pelos depoentes e do movimento analítico-reflexivo emergiram duas categorias: modos de ser na EaD e modos de ser da EaD, que foram interpretadas à luz dos depoimentos e da literatura. Destacamos que tais categorias são o resultado do movimento de análise. Embora muito parecidas, tais categorias revelam características identitárias específicas, ao perpassarem por ideias nucleares que revelam como vem acontecendo a formação no âmbito da educação a distância, segundo nosso olhar de pesquisadores, interessados no tema. Em síntese, o estudo evidencia que a EaD, nascida para preencher as lacunas da educação escolar, revela um caminho para o surgimento de uma outra forma de condução do ensino. Esta modalidade faz com que o aluno, que assume com responsabilidade sua formação, avance em seus estudos e construa sua professoralidade. A graduação na EaD possui características únicas, pois trata-se de uma modalidade que ousou ao utilizar a tecnologia a favor do ensino e possibilitou aprender matemática a partir da tela do computador. Palavras-chave: Fenomenologia. Educação matemática. Formação de professores. Filosofia da educação.

This research challenges the claim that engaging in formal volunteering improves health. Using data for the 50 American states pertaining to 2015-2016, multiple regression equations with differing control and entry order demonstrated the capacity of state resident neuroticism to eliminate relations between state volunteering rates and state health outcomes. In Study 1, with state SES, White population percent, urban population percent, and health environment considered and controlled, volunteering accounted for 11.5% of state health variance. However, with neuroticism entered between the demographic controls and volunteering, neuroticism accounted for 18.0% but additional variance accounted for by volunteering was reduced to 0.7%. Similarly, in Study 2, with data for those 65 and older, the results were replicated. It is speculated that higher neuroticism produces social anxiety that discourages volunteering and fosters poorer health at both the individual and the state level for the general population and for those 65 and over.

Publisher's version (útgefin grein), The main objective of the work is to address the effective behavior of girls and boys through Triadic Motor Games (TMG). A chasing game “The Maze” was applied on two class groups with a total of 42 players, 18 girls, and 24 boys, who were 12- and 13-year-old secondary school students. An observational methodology was adopted, with a nomothetic, punctual, and multidimensional design. We used a mixed registry system that two expert observers later applied through an observational methodology, obtaining sufficient record-quality levels. THEME was applied to detect temporary regularities, while cross-tabulations and growth trees were applied with the SPSS v.24 tool to reveal whether girls and boys played in similar or distinct ways. The fact that the specific decision groups within the physical education class are different for girls and boys (p < 0.005) is worth reflecting on. The game’s TMG complexity was addressed through roles and subroles, giving rise to a certain motor asymmetry in relation to gender, which is an expression of behaviors lacking in playful neutrality. Through a mixed-methods approach, a study was built using observational methodology that reveals more varied motor solutions in girls, while male behavior showed greater specialization of roles and subroles, and the linkage of these solutions with the favorable modification of the marker. Identifying relevant variables when playing TMG allows a better understanding of girls and boys by analyzing their relationships, which are sometimes paradoxical, in a practical context.

OBJECTIVE Routine outcome monitoring and clinical feedback systems might be beneficial for adolescent psychotherapy processes. METHODS Clinicians (n = 34) and adolescent clients (n = 22) aged 14-19 from seven different outpatient clinics located in Norway participated in the study. Adolescents were interviewed in individual in-depth interviews (n = 7) or in four adolescent-only focus groups (n = 15), clinicians participated in seven clinician-only focus groups. RESULTS We report two core domains, (1) feedback about the therapeutic relationship and (2) feedback about the therapeutic work. Seven subthemes specify the functionality that participants need in a feedback system. CONCLUSION Adolescents and therapists requested a feedback system that was relationally oriented, supported collaborative action, and was personalized to the needs of the individual adolescent. The research indicates that a clinical feedback system should have idiographic, as well as nomothetic, components. A clinical feedback system for adolescents should monitor experiences of personal autonomy and the quality of the therapeutic relationship.

Governmental requirements of making use of evidence-based treatments on one side, and the family therapy field’s pluralism on knowledge sources on the other, may create a dilemma for the systemic clinician. This dilemma has also an epistemological relevance on research within the systemic field, addressing which research questions are relevant and needed, as well as applying the appropriate research methodology suited to answer these questions. This dilemma is in this chapter viewed in the light of two domains of knowledge, idiographic and nomothetic, that again are discussed from two perspectives: the sources of knowledge defined in evidence-based practice, combined with three levels of evidence. Central in this discussion is the objective of user involvement by applying systematic feedback that is suggested as a means to integrate the nomothetic and idiographic levels of knowledge. Further, it is also discussed how user involvement may work constructively to the dilemma between professional autonomy and increased governmental requirements.

Athletic talent and creativity are important for winning bouts in combat sports. The aim of the current study is to analyze technical&ndash, tactical actions performed by athletes of the 2016 Summer Olympics according to the outcome (winners and losers) of a given bout. A total of 2374 actions were analyzed. In this mixed-methods study, we used a nomothetic follow-up and multidimensional design. The results showed that winners scored one point through direct attacks to the chest. After scoring, athletes kicked with the back leg. In addition, they performed direct attacks prior to score one point, while cuts occurred after scoring. Three points were scored by spinning techniques and actions to the head, after which they kicked with the front leg. Cuts occurred prior to scoring three points, while direct attacks occurred after scoring. The creativity to score points emerged as a necessary characteristic of taekwondo athletes to win a bout. These results showed technical&ndash, tactical implications derived from the last modifications of the regulations of this sport, as well as the necessary adaptation of the athletes&rsquo, trainings in preparation for the next Olympic Games. It is suggested that coaches and psychologists train athletes in better decision-making and creative strategic planning in accordance with the successful patterns extracted in this study.

After Reading This Chapter, You Will: Understand how political factors impact modern science Appreciate in what ways the replication crisis endangers the values of science Know how publication pressure and perverse incentives challenge scientific practices See why teaching ethics requires reactive, proactive, and reflexive education

Different international organizations and initiatives highlight the contribution of the traditional sporting games (TSGs) to favor the diversity of knowledge, values, and attitudes necessary for today’s society. TSG such as Marro trigger multimodal learning contexts (driving conducts, interpersonal and organic relationships), with great interest in the educational and sports initiation field. The purpose of two studies presented in this manuscript was to examine the 360◦ multimodal strategic intervention (decisional, relational, and organic) of two teams faced in a Marro game. For this study, a quasiexperimental design was used composed by a single test applied to two non-equivalent teams. Mixed methods were used with an observational methodology in Quadrant III: nomothetic, punctual, and multidimensional. Fourteen university students participated [mean (M) = 20.49, standard deviation (SD) = 2.18]. Three internal logic variables were studied: outcome, role, and subrole; and three variables referred to the dimensions of motor conduct: relationship, risk in the decision, and physical effort. A mixed ad hoc registration system was designed with acceptable margins of data quality. For Study 1, cross-tabulations and classification trees were applied, while for Study 2 strategic T-patterns were identified. The relevance of the scoreboard (p < 0.001; Effect Size = 0.386) and the realization of the role (p < 0.001; ES = 0.091) for the study of multimodal strategic chains in the Marro game were confirmed. The detection of regularities in specific interaction (Hunters against Hares) by Theme (p < 0.005) allowed for interpretation of the process of strategic conducts of both teams during the game. Knowing the strategic chains of playful coexistence among equals through a multimodal range of variables and approaches has revealed an unusual dynamic picture. The study provides scientific evidence for the physical education teacher on the dynamics of the game of Marro. The pedagogical application of these contributions must be made according to curricular interests

In psychodynamic psychotherapy, verbal (structures and intents) and non-verbal (voice and interruptions) dimensions of communication intertwine conveying information and determining the mutual regulation between therapist and patient through conversational sequences. The communication components interplay is the foundation for building the therapeutic alliance, a relational dimension that predicts a psychotherapy outcome and change, influenced by patient-therapist exchanges from the initial stages of their encounter. Depressed patients present specific verbal and non-verbal communication and show difficulties in developing and maintaining the therapeutic alliance. Based on the reviewed literature, the main aim of this study was to analyze how the action of specific communicative modes, implemented by the therapist and depressed patients, affect the reciprocal construction of the early therapeutic alliance by each participant during the mutual regulation processes. We employed a mixed methods approach based on a systematic observation of communication and alliance ruptures and repairs within the audio recordings and verbatim transcripts of 20 psychotherapy sessions (6,232 speaking turns) with seven depressed patients. The observational design was nomothetic, follow-up, and multidimensional. The choice of methodology is justified because we developed a comprehensive procedure that integrates an ad hoc indirect observation system (the Communicative Modes Analysis System in Psychotherapy), analyzing verbal and non-verbal communication, and an observational tool with deductive categories (the Collaborative Interactions Scale-Revised), assessing the therapeutic alliance construction. Once we confirmed the intra-and inter-observer reliability for the ad hoc system and the inter-rater reliability for the tool with deductive (or theoretical) categories, we performed descriptive statistics (to describe quantitatively communicative modes and alliance ruptures and repairs), lag sequential analysis (to detect stable patterns in communication-alliance interactions), and polar coordinate analysis (to identify significant relationships between communicative modes and alliance ruptures and repairs). Results confirm that the therapist's verbal (asking and exploring) and non-verbal (elaborating and cooperatively interrupting) modes and the depressed patients' verbal (asserting and exploring) and non-verbal (expressing emotions and cooperatively interrupting) modes determine stable patterns and significant associations with collaborative behaviors connected to the reciprocal construction of alliance by each participant. All this may provide professionals with useful information to increase the psychotherapy effectiveness with depressed patients.

I have been influenced by Professor Schneider in a number of ways. He is, of course, one of the pioneers of the policy network perspective (e. g., Schneider 1992; Kenis and Schneider 1991; Schneider, Dang-Nguyen and Werle 1994; Leifeld and Schneider 2012), and I have been influenced by his writings in this area.

In this introduction we will explore some of the differences and similarities between quantitative and qualitative research, and dispel some of the perceived mysteries within research. We will briefly introduce some of the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. There will also be an introduction to some of the philosophical assumptions that underpin quantitative and qualitative research methods, with specific mention made of ontological and epistemological considerations. These about the nature of existence (ontology) and how we might gain knowledge about the nature of existence (epistemology). We will explore the difference between positivist and interpretivist research, idiographic versus nomothetic, and inductive and deductive perspectives. Finally, we will also distinguish between qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research, gaining familiarity with attempts to bridge divides between disciplines and research approaches. Throughout this book, the issue of research-supported practice will remain an underlying theme. This chapter aims to support a research-based practice, aided by considering the multiple routes into research. The chapter encourages you to familiarise yourself with approaches ranging from phenomenological experiences to more nomothetic, generalising and comparing foci like outcome measuring and random control trials (RCTs), understood with a basic knowledge of statistics. The book introduces you to a range of research, guided by interest in separate approaches but also inductive—deductive combinations, as in grounded theory together with pluralistic and mixed methods approaches, all with a shared interest in providing support in the field of mental health and emotional wellbeing. Primarily, we hope that the chapter will encourage you to start considering your own research. Enjoy!

Strengthening of early schooling enhances Equal and Inclusive Education (Sustainable Development Goal 4). Early education protects infant development and learning, especially for children suffering from pathologies and risk factors, such as twin birth weight discordance (BWD). These children&mdash, particularly the lighter twin&mdash, frequently show disadvantages in their cognitive skills. However, research about this issue is particularly scarce. The aims of this study were to (1) analyze the development of cognitive skills in each type of birth weight discordant twins (heavier and lighter ones) at 18, 21, and 24 months, and (2) discover whether there were differences between the two groups of twins in their cognitive skills. A nomothetic, follow-up, and multidimensional observational design was used. The cognitive skills of 32 birth weight discordant twins were observed while they played at 18, 21, and 24 months. The T-pattern analysis was performed using Th&egrave, me software (Reykjav&iacute, k, Iceland) to detect the sequential and temporal structure of infant behavior, indicative of cognitive skills. Results showed: (1) longitudinal intra-group differences in both groups of twins, and (2) some inter-group differences, mainly favoring the heavier twins. These results must be considered for designing early educational practices that allow all twins to be prepared for successful future learning.

The current study examined the personal strivings of mentally tough Australian Rules footballers. Data collection occurred in two phases. Phase one included conducting two focus groups with coaches and performance staff from an Australian Football League (AFL) club/franchise, to gain a culturally-specific mental toughness (MT) conceptualisation. This conceptualisation was used to identify mentally tough footballers (n = 7) from the club’s playing group. In phase two, the selected footballers completed a personal goal strivings exercise (e.g., listing strivings, rating their commitment to them), which was subsequently coded for general and motivational themes, through nomothetic and idiographic lenses. Nomothetic analysis revealed broad trends consistent with previous MT research. Key themes included a high commitment to goals, high confidence, and achievement orientation. Focusing on four specific players, an idiographic analysis revealed different motivational agendas, including characteristically mentally tough motives, narcissistic motives, communion and growth motives, and vulnerable/anxious motives. In conclusion, despite broad themes aligning with current perspectives of MT, on an individual level, mentally tough athletes’ motivational concerns may vary. These findings stress the potential importance of examining goals as a central construct in conceptualising MT. Moreover, they challenge a universal assumption that MT operates in the same way across all performers, highlighting the need for greater idiographic analysis in MT research.

This study developed a descriptive model for teacher demoralization that explains demoralization triggers, its development over time, and the demoralized teachers’ reactions. Ten demoralized teachers from a school district in an Arab country were interviewed, and the data were analyzed using the cluster meaning analysis. It was found that demoralization was triggered by nomothetic and ideographic conditions and developed through different stages, from feelings of dissatisfaction and ending with diminished self-esteem. The demoralized teachers reacted in six main ways from following the rules to leaving the profession. The model could be tested and expanded in different contexts.

Objective: The aim of the research is to understand the quality of life of chronic wound patients. Methods: A qualitative research method in the modality of analysis of the structure of the phenomenon located, which is based on Phenomenology. Results e Conclusion: The data were collected by the researchers through a guiding question directed to ten patients with chronic wound. The results were extracted from the convergences, divergences and idiosyncrasies that emerged from the interviewees' speeches through ideographic and nomothetic analysis and revealed that the quality of life of the chronic wound patient emerges based on a constant struggle permeated by stages that revealed oscillation between improvement and worsening, in addition to consequences triggered by the wound that negatively affected the quality of life of patients with chronic wound.

Purpose Drawing upon ideas of holistic systems in conjunction with practice and complexity theories, the purpose of this paper is to provide a reflective examination of sensemaking within business networks. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that uses a meteorological metaphor to figuratively describe sensemaking within business-to-business relationships. To address this, the authors explore holonic sensemaking practices at a local, micro-level. Findings The weather metaphor emphasizes that local and general conditions, although qualitatively different, are mutually constituted. Consequently, local conditions must be taken seriously as they are the crucible of experience where sense is made in the moment and in particular spaces involving specific people. The suggestion is that any failure to account for these “emic” conditions is partial and flawed. The authors propose that an emphasis upon general conditions and nomothetic theories centered on cognitive generalizations has confined sensemaking theorizing. In particular, local sensemaking realities, which are characterized by embodied, communicative and cognitive practices, has been somewhat overlooked. Research limitations/implications The main implication is that there should be greater attention to process constituted by an equal focus on sub-processes of embodied sensing and semiotic sub-processes of talking sense, along with the already strong emphasis upon cognitive sensemaking but with greater attention to local activities. As processes of embodied perception, discourse within atmosemiospheres and cognitive sensemaking are qualitatively different, the authors argue for methodological diversity which should enable investigation of these inter-animating sub-processes more comprehensively and with greater equanimity. Practical implications In industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) terms, this means placing the spotlight on the activities component in the actor-resources-activities model. The implication is that there is a need to educate networkers in improvization and bricolaged use of their bodies, communication and minds for concrete, local and practical contexts and ease off on theorizing. Originality/value The authors explore the consequences of examining embodied and communicative sensemaking’ influences at micro-level mean, followed by an examination of how sensemaking within the IMP tradition has predominantly focused upon macro-level cognition in contrast to sensemaking more broadly, which has incorporated micro-level sensemaking including embodied, communicative influences alongside cognitive effects. The authors conclude with exploring the implications of a meteorological metaphor for research and practice.

BACKGROUND There have been two kinds of methods for assessing individuals' motivation and their goal-striving behavior. The idiographic method obtains respondents' individual descriptions of their behavior or inner experiences. The nomothetic approach uses a standardized questionnaire in which respondents select from a set of alternatives. Idiographic responses provide rich, individualized information, but they make comparisons across different individuals difficult. By contrast, the nomothetic approach loses valuable individualized information, but it readily lends itself to cross-individual comparisons. OBJECTIVE The present authors have developed a family of motivational assessment instruments within the framework of the Goal Theory of Current Concerns and individuals' goal pursuits. Each of these instruments is a hybrid version of the idiographic and nomothetic methods. Each one obtains individualized information about each respondent at the start of the assessment, but it then utilizes rating scales that allow comparisons across different individuals to be made. The objective of the present article is to present this family of hybridized instruments for potential use in routine outcome monitoring. METHOD The method used in this article was to review the development of this family of hybrid assessments instruments over the preceding decades and the research on their psychometric properties and clinical applications. These hybrid tools include the Interview Questionnaire, Work Concerns Inventory, Motivational Structure Questionnaire, and Personal Concerns Inventory and their variants. The review includes only the idiographic-nomothetic approaches that are based on the Goal Theory of Current Concerns. RESULTS The review reveals that for each instrument, motivational indices are calculated, which have been shown to be valid and reliable. Analyses have also revealed adaptive and maladaptive motivational factors. CONCLUSIONS The measures discussed here have proven useful in clinical applications, when, for example, they are used as components of Systematic Motivational Counseling and the Life Enhancement and Advancement Programme for helping individuals improve their motivational structure. Similarly, the measures hold promise for use in routine outcome monitoring.

The literature confirms that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have planning deficits. However, few interventions have targeted these deficits. The aims of this study were to: (1) show that the mixed methods approach can be useful in studying planning skills of children with ASD during and after an educational intervention; (2) assess whether the planning skills of two groups of children with ASD improved during the intervention and if this progress was maintained 1 month after completing the intervention. The groups were formed depending on each child''s severity level (SL) of ASD according to DSM-5: SL1 (requiring support) and SL2 (requiring substantial support). Each group was composed of four children. In the framework of mixed methods, we used observational methodology, which is considered as mixed methods in itself because it integrates qualitative and quantitative elements. A nomothetic/follow-up/multidimensional observational design was used. Planning skills manifested by children during the intervention were codified, as well as the scaffolding behaviors provided by the educational specialist. These skills and behaviors were also coded in one session, which took place 1 month after the intervention. Coded data of each group were submitted to prospective and retrospective lag sequential analysis. This informed of the sequential structure of planning skills performed by children in interaction with the educational specialist at the beginning and at the end of the intervention, as well as 1 month later after the intervention. The comparison of the patterns obtained in these three temporal moments allowed us to know the improvement of the two groups in the use of planning skills. Results showed that both groups improved their autonomous use of planning skills. However, SL1 group used successfully and autonomously complex planning skills, while SL2 group were unable to achieve this gain. SL2 group progressed in autonomy, but only using basic planning skills. Both groups can further improve their use of planning skills; therefore, the intervention should be adjusted to their characteristics and temporarily extended. These findings contribute to the, as yet, little studied field of intervention and assessment of planning skills in children with ASD using a mixed methods approach.

Since its beginnings, personality psychology has focused on both nomothetic and idiographic questions, but nomothetic approaches have captured the majority of attention in the past century. In this article, we demonstrate how recent measurement and modeling techniques provide an avenue for testing idiographic propositions about the dynamic features of a personality system. Findings indicate that people have unique structures of personality and that these structures are sensitive to situations people encounter. At the same time, these unique, mutable systems show longitudinal consistency for some but not all people.

This work analyzes stability and change of T-patterns related with on-task persistence and social interaction of preschool-age children. Stability and change are considered as natural setting indicators of time allocation processes and social dynamics with teachers and peers, within the fields of educational neuroscience and developmental science. In contrast with descriptive observations, developmental scales or ratings, T-pattern analysis clarifies and allows predictions on otherwise hidden behavioral patterns and their stability and change processes in natural settings. Here, T-pattern analyses were applied on observational behavior profiles of three preschool children, their teacher and their interacting peers in classroom and playground natural settings, to identify the structure and dynamics of daily activities in a multiple case study strategy about persistence and social interaction processes, considering teachers' and peers influence on children's behavior. Behavioral data were obtained with the Observational System of Social Interaction in a nomothetic, following and multidimensional observational design. Main results include the identification and description of patterns, their stability and change over time, and their subsumed structure regarding setting, child, and diachronic information. Two main behavioral patterns identified were: (1) teacher's attempts at redirecting child behavior to on-task were followed by on-task and off-task alternation loops, and (2) peers or teacher not responding to child social emissions, predict the kid going off-task. This constitutes a methodological contribution to Educational Neuroscience's efforts to describe real-world group contexts and predict the use of time in preschool contexts by children, their subsumed behavioral patterns and the influence of peers and teachers.

The two present nomothetic studies focused on the period from 1996 to 2012 to determine relations between handedness and political orientation using the 48 contiguous American states as analytical units. The estimated percentage of left-handers in each state operationally defined handedness. A composite measure of Conservative-Republican preference was created from CBS/New York Times/Gallup polls of state resident conservatism and the percent in each state voting Republican in each presidential election from 1996 to 2012. Study 1 showed that state levels of left-handedness correlated to an extremely high degree with Conservative-Republican preference (r = -.80). As well, with common demographic differences between states reflected in socioeconomic status, White population percent, and urban population percent controlled through multiple regression, handedness still accounted for an additional 37.2% of the variance in Conservative-Republican preference. Study 2 found that each of the Big Five personality variables correlated significantly with handedness and with Conservative-Republican preference, but in the opposite direction. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated quite surprisingly that all Big Five personality relations to Conservative-Republican preference were eliminated when handedness was controlled in multiple regression equations. For all regression equations, the global Moran's I test specifically developed for detecting residual spatial autocorrelation indicated no significant spatial autocorrelation.

Published: 30 July 2018 This Article explores the legalization characteristics of the investment rules of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Measured against orthodox and external benchmarks, ASEAN's investment regime is relatively limited. We make the following two arguments in this Article. First, we argue that while ASEAN members have subscribed to global norms in their own collective investment rules, they have done so in an intentionally selective manner shaped fundamentally by key contextual dynamics. These encompass a complex combination of ASEAN members' unique deliberation modality (the ASEAN Way) informed by their shared historical experience coupled with negative social learning. Using those insights, we suggest that is both possible and desirable to understand the ASEAN approach as an independent and legitimate form of legalization, rather than as a failed or flawed model. Second, and relatedly, we argue that the idiographic nature of legalization in ASEAN compels us to rethink the conventional universal (nomothetic) approach to legalization and embrace a more nuanced conception.

Purpose By undertaking a detailed review of the Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) discourse, the purpose of this paper is to uncover and explicate the power differentials embedded in the social structure of organizations and suggests ways to reconcile them. Design/methodology/approach Methods used are thematic review, content analysis, and inductive theorizing, with Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical analysis style as the overarching framework. Findings At the methodological level, the authors demonstrate the application of Foucault’s twin methods: archaeological and genealogical analysis. At the substantive level, the authors have two contributions. First, the authors critique and analyze the various themes of power that emerge from the SHRM discourse as well as the hybridized overlaps of SHRM with other organization studies topics of interest such as organizational learning, network studies, control and postmodernism. Second, the authors propose a “Power” theory based nomothetic, typological synthesis for crafting the business-facing human resource (HR) function. The power lens manifests as the meta-theory to guide a much required streamlining of constructs and “value laden” synthesis of the literature. Research limitations/implications The potential of critical theory in crafting situated and context-sensitive research propositions is demonstrated. Practical implications Organizational strategists and HR managers can utilize the proposed typology to better understand their current ideological positions and decide future aspired images. Originality/value This is a conversation between two paradigms, SHRM and power theory, that are epistemologically at two opposite poles.

El presente estudio aborda el nuevo sistema de casación en el orden contencioso-administrativo operado por la Ley Orgánica 7/2015 de 21 de julio criticando sus deficiencias técnicas. La introducción de la casación en el orden jurisdiccional contencioso-administrativo ha ido acompañada del abandono de la universalidad de la apelación, es decir, de la construcción del control prescrito por el artículo 106.1 CE sobre el principio de la doble instancia más que nomofiláctico, el recurso de casación actual se ofrece, pues, como nomotético. La casación se aparta, así, de lo nomofiláctico para convertirse en mecanismo depurador del control judicial cumplido en asuntos en los que esté afectado gran número de situaciones, tengan trascendencia social o esté en juego la integridad de los intereses generales. Hubiera sido preferible la remodelación del sistema sobre la base de la doble instancia (la universalidad de la apelación o apelación universal, pero restringida).Y la articulación de la casación bien –en línea de continuación con el proceso de “normalización” de lo contencioso-administrativo- sobre la lógica mucho más simple y clara de la casación civil.

History and case study are two diachronic research strategies commonly used to study political discourse as it relates to public libraries. Though suitable for some studies, these strategies are inexhaustive. A new, blended research strategy is therefore needed to accomplish what history and case study alone cannot. This hybrid strategy, historical case study, must analyze cases from the distant past to the present, using eclectic data sources, in order to produce both idiographic and nomothetic knowledge. To develop historical case study, the universal components of diachronic analysis are first identified. A general research design for historical case study is then introduced. Finally, historical case study is tested in an actual research project. Findings from this project reveal that historical case study is a successful diachronic research strategy. Historical case study is a new and valuable research design suitable for addressing questions related to change, continuity, development, and evolution.

In this piece of provocation we focus on the words of people who we view as increasingly powerful institutional actors in the field of organization theory and what they signify about ‘what needs to be done’ and ‘how it needs to be done’ in order to rectify the many failings they identify. We suggest that their actions reflect a desire for an integrated, general theory of organizations and the conception of organization studies as a nomothetic science to which they (and perforce we) are philosophically and ideologically committed. These are seen to be intellectual and ideological forces at work on both sides of the Atlantic. We provide a critique of this emerging orthodoxy within contemporary organization theory, briefly drawing on Swift’s metaphor of Lilliputian ‘big enders’ and ‘little enders’ but also offer contemplation of the architectural metaphors of ‘cathedral’, ‘mystery house’ and ‘the tower of Babel’ (conceived of as ruination) to consider the alternative imaginary edifices that may influence the structure of our studies. Finally, we specify an alternative research agenda for organization theory which focuses upon ‘the organization of destruction’ rather than ‘the organization of production’ or ‘the organization of consumption’. Rather than seeing any contestation of intellectual traditions, analytical frameworks and methodological strategies as mental manacles and shackles which we need to ‘throw off’ to rediscover our true vocation as organization scientists, we contend that organization theory needs to reignite a fierce dialogue over ‘organization’ and its relation to order and disorder that has stretched over, at least, two millennia and still speaks to our lives today and tomorrow.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report a study of targets’ experiences of cyberbullying on online labour markets (OLMs). In addition to highlighting the link between targets’ coping and power and control, the paper compares conventional and digital workplaces. Design/methodology/approach The method of critical hermeneutic phenomenology is used in the inquiry, bringing political and applied dimensions into the study. Targets’ lived experiences, developed as case studies, were explored via conversational interviews. Thematic analysis was undertaken ideographically, followed by ideology-critique at a nomothetic level. Adopting the psychological/behavioural lens of coping theory, ideology-critique identified micro-level schemas and macro-level ideologies that perpetuate target disenfranchisement. Critical hermeneutic phenomenology illuminates the mutuality between individual and social processes, opening new doors to address power inequities through emancipation. Findings Hermeneutic phenomenology uncovered the core theme of “pursuing holistic and long-term well-being”, capturing targets’ attempts at working through their experiences of bullying without jeopardising their position on the OLM. Ideology-critique went beyond highlighting problem-focussed and emotion-focussed coping strategies that empowered targets to indicate how participants’ mindsets, anchored in ongoing circumstantial discourses and long-standing social cognitions, inhibited them from questioning the status quo and exploring alternative coping strategies like legislation and collectivisation, thereby curbing their agency. The findings were theorised in terms of power and control vis-à-vis the unique attributes of workplace cyberbullying, comparing and contrasting conventional and virtual workplaces. Research limitations/implications The inquiry is limited to the Upwork platform. Including other OLMs will enhance theoretical generalisability. Practical implications The study feeds into praxis by alerting digital workers in general and targets in particular about their circumstances, setting the stage for mobilisation. Originality/value The study makes several pioneering contributions. First, it reports the first empirical inquiry examining bullying in digital workplaces, importantly, also extending knowledge on cyberbullying across conventional versus digital workplaces. Moreover, OLM research on abuse and harassment has not been undertaken so far. Second, methodologically, the inquiry illustrates the combination of hermeneutic phenomenology with ideology-critique, taking the rare steps of joining ontological perspectives conventionally viewed as divergent and of incorporating a largely neglected micro-level focus into ideology-critique. Third, it furthers theoretical insights into power and control in workplace bullying while drawing links with coping.

Background Control systems engineering methods, particularly, system identification (system ID), offer an idiographic (i.e., person-specific) approach to develop dynamic models of physical activity (PA) that can be used to personalize interventions in a systematic, scalable way. The purpose of this work is to: (1) apply system ID to develop individual dynamical models of PA (steps/day measured using Fitbit Zip) in the context of a goal setting and positive reinforcement intervention informed by Social Cognitive Theory; and (2) compare insights on potential tailoring variables (i.e., predictors expected to influence steps and thus moderate the suggested step goal and points for goal achievement) selected using the idiographic models to those selected via a nomothetic (i.e., aggregated across individuals) approach. Method A personalized goal setting and positive reinforcement intervention was deployed for 14 weeks. Baseline PA measured in weeks 1–2 was used to inform personalized daily step goals delivered in weeks 3–14. Goals and expected reward points (granted upon goal achievement) were pseudo-randomly assigned using techniques from system ID, with goals ranging from their baseline median steps/day up to 2.5× baseline median steps/day, and points ranging from 100 to 500 (i.e., $0.20–$1.00). Participants completed a series of daily self-report measures. Auto Regressive with eXogenous Input (ARX) modeling and multilevel modeling (MLM) were used as the idiographic and nomothetic approaches, respectively. Results Participants (N = 20, mean age = 47.25 ± 6.16 years, 90% female) were insufficiently active, overweight (mean BMI = 33.79 ± 6.82 kg/m2) adults. Results from ARX modeling suggest that individuals differ in the factors (e.g., perceived stress, weekday/weekend) that influence their observed steps/day. In contrast, the nomothetic model from MLM suggested that goals and weekday/weekend were the key variables that were predictive of steps. Assuming the ARX models are more personalized, the obtained nomothetic model would have led to the identification of the same predictors for 5 of the 20 participants, suggesting a mismatch of plausible tailoring variables to use for 75% of the sample. Conclusion The idiographic approach revealed person-specific predictors beyond traditional MLM analyses and unpacked the inherent complexity of PA; namely that people are different and context matters. System ID provides a feasible approach to develop personalized dynamical models of PA and inform person-specific tailoring variable selection for use in adaptive behavioral interventions.

Comparative criminology has long struggled with the concept and object of culture while advances in culturally oriented criminologies have been ignored. Likewise, culturalists have ignored attempts at comparison for transcending milieu and are mired by theoretical and methodological eclecticism. Comparative criminology will benefit from engaging with conceptualisations of culture found in culturalist works and culturally oriented criminologies will benefit from an expanded focus beyond localised contexts to reveal and grapple with greater varieties of (sub)cultural variation. After bringing a qualified cultural criminology to comparative criminology I draw on the philosophy of science known as perspectival realism to address some epistemological and methodological problems in each camp. I argue an interpretive comparative criminology focused in identifying and generating conceptual variation is better suited to understand and grapple with the political-cultural dramatisations that are indicated by the statistical data of interest to those wedded to the comparative, nomothetic orthodoxy.