The Idiodynamic Method: Understanding the individual experience, 3 ECTS

This course is offered by the Department of English, as a part of the Doctoral School in the Humanities. The course is offered during the spring semester of 2026 and online.

Course Content

The research methods course “Idiodynamic Research Perspectives: Understanding dynamic individual experiences” is to address the ergodicity problem in research that attempts to (often tenuously) use group-based findings to describe individual experiences. In other words, there is a pressing need to question the practice of drawing conclusions about individuals at the group level and instead focus on how individual experiences can fluctuate during communicative events.

Idiodynamic research allows for better understanding of individuals’ divergent experiences to the same stimuli than oft-used methods such as surveys, tests, or interviews. It does so through the use of various data collection tools that focus on continuous monitoring, such as rating software, heart rate monitors, and footpedals, which capture moment-by-moment fluctuations (e.g., between levels of enjoyment, interest, or comprehension) during a communicative event.

This hands-on research methods course provides an introduction to idiodynamic perspectives in research and focuses on data collection techniques that account for individual variation over time during shared experiences, tracking moment-by-moment idiosyncratic changes in perceptions. The practical nature of the course allows students to trial various data collection tools and explore possibilities for their respective disciplines.

Data generated from such techniques reduces the need to rely on researcher inference and provides voices to research subjects that are intimately linked to specific moments in time. The course also provides a critical lens through which to view and evaluate others’ research, identifying caveats of prevalent research methods that idiodynamic perspectives can address. Using sample data sets and data collected during the course, students work with analysis procedures as well as interpretation protocols that relate to research questions within the Humanities.

Learning outcomes

In order to pass the course, students are expected to be able to:

discuss, evaluate, and contextualise various idiodynamic research methods and theoretical perspectives in relation to their respective disciplines
collect and apply idiodynamic data to investigate, illustrate, and describe individual experiences within a communicative event

Practical information

Mandatory elements

The mandatory elements of the course include the completion of all assigned readings, active participation in seminars, and an oral presentation of a small-scale idiodynamic research project at the end of the course.

Examination

The course is examined through seminar participation and an oral presentation of a small-scale idiodynamic research project at the end of the semester.

Instruction

Teaching is conducted in the form of seminars.
Please note: The course is offered online.

Course dates

11 March: 13-16
17 March: 9-12
31 March: 9-12
13 April: 9-12
15 April: 13-16
22 April: 9-12

Language of instruction:

English

Course plan

TBA

Apply for the course

Application

Applications for courses starting in the spring semester 2026 are received until 28 February 2026. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out after the application deadline.

All applications are sent by the supervisor to: doctoralschool@hum.su.se. Official transcript of records, or certificate of registration, verifying the applicant's status as doctoral student should be enclosed with the application.

All courses are free of charge, and they are open to all who are admitted to studies on PhD-level, regardless of faculty or university. Prerequisites and special admittance requirements may apply for some courses.

How do I apply?

The application form (document link below) is used to apply for a place in a course. The supervisor (or equivalent) must support the doctoral student’s application with a motivation as to why the doctoral student should participate in the course. The supervisor also submits the proposal to the following address: doctoralschool@hum.su.se.

Application form for place in a joint faculty course docx, 294.6 kB.

Who can apply?

The Faculty of Humanities’ doctoral students have priority for places, and external doctoral students (from Stockholm University or another university) can be admitted to a course subject to availability. External doctoral students will be registered in Ladok in order to enable the Board to monitor all participants in a course.

Last updated: 2026-01-13

Source: Doctoral School in the Humanaties