1. Studying Groups Chapter 2
How do researchers test their theories and hypotheses about groups and their dynamics?

2. What Are the Three Critical Requirements of a Scientific Study of Groups?
Theories that organize knowledge of groups
Research procedures to test hypotheses about groups
Reliable and valid measurement

3. What Methods Do Researchers Use to Measure Individual and Group Processes?
Observational measures: observing and recording events
Example: Whyte’s participant observation of corner gangs
Overt vs. covert observation
Hawthorne effect

4. What Methods Do Researchers Use?
Qualitative and Quantitative (structured) measures
Bales's Interaction Process Analysis (IPA) classifies behaviors into two categories: task and relationship behaviors

6. Bale’s SYMLOG (Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups) identifies 3 key dimensions:
Dominance/Submissiveness
Friendliness/Unfriendliness
Acceptance of Authority/Nonacceptance of Authority.

7. Self-Report Methods
Self-report measures: group members describe their perceptions and experiences
Example: Personality
Emotional Intelligence Organizational Climate

8. Personality : Mackinnon (1959)
Personality refers to “factors” inside people that explain their behavior
The sum total of typical ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that makes a person unique.

9. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Myers-Briggs: based on Jungian theory of personality
Classifies individuals along 4 theoretically independent dimensions.

10. MBTI Scales Sensing-Intuition Scale Extroversion-Introversion Scale
S: Individual reports observable facts through one or more of the five senses
N: Reports meanings, relationships and/or possibilities that have been worked out beyond the reach of the conscious mind
Extroversion-Introversion Scale
E: Oriented primarily toward the outer world; focus on people and objects
I: Oriented primarily toward the inner world; focus on concepts and ideas

11. MBTI Scales Thinking-Feeling Scale
T: Judgment is impersonally based on logical consequences
F: Judgment is primarily based on personal or social values
Perception-Judging Scale
P: Preference for using a perceptive process for dealing with the outer world
J: Preference for using a judgment process for dealing with the outer world

12. What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence involves the “abilities to perceive, appraise, and express emotion; to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth”

13. BarOn EQ-i Factors Intra-Personal Inter-Personal Adaptability
Emotional Self-Awareness
Assertiveness
Self-Regard
Self-Actualization
Independence
Inter-Personal
Interpersonal Relationship
Empathy
Social Responsibility
Adaptability
Problem Solving
Flexibility
Reality Testing
Stress Management
Stress Tolerance
Impulse Control
General Mood
Optimism
Happiness

14. BarOn EQ-i Sample Test Items: I have good relations with others
I’m fun to be with
I like helping people
Rating Scale:
1 = Very Seldom or Not True of me
5 = Very Often True of Me or True of Me

15. Disadvantage of Self-Report Tests
Social Desirability
Faking “Good”
Faking “Bad”
Random Responding

16. Sociometry
A research technique that graphically summarizes patterns of intermember relations.
Sociometric structures:
- stars
- unpopulars
- isolates
- positives
- negatives
- pairs
- clusters
- fringers

19. Assessment Methods
Any measure, to be scientifically useful, must have reliability and validity.

20. Would you keep using these measurement tools?
Reliability
Reliability is synonymous with consistency. It is the degree to which test scores for a an individual test taker or group of test takers are consistent over repeated applications.
No psychological test is completely consistent, however, a measurement that is unreliable is worthless.
For Example
A student receives a score of 100 on one intelligence tests and
114 in another or imagine that every time you stepped on a
scale it showed a different weight.
Would you keep using these measurement tools?
The consistency of test scores is critically important in determining whether a test can provide good measurement.

21. Test-retest Reliability
Test-retest reliability is usually measured by computing the correlation coefficient between scores of two administrations.

22. Validity Refers to measuring what we intend to measure.
If math and vocabulary truly represent intelligence then a math and vocabulary test might be said to have high validity when used as a measure of intelligence.

23. Predictive Validity
The extent to which scores on the scale are related to, and predictive of, some future outcome that is of practical utility.
e.g., If higher scores on the SAT are positively correlated with
higher G.P.A.’s and visa versa, then the SAT is said to
have predictive validity.
The Predictive Validity of the SAT is mildly supported by the relation of that scale with performance in graduate school.

24. What Are the Key Characteristics & Differences Between Case, Experimental, & Correlational Studies of Group Processes?
Case Study
Example: Groupthink groups (Janis)
Bona fide groups
Experiments
Key features
manipulate independent variable
measure dependent variable
control other variables
Example: Lewin, Lippitt, & White’s study of leadership
Strength: Test cause-effect relationships

25. Characteristics and Differences (cont’d)
Case studies: atypical of most groups, subjective, stimulate theory
Experiments: too artificial, not “real” groups, but clearest test of cause and effect.
Correlational studies: limited information about causality but precise estimates of the strength of relationships, less artificial, fewer ethical concerns
Multi-level approaches are uniquely informative

26. What Theoretical Perspectives Guide Researchers’ Studies of Groups?
Motivational models: Lewin's level-of-aspiration theory
Behavioral approaches: Thibaut and Kelley's social exchange theory
Systems theory: Input-process-output models of performance
Cognitive theories: Berger's expectation-states theory
Biological perspectives: Evolutionary psychology (or sociobiology)