There is no physics of human systems
Jim McGee,
McGee's Musings,
Jul 15, 2021
There's a lot more to this post than is actually stated in this post, especially when it comes to educational research, but if it serves as a starting point for some, then it will have served its purpose. Jim McGee's discussion starts with the definition of two terms:
- nomothetic – relating to the study or discovery of general scientific laws.
- idiographic – relating to the study or discovery of particular scientific facts and processes, as distinct from general laws.
Now most work in educational theory is nomothetic. As McGee writes, "Organizations push for standardization and uniformity – this solves problems that organizations have to deal with." However, "nomothetic claims about human systems have to be filtered through an idiographic lens." And that's exactly the wrong approach. "You will be better served to frame your task as that of 'solving for pattern,'" he writes. "I've written about this shift of perspective before: Don't connect the dots solve for pattern and Learning to solve for pattern."
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