Additional Reading

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Additional Reading

• Forsyth pg. 112-115
• Socialization

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Research Methods

• Sociometry
• Activity
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Activity
• Case Studies
• Research Ethics
• Activity

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Sociometry

• Sociometry
• A technique for analyzing the pattern of
  relationships among group members- especially
  hierarchies, friendship networks and cliques
• Sociogram
• A graphic display of group members ratings of one
  another
• Stars (center) individuals preferred by many
  members
• Isolates (edges) preferred by few
• Chains members who form cliques
• Sociometric status
• Average rating of how much a member is liked

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Sociogram
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Activity Make a Sociogram

• Many TV shows are about a group of friends of
  co-workers. Choose such a show that all group
  members are familiar with and make a sociogram
  where each member is represented by a circle and
  arrows from one circle to another represent
  whether the relationship is positive or negative
  (use a or mark). Place individuals that are
  preferred by many group members (stars) in the
  center, and put those that are preferred by few
  (isolates) on the edges.

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Surveys and Questionnaires

• Paper and pencil instruments to measure various
  aspects of group functioning
• Dependent variables in experiments
• Variables in correlational studies
• Simply to provide group feedback
• Advantages of survey research
• Efficiency
• Generalizability
• Considered easy to design

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Writing Questions

• Discuss the following questions with your
  neighbor.
• Think about difficulties respondents might have
  in
• answering a question
• answering it truthfully

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Questions

1. How often do you use the Internet at work to look
   up information about sports?
2. If you didnt use email to keep in touch with
   friends, how else would you do it?
3. What annoys you the most about cell phones?
4. How have you used the Internet to learn about
   improving your health habits?

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Pitfalls in Survey Design

• Problems with measurements
• The questions we ask
• The way we present the questions
• Nonresponse

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Writing Questions Pitfalls to Avoid

• Confusing questions are not clear to respondents.
  Examples
• Double negatives
• Double barreled questions
• Biased questions lead respondents to answer in a
  certain way
• Uncomfortable questions make it difficult for
  respondents to agree (or disagree) with a
  statement

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Writing Questions Pitfalls to Avoid

• Forced-choice questions prevent a respondent who
  has no opinion from answering them truthfully
• Vague response categories make it difficult for
  respondents to choose a response
• Overlapping response categories confuses the
  respondent who has to choose between two or more
  categories for an answer

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Case Studies

• An intensive description and analysis of groups.
• May use a variety of research methods
• Observations
• Interviews
• Surveys

• Advantages
• Informing us on rare, unusual or noteworthy
  conditions not easily studied otherwise
• Disadvantages
• Causes cannot be identified

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Hawthorne Plant Studies
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Ethics in Research

• Group dynamics researchers protect the rights of
  the groups and people they study by following a
  number of ethical guidelines.

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Ethical Treatment of Human Participants

• Informed consent
• Individual freedom to withdraw
• Use of deception
• Protection from physical/psychological harm

• Confidentiality of data
• Evaluate risk/benefit ratio
• Debriefing

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Ethical Review Boards

• AKA Institutional review board
• Examine proposed research studies to determine
  whether they are in accordance with standard
  ethical guidelines

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Research Ethics Activity

• Role play members of an IRB.
• Read the proposed project, evaluate on
  methodology and ethics.
• Identify measurement methods used (observational,
  self-report)
• Identify design as case-study, correlational,
  experimental
• Decide if project is ethical or unethical. If
  unethical, make suggestions to make it ethical.