A nomothetic study of psychological phenomena

Nomothetic Study in Psychology and Social Science Data

In contrast to a social scientist doing an ideographic study, where one case in is studied, a nomothetic approach is to take a number of similar cases and to compare them. This particular research study concerns lynching in the Southern states of America, comparing the gender and race of individuals to determine which groups were the most persecuted between the period of 1882-1930 descriptive summary of your research:

This ideographic study was a historical approach to data, attempting to understand the psychology of a particular period of American history through a statistical lens was conducted by Stewart Tolnay and E.M. Beck in 1995 and recorded in their book A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930.

Introduction:

Thus, the reason for the study was to determine the primary identity of those who were the subject of lynchings with the purpose of showing that African-American males were disproportionately targeted for this method of retributive mob justice.

Method:

The method of the study was covert, involving an analysis of historical transcripts, burial transcripts, interviews, and police reports. It was covert in the sense that it occurred 'after the fact, rather than during the period described, and thus the participants could have no knowledge that their actions and subsequent victimization was being studied.

Participant or Non-participant:

The participants were not aware that they were being studied, and the historical data collected, again, as it was retrospective, did not include the subject's consent, thus the taker could not be a participant involved in the process of either consciously constructing or disseminating the study, much less being directly involved in the (illegal) actions.

Clear description of subjects and criteria for inclusion

Subjects were those whom were crime victims illegally made the target of mob violence whose bodies could be conclusively identified as such, and were killed and accused of crimes not by law, but justice rendered by said victims at "the hands of persons unknown," as perpetrators of such violent actions were often referred to.

Number of subjects included

2, 805, including males and females of both races and those victims whose race was labeled 'unknown'.

When & Where observations were made

The Southern states of the United States of America from 1880-1930.

Operational Definition:

The number of black males killed in illegal mob violence resulting in death, known as, lynchings exceed that of any other group during this period.

How was this definition used to include/exclude potential subjects?

Lynching is defined as mob justice, as opposed to legal forms of execution and those individuals, black or white executed by the state.

Results:

The number of African-American males lynched exceeded that of white males. The number of African-American women killed exceeded that of white women. African-American males lynched exceeded all numbers of other individuals lynched more than any other group. The smallest categorical numbers of victims lynched were white women. The category of "unknown" refers to lynched victims whose race could not be determined.

Visual display of data -- Table and Graph

NOMOTHETIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF LYNCHING

LYNCH VICTIMS IN TEN SOUTHERN STATES, 1882-1930*

GENDER OF VICTIM

VICTIM'S

RACE Males Females Unknown Total

Black 2,364 74 24 2,462

White 283 5-0 288

Total 2,701 79 25 2,805