Nomothetic literally means "proposition of the law" (Greek derivation) and is used in philosophy (see also Nomothetic and idiographic), psychology, and law with differing meanings. In psychology, nomothetic measures are contrasted to ipsative or idiothetic measures, where nomothetic measures are measures that are observed on a relatively large sample and have a more general outlook while the idiographic approach is relating to a more singular case as is done in case studies.