Each person, an individual is included in the system of social relationships. People, by their nature, could not live alone, so they unite in collectives. Often they have conflicts of interest, situations of rejection, alienation and other moments that can interfere with fruitful activity. The sociometric method in sociology is an effective means of identifying such problems. It has been repeatedly tested, and with its help it is possible to quickly establish the existing relationships and characterize them. The sociometric method was created by J. L. Moreno, an American scientist, researcher of the nature of human group relations.
Definition of sociometric method
There are several approaches to the definition of this concept. Firstly, the sociometric method is a system for diagnosing emotional ties, relationships, or mutual sympathy between members of the same group. In addition, in the process of research, the degree of disunity is measured -group cohesion, signs of sympathy-antipathy of community members in relation to authorities (rejected, leaders, stars) are revealed. At the head of informal leaders, intra-group cohesive formations (informal groups) or closed communities, positive, tense or even conflict relations, their specific motivational structure are established. That is, in the course of studying the group, not only the qualitative, but also the quantitative side of the preferences of group members identified in the test is taken into account.
Secondly, the sociometric method of personality research also denotes an applied direction, including the use and improvement of special tools in solving practical problems.
The origin and development of the sociometric experiment
The sociometric method was created in the 30s. 20th century American psychiatrist and sociologist J. L. Moreno, he also introduced the concept of "sociometry", which refers to the measurement of the dynamics of interpersonal relationships among members of one group. According to the author himself, the essence of sociometry lies in the study of the internal structure of social groups, which can be compared with the nuclear nature of an atom or the physiological structure of a cell. The theoretical foundations of the sociometric method are based on the fact that each side of social life - political, economic - is easily explained by the state of emotional relations between individuals. Specifically, this can be expressed in the manifestation of antipathy and sympathy for each other by people. That is, the author of the sociometric methodbelieved that a change in psychological attitudes in small groups directly affects the entire social system. To date, this method has many modifications.
Bulgarian sociologist L. Desev identified three areas of research that use sociometric methods:
- Dynamic or "revolutionary" sociometry, the study of which is the group in action (J. L. Moreno and others).
- Diagnostic sociometry that classifies social groups (F. Chapin, J. H. Criswell, M. L. Northway, J. A. Landberg, E. Borgardus, etc.).
- Mathematical sociometry (S. C. Dodd, D. Stewart, L. Katz, etc.).
Soviet psychologists who made a great contribution to the introduction of this method were I. P. Volkov, Ya. L. Kolominsky, E. S. Kuzmin, V. A. Yadov and others.
According to Ya. L. Kolominsky, the psychological basis for studying relationships is the knowledge that the desire of one person for another comes from the desire to be closer to the object of affection. Moreover, the expression in verbal form should be recognized as a significant real indicator not only of understanding, but also of the presence of a need in a person in general.
Method meaning and scope
The sociometric method of studying small groups and teams is used by sociologists and psychologists in schools, universities, enterprises and organizations, sports teams and other associations of people to diagnose interpersonal relationships. For example, the results of such a study are of great importance forestablishing psycho-emotional compatibility of crews of spaceships, Antarctic expeditions.
The sociometric method of studying a group, according to A. V. Petrovsky, is one of the few ways to analyze interpersonal relationships in a small team, which are often hidden. At the present stage of scientific socio-psychological research, a creative beginning is manifested, aimed at studying this subject with new methods. In the future, the development of such methods and their application in conjunction with other methods will significantly expand the possibilities of sociology and psychology in the analysis of small groups. The role of the small group in society cannot be underestimated. It accumulates in itself social relations as a whole and transforms them into intra-group ones. This knowledge contains an important element of social management, built on scientific grounds.
Characteristics of the sociometric method
Research of this kind allows you to improve relationships in any team. But at the same time, this is not a completely radical method of resolving the internal problems of the group, so most often they should be looked for not in the antipathy or sympathy of group members for each other, but in deeper sources.
The sociometric method of research is carried out in the form of setting indirect questions, answering which the respondent makes a choice of specific members of his group, whom he would prefer to others in a certain situation.
Options for individual orgroup testing. It depends on the age of the subjects and the content of the tasks. But, as a rule, the group form of research is more often used.
In any case, the sociometric method in the study of a group allows you to establish the dynamics of intragroup relations in a short time, in order to subsequently apply the results obtained in order to restructure groups, strengthen their cohesion and effectiveness of interaction.
Preparation for the study
The sociometric method does not require much effort and time. The tools for the study are the sociometric survey form, the list of group members, and the sociomatrix. A group of people of any age can be studied: from preschool to senior. The sociometric method of studying preschoolers can be applicable, since already at this age children receive the first experience of communication and interaction. Criteria for sociometric choice are formed based on the tasks that are solved in the course of the study and the age, professional or other characteristics of the group under study. The criterion is, as a rule, a certain type of activity, and in order to carry out such an individual will need to make a choice, that is, to reject one or more members of his group. It represents a specific question from the list. The situation of choice in the survey should not be limited. It is welcome if the applied criteria will be of interest to the employee: they should describe a specific situation. According to the content, the test criteria are divided into formal and informal. Using the first type, you can change the relationship to a joint activity, for the sake of which the group was created. Another group of criteria serves to study emotional-personal relationships that are not related to joint activities and the achievement of a common goal, for example, choosing a friend to spend free time. In the methodological literature, they can also be referred to as production and non-production. Criteria are also classified according to their focus on positive (“Which member of the group would you like to work with?”) Or negative (“Which member of the group would you not like to work with?”). The sociometric method assumes that a questionnaire containing instructions and a list of criteria is created after they have been formulated and selected.
The list of questions is adapted to the characteristics of the study group.
Pre-survey
The sociometric method of research is conducted in an open form, therefore, before the start of the survey, it is necessary to instruct the group. This preliminary stage aims to explain to the group the importance of the study, to point out the significance of the results for the group itself, to tell how much it is necessary to perform tasks with attention. At the end of the briefing, it is important to emphasize that all responses from group members will be kept confidential.
Approximate content of instructions
The text of the instruction may read as follows: “Because you wereare not familiar enough with each other, then absolutely all your wishes could not be taken into account when forming your group. At the moment, the relationship has been formed in a certain way. As for the purpose of the study, its results will be beneficially taken into account by your leadership when organizing the activities of the team in the future. In this regard, we ask you to be extremely sincere when giving answers. The organizers of the study guarantee that individual responses will be kept confidential.”
Sociometric research method: procedure
There are some criteria regarding the size of the study group. The number of group members in which the sociometric method works should be 3-25 people. However, there are examples of studies that allow the involvement of up to 40 people. The sociometric method of studying interpersonal relations in a group (labor collective) can be used provided that the work experience in it exceeds six months. An important component of preparation is the establishment of a trusting atmosphere of relations with the group. Otherwise, distrust of the experimenter, the suspicion that the answers to the questions can be used to the detriment of the respondent, can lead to refusal to complete tasks or giving false answers. It is important that the study is not conducted by a person related to the team: the leader or a person who is part of the group. Otherwise, the results will not be reliable. It is also worth mentioning the invalid answer options that can be used. For example,the respondent is embarrassed when making a positive choice to leave other members of the group out of the list, so he can, guided by this motive, say that he “chooses everyone”. In this regard, the authors and followers of the sociometric theory resorted to an attempt to partially change the survey procedure. So, instead of a free number of group members according to given options, respondents could be assigned a strictly limited number of them. Most often it is three, less often four or five. This rule has been called the “limit of elections”, or “sociometric restriction”. It reduces the likelihood of randomness, facilitates the task of processing and interpreting information, and makes survey participants more adequate and thoughtful in their responses.
When the preparatory activities are completed, the survey procedure begins. In the sociometric method of research, each member of the group must take part. The subjects write down the names of the members of the group that they have chosen according to one or another criterion, and indicate their data in the questionnaire. Thus, the survey cannot be anonymous, since it is under these conditions that it is possible to establish relationships between members of the team. During the study, the organizer is obliged to ensure that the respondents do not communicate with each other, regularly remind that it is necessary to answer all questions. No need to rush subjects in answering questions.
However, if they don't have a list of group members in front of them, eye contact can be allowed. For more convenience andexceptions of inaccuracies, the names of absentees can be written on the board.
The following selection methods are allowed:
- Limiting the number of choices to 3-5.
- Complete freedom of choice, that is, the respondent has the right to indicate as many surnames as he sees fit.
- Ranking group members based on the proposed criteria.
The first method is more preferable, but only from the point of view of convenience and simplicity in the subsequent processing of the results. The third is in terms of the reliability and reliability of the results. The ranking method eliminates the stress that may arise when choosing members of the group on negative grounds.
After the sociometric survey cards are filled out, they are collected from group members and the mathematical processing procedure begins. The simplest ways of quantitative processing of research results are graphical, tabular and indexological.
Options for processing and interpreting the results obtained
In the course of the study, one of the tasks is to determine the sociometric status of a person in a group. It means the property of an individual to occupy one or another position in the structure under consideration (locus), that is, to be specifically related to the rest of the team.
Compilation of a sociomatrix. It is a table in which the results of the survey are entered, namely: positive and negative choices made by members of the study group. It is built according to this principle: horizontal lines and vertic althe columns have an equal number and numbering according to the number of group members, that is, in this way it is indicated who chooses whom
Depending on the selection criteria, single and summary matrices can be constructed showing selections by several criteria. In any case, the analysis of the sociomatrix for each criterion can provide a complete picture of the relationship in the group.
Mutual elections are circled, if the reciprocity is incomplete, then a semicircle. Or, the intersections of columns and rows are marked with a plus sign in case of a positive choice or a minus sign if it was negative. If there is no choice, then 0.
The main advantage of the matrix is the ability to present all the results in numerical form. This will eventually allow group members to be ranked by the number of elections received and given, to determine the order of influences in the group.
The number of elections received is called the sociometric status of the group, which can be compared with the theoretically possible number of elections. For example, if a group consists of 11 people, the number of possible choices will be 9, so 99 is the number of theoretically possible choices.
However, in the overall picture, it is not so much the number of elections that matters, but the satisfaction of each respondent with his position within the group. With the data, a satisfaction ratio can be calculated, which is equal to dividing the number of mutually positive choices an individual makes. So, if one of the members of the group seeks to communicate with three specific people, butnone of them chose him in the survey, then the satisfaction ratio of KR=0:3=0. This indicates that the respondent is trying to interact with the wrong people.
- Index of group cohesion. This sociometric parameter is calculated by dividing the sum of mutual choices by the total number of possible ones in the group. If the resulting number is in the range 0.6-0.7, then this is a good indicator of group cohesion. That is, the sociometric method in the study of a group allows you to establish the state of intra-group relations in a short time, in order to subsequently apply the results obtained in order to restructure groups, strengthen their cohesion and effectiveness of interaction.
- Building a sociogram. Using the sociomatrix, it is possible to build a sociogram, that is, to make the presentation of sociometry visual in the form of a “target scheme”. This will be a kind of addition to the tabular approach to interpreting data.
Any circle in a sociogram will have its own meaning:
- The zone of stars will be called the inner circle, that is, the group of elected people into which the leaders who received the absolute majority of positive elections were selected.
- The second circle, or preference zone, will be made up of members of the group who scored above the average number of preferences.
- The third circle is called the neglected zone. It includes persons who scored below the average number of elections in the group.
- The fourth circle is closed by the so-called isolated ones. These include members of the group,who received no points.
With the help of a sociogram, you can get a visual representation of the presence of groups in the team and the nature of the relationship between them (contacts, sympathy). They are formed from persons interconnected and striving for each other's choice. Quite often, the sociometric method reveals positive groupings consisting of 2-3 members, less often there are 4 or more people. This can be clearly seen on a flat sociogram, which shows groups of individuals who have mutually chosen each other, and the existing connections between them.
The third option would be an individual sociogram. A purposefully or arbitrarily chosen member of the team is depicted in the system of connections established in the course of the study. When compiling a sociogram, they are guided by the following conventions: a male person is depicted as a triangle with a number corresponding to a particular person, and a female face is inside a circle.
Announcement of research results and practical recommendations
After the processing of the received data is completed, a list of recommendations is compiled in order to correct the behavior and relationships between team members. The results are brought to the attention of the commanding staff and the group. Taking into account the calculations and other forms of analysis, a decision is made to change the composition of the team, the leader, or to transfer some members to other teams. Thus, the sociometric method in the study of a group allows not onlyidentify problems in relationships, but also develop a system of practical recommendations that can strengthen the team, thereby increasing labor productivity.
Despite its effectiveness and availability, sociometry as a method is currently not widely used in Russian psychological practice.
