Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam.
Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University.
Multivariate Behav Res. 2024 Nov-Dec;59(6):1290-1309. doi: 10.1080/00273171.2024.2336178. Epub 2024 Jul 11.
Psychological science is divided into two distinct methodological traditions. One tradition seeks to understand how people function at the individual level, while the other seeks to understand how people differ from each other. Methodologies that have grown out of these traditions typically rely on different sources of data. While both use statistical models to understand the structure of the data, and these models are often similar, Molenaar (2004) showed that results from one type of analysis rarely transfer to the other, unless unrealistic assumptions hold. This raises the question how we may integrate these approaches. In this paper, we argue that formalized theories can be used to connect intra- and interindividual levels of analysis. This connection is indirect, in the sense that the relationship between theory and data is best understood through the intermediate level of phenomena: robust statistical patterns in empirical data. To illustrate this, we introduce a distinction between intra- and interindividual phenomena, and argue that many psychological theories will have implications for both types of phenomena. Formalization provides us with a methodological tool for investigating what kinds of intra- and interindividual phenomena we should expect to find if the theory under consideration were true.
心理学分为两个截然不同的方法论传统。一个传统旨在了解个体层面的人如何运作，而另一个传统旨在了解人与人之间的差异。从这些传统中发展出来的方法论通常依赖于不同的数据来源。虽然两者都使用统计模型来理解数据的结构，并且这些模型通常是相似的，但 Molenaar（2004）表明，除非存在不切实际的假设，否则一种类型的分析结果很少会转移到另一种类型。这就提出了一个问题，即我们如何整合这些方法。在本文中，我们认为形式化理论可以用于连接个体内和个体间的分析水平。这种联系是间接的，因为理论和数据之间的关系最好通过现象的中间层次来理解：即经验数据中的稳健统计模式。为了说明这一点，我们引入了个体内和个体间现象之间的区别，并认为许多心理学理论将对这两种现象都有影响。形式化给我们提供了一种方法学工具，用于研究如果考虑中的理论是真实的，我们应该期望找到哪些类型的个体内和个体间现象。
