ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the lack of desirable synergy between knowledge generation and knowledge application results in part from dominant research design traditions and that the synergy can be increased with certain modifications and elaborations of these traditions. It suggests that the two kinds of knowledge represent two sides of the same coin. In addition, we argue that potential applications of nomothetic knowledge to particular persons or groups will be constrained by the nature of the information aggregated and the methods of aggregation used. The chapter considers the impact of research methodologies on the interaction between knowledge-generation and knowledge-application activities in the study of human development. It examines some promising methodological innovations that appear apt for modeling complexly organized, developing living systems. The chapter analyzes several methodological alternatives aimed at producing an information base from which a more useful integration of idiographic and nomothetic knowledge can be constructed.
