New technologies transform research specialties and potentiate new fields. Sociometers--wearable electronic sensors collecting quantitative, dynamic data about embodied social interactions at hyperfine scales--represent such a possibility for small group research. This article introduces this new method and its distinctive qualities and…

The purpose of this research was to study the characteristics of the intragroup relations between the middle-status adolescents in a student group and the other status categories. It is assumed that the social and psychological portrait of an open adolescent student group, the character of the orientation and the level of its development, and the…

The authors sought to test Homans' proposition that small groups inevitably generate a social structure which combines subgroups (cliques) and a ranking system. We present a graph theoretical model of such a structure and prove that a necessary and sufficient condition for its existence is the absence of seven particular triad types. Expected…

Research supported by grants 71 and 103 from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation.

Using 144 high school physics classes as units of analysis, class means on a battery of 57 variables were factored in three different factor sets. Each set included three main factors which could be identified roughly as achievement, affect, and group structure. Results gave further credibility to Bales' work. (Author/KR)

The article recommends use of the classroom sociogram to help teachers form cooperative learning groups. The effectiveness of the cooperative learning method is enhanced when teachers balance cooperative groups with high group status children and mutual choice pairs. (DB)

Describes use of sociograms in the classroom to cause students to work with others who are generally isolated. Such attempts resulted in more participation in activities by shy students and increased cooperation among students, and overall higher scores by students on tests. (PS)

Efforts to create a more congenial atmosphere for entering freshmen through clustering negated their attempts to create their own social atmosphere. They were identifiable, however, through sociometric procedures in courses where clusters were part of total enrollment. (Author)

Reviews basic sociometric tools and their analysis, provides information on computer programs to analyze sociometric data, and briefly examines considerations in conducting sociometric investigations. Looks at the social atom (significant others), constructing sociometry questions, and offers an analysis of individual status and interactional…

A stable, ordered dominance hierarchy was found via observational and sociometric methods for a group of 13-year-old boys during a five-week summer camp. This group structure was formed early in camp and was stable across settings, time, and types of dominance interactions. The hierarchy correlated significantly with the rank-orderings bed…

Little research attention has been paid to the systematic validation of mathematical indices of social structure. The validation strategies in use remain largely implicit and generally fail to appreciate the multi-dimensionality of structure. The current paper proposes a new method designed to avoid these shortcomings and reports the results of…

A study of organizational communication identified two structure roles--liaison and nonliaison--in each of three content-functional areas of organization communication--getting a job done, exploring new behavioral alternatives, and keeping the system functioning--and hypothesized that "liaisons" would perceive themselves in similar ways. Each…

Focused on applying a variation of the semantic differential technique (SD) to changes in group structure over time and treatment. Members (N=29) of two T groups rated their respective group members on an SD form. Results showed acceptance of members increased as the groups progressed. (RC)

Three levels of structured learning exercises were presented to groups of students meeting in interpersonal growth groups. The effects of structure on member anxiety, group cohesion, and quality of interpersonal interaction were assessed at two points. Initial structure was associated with increased levels of self-disclosure in early group…