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SOCIOMETRY AS A TOOL OF DATA COLLECTION

INTRODUCTION The word sociometry came from the Latin socius, meaning social and the Latin metrum, meaning measure. As these roots imply, sociometry is a way of measuring the degree of relatedness among people. Moreno himself defined sociometry as the mathematical study of psychological properties of populations, the experimental technique of and the results obtained by application of quantitative methods (Moreno, 1953). The idea of sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in day to day interpersonal relationships. Whenever people gather, they make choices--where to sit or stand; choices about who is perceived as friendly and who not, who is central to the group, who is rejected, who is isolated. As Moreno says, Choices are fundamental facts in all ongoing human relations, choices of people and choices of things. It is immaterial whether the motivations are known to the chooser or not; it is immaterial whether [the choices] are inarticulate or highly expressive, whether rational or irrational. They do not require any special justification as long as they are spontaneous and true to the self of the chooser. They are facts of the first existential order (Moreno, 1953). Jacob Levy Moreno coined the term sociometry and conducted the first long-range sociometric study from 1932-38 at the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson, New York. As part of this study, Moreno used sociometric techniques to assign residents to various residential cottages. He found that assignments on the basis of sociometry substantially reduced the number of runaways from the facility (Moreno, 1953). With in sociology sociometry has two main branches: research sociometry, and applied sociometry. Research sociometry is action research with groups exploring the socioemotional networks of relationships using specified criteria e.g. who in this group do you want to sit beside you at work? Who in the group do you go to for advice on a work problem? Who in the group do you see providing satisfying leadership in the pending project? Sometimes called network explorations, research sociometry is concerned with relational patterns in small (individual and small group) and larger populations, such as organizations and neighbourhoods. Applied sociometry utilizes a range of methods to assist people and groups review, expand and develop their existing psycho-social networks of relationships. Both fields of sociometry exist to produce through their application, greater spontaneity and creativity of both individuals and groups.

PURPOSES OF APPLYING THE SOCIOMETRY Sociometry has a vast scope and it can be applied in a variety of settings where groups dynamics are concerned from educational settings, organizational structures and even to military. There are main purposes to which the sociometry is used. To learn the interaction and the structure of a group To discover where exactly an individual exists in that group To elicit social relationship and the organization type of a group through analyzing attitudes and aptitudes of group members among each other To identify subgroups, leaders and cliques of a group To obtain objective information about the real structure of a group and group integrity To measure relatedness for the assessment of behaviour within groups and for interventions to bring about positive change.

IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTIONS OF SOCIOMETRY Some studies show that if settings restructured according to sociometric results, the efficiency of respective group enhanced and resulted in more production in industrial organizations. It cast the light on the importance and valid functioning of the sociometry. There are some key points given below: It enables us to learn about the group dynamics and evaluate socialization levels of students after some social activities and their effect on reaching the intended goal. It helps school administration, teachers and counselling department by providing information about the general structure and the social relationship of the group. It helps in preparing social plans and programmes to develop social groups in a better way and to find solutions to the problems. After applying these regulations, groups can be reconstructed to increase efficiency in their performance. Sociometry also gives us a chance to identify the distance/closeness of the group members with each other and the interaction among them.

SOCIOGRAMS A sociogram is a graphic representation of social links that a person has. Sociograms were developed by Jacob Moreno to analyze choices or preferences within a group. They can diagram the structure and patterns of group interactions. A sociogram can be drawn on the basis of many different criteria: Social relations, channels of influence, lines of communication etc. Those points on a sociogram who have many choices are called Stars. Those with few or no choices are called isolates. Individuals who choose each other are known to have made a Mutual Choice. One-Way Choice refers to individuals who choose someone but the choice is not reciprocated. Cliques are groups of three or more people within a larger who all choose each other (Mutual Choice). Sociograms are the charts or tools used to find the Sociometry of a social space. Under the Social Discipline Model, sociograms are sometimes used to reduce misbehavior in a classroom environment. A sociogram is constructed after students answer a series of questions probing for affiliations with other classmates. The diagram can then be used to identify pathways for social acceptance for misbehaving students. In this context, the resulting sociograms are known as a friendship chart. Often, the most important person/thing is in a bigger bubble to everyone else. The size of the bubble represents the importance, with the biggest bubble meaning most important and the smallest representing the least important. SOCIOMETRIC MATRIX Moreno speaks of the sociometric matrix. Moreno usually describes the matrix with reference to two other abstract terms: tele and atoms. Moreno describes the social fabric, as a network of atoms, roles associated with each other, as electrons are in a physical atom. It is interesting to note that Bion also used a term from physics, valency to denote a psychological pull towards making basic assumptions (Bion, 1961). What organises and binds the network is tele. Moreno describes it as a process "that attracts individuals to each other or which repels them, that flow of feeling of which the social atom and the networks are apparently composed." According to Moreno tele and feeling are not exclusively individual phenomena; they are part of a "collectivistic unity", which can exist in social structures. Moreno speaks of the sociometric matrix as being "underneath" and that through sociometric tests and analysis we can "unearth" it. Here is his description of this hidden complexity: "The sociometric matrix consists of various constellations, tele, the atom clusters of atoms linked together with other clusters of atoms via interpersonal chains or networks." (Moreno, 1953, p. 80)

SOCIOMETRY AS A TOOL OF DATA COLLECTION

In the years since Moreno and his associates first developed the original sociometric technique, many new methods for collecting and analyzing sociometric data have been developed. Sociometric questionnaires, although often concerned with interpersonal preferences, have also been used to investigate working habits, sources of information, exchange of help, and other group activities. There are a variety of sociometric question and the setting in which data are collected. The question must indicate to the subjects the setting or scope of choice. Thus, if the setting is a classroom it is appropriate to phrase the question accordingly (With which students in the classroom would you like to discuss this problem?). Otherwise, the subjects might choose such persons as the teacher, friends or relatives outside the classroom. The planned activity (in this case, a classroom discussion) should also be clearly defined, so that the subjects know for what purpose the choice is made. Collecting data through the sociometric question is a simple procedure and should be adaptable to most situations. Variations range from the use of a single question asking for a simple listing of choices on one criterion to a battery of questions in which ordered choices and rejections are requested on many criteria. QUESTIONNAIRE CONSTRUCTION In utilizing socio-metric questions, the form in which the data are collected determines the types of results that can be obtained. For example, the number of choices requested may be limited or unlimited. If the choices are unlimited, the total number of choices made in the group may be compared for different groups of the same size or for the same group on different occasions; if the choices are limited, however, comparisons based on the total number of choices are meaningless, since the total number of choices is determined by the instructions. But the total number of choices in a group has the ad-vantage of being a relatively simple score to under-stand, and it has associations with group cohesiveness and morale. For instance, Goodacre (1951) found that a high rate of choosing within the group was associated with a high standard of group effectiveness; reduced to the simplest interpretation, it appears that if members of the group consider each other good for the operation of the group, the group is likely to be successful. While this may not seem a profound finding on the surface, it is at present virtually the only dependable association with group effectiveness beyond the predictions that successful groups will continue to be successful and that groups composed of persons with high demonstrated ability will be successful. Permitting an unlimited number of choices is required if networks of social relationships are to be traced. Obviously, a clique structure involving ten people cannot effectively be found in a larger group if only three choices are permitted to each person. Since Moreno was

originally concerned with the analysis of group structure at this level, the procedure traditionally recommended has been the use of unlimited choices. However, many alternative procedures have been suggested, including the following: a limited specific number of choices; a limited number of ordered choices; an ordered ranking of the entire group; paired comparisons within the group; estimates of the amount of time one wants to spend with others; guessing who has a particular characteristic or reputation; and rating each person within the group for particular characteristics. Of course, the possibility of negative choices (rejections) and the use of multiple criteria increase the number of alternative choices. SOCIOMETRIC DESCRIPTION The patterns of expressed choices can be represented graphically in the sociogram, which involves the use of some geometric figure to indicate each person (for example, a circle with a name in it) and connecting lines or arrows showing the direction of the choices. Although the use of sociograms in early studies was haphazard, a number of empirically based and theoretically important concepts were derived from them by Moreno and others. The simplest concept is that of the unchosen, who may be viewed as the person socially isolated by others. In the early tradition, the isolate is the person who makes no choices and receives none; in this sense he is totally apart from the group. However, in common use, isolate has had the same meaning as unchosen. The term under-chosen is also found in the literature, but it tends to be less desirable, as it implies some expected level of being chosen. The rejected person, of course, can be distinguished only when the socio-metric test has requested rejections (With whom would you like to do this activity least?) as well as choices. Rejection of one person by another implicitly involves active dislike, while ignoring a person or not choosing him could indicate merely a lack of sufficient contact for the development of a crystallized attitude. When both positive and negative forms of the question are used in larger groups, however, persons who are unchosen when the positivechoice form of the sociometric question is used tend to be the ones who are rejected in the negative form of the question, and vice versa. The highly chosen person has been viewed as being in a desirable position. The term overchosen was commonly encountered in the early socio-metric literature but is no longer widely used. The concept of the sociometric star has had some appeal; the image evoked by the concept is one of the highly chosen persons surrounded by persons who are less chosen than the star. The popular leader is a similar concept, and being highly chosen is most frequently associated with some notion of leadership. Popularity (being highly chosen) and leadership are not synonymous, however, and the distinction has been clearly indicated in the literature (Criswell & Jennings 1951). While the popular person may be the leader, there may be other persons with whom power resides, and the power figure that is, the person chosen by others who are in key positionsmay not be a popular person at

all. The distinction between popularity and leadership arises most clearly in the sociometric literature in consideration of the content of sociometric questions. Helen H. Jennings (1947) has discussed the difference between sociogroup and psychegroup, distinguished according to whether the basis of choice lies in the task area or the social area. When the taskoriented (sociogroup) question is used, the highly chosen person is likely to be the leader; on the other hand, when the socially oriented (psychegroup) question is used, the highly chosen person is likely to be the popular or personally attractive person. The concepts mentioned thus far, while related to the structure of relationships, refer to particular persons or types of persons within the structure. But even in the earliest sociometric studies, a great deal of attention was paid to networks of relationships. Part of the attraction was that arrangements or relationships between persons were easily named; for example, mutual pair and mutual rejection are obvious concepts. The description of relationships between persons becomes most intricate in the area that has come to be called relational analysis, which commonly involves both the calculation of all possible choices and rejections in a given situation and some attempt at predicting how the actual choices and rejections will be distributed (see, for instance. The study of even more complex arrangements of relationships has led to the use of more complex names for them. Geometric names, such as triangle and quadrangle, have proved to have only limited applicability; more important theoretically have been looser configurations such as chains and rings, which enter into the analysis of clique structure. SOCIOMETRIC ANALYSIS Analytic techniques, as contrasted with descriptive techniques, have stressed both the development of meaningful indexes of choice and the need for systematic analysis of the total choice matrix. Indexes are usually developed with a view to applying particular concepts, and it should be recognized that even such arbitrary classifications as un -chosen and highly chosen are already indexes of the simple concept of sociometric choice. But indexes in sociometry usually represent more complex classifications and are often directed toward making different sets of data comparable. For ex-ample, an index may take into account the number of persons choosing, so that groups of different sizes are made comparable. Many problems arise in the construction of indexes, however, and the literature abounds with cautions that the attempt to take something into account in an index may not only fail but may also involve even more serious problems than those the researcher is trying to alleviate. MATRIX TECHNIQUES Beginning with the work of Moreno and Jennings, considerable attention has been given to the question of the statistical significance of findings. Earlier approaches to this problem are now generally regarded as impractical, but the discussion they provoked has resulted in emphasis on the models underlying choices in a group. In order to make sociometric data

more amenable to statistical manipulation, it is proposed that the cumbersome device of the socio-gram be replaced by a matrix of N x N dimension (where N is the number of people in the group); choices or rejections could then be indicated clearly by marking the appropriate cell in the matrix with a plus or minus signso that, for instance, a plus in the tenth column of the fifth row would record that the fifth person had chosen the tenth. In their original study, Forsyth and Katz attached special importance to choices recorded near the main diagonal of the matrix (the diagonal itself, of course, indicated self-choices); they also paid some attention to clusters of mutual choices and to adjacent clusters that had some members in common. Both of the techniques just described depend essentially on the notion of rearranging the data as already given in the N x N matrix. In contrast, the matrix multiplication approach has emphasized the identification of more formally defined structures. Subsequent work of this kind has been particularly directed toward naming and detecting ever more complex patterns of relationships. This is a definite advance from the earlier sociometric studies, which were concerned mainly with patterns of mutual choice. Other approaches to analysis of the matrix of choices have made use of graph theory and factor analysis, factor analysis is related to the rearrangement techniques noted above, so that the two approaches complement each other. There is also a technique based on cluster analysis that has aroused favourable comment. Interest in the development of these analytic procedures reached a peak in the early 1950s; since then, the number of studies published has fallen off but seems likely to maintain a steady level. Nevertheless, there have been few applications of these procedures, possibly because they call for types of data that are not readily accessible in many adult social situations. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY Although some research has been done on the question of the reliability and validity of sociometric procedures, it has received little attention in recent years. One early review indicated some of the limitations of sociometric procedures from the point of view of the stability of measures. Among other problems, the stability of the measuring instrument is confounded with the stability of persons and social structures. Validity is especially difficult to assess in sociometry, since the sociometric indexes are so often seen as the criteria to be predicted. Intrinsically, sociometric information represents the objective depicting of the situation on the basis of the most relevant judgesthose with whom one participates. Thus, there has been some tendency to emphasize the prediction of sociometric status on the basis of other characteristics rather than to use sociometric status to predict other variables.

APPLICATIONS OF SOCIOMETRY Sociometric procedures have been incorporated into many different types of studies. For example, in small group research one of the common types of information collected in postmeeting questionnaires is the set of sociometric ratings on criteria relevant to the group participation. On this score, it should be emphasized that sociometric procedures as classically defined have tended to merge with more general procedures for obtaining peer ratings and rankings. The structure of self rankings and peer rankings has been systematically explored by various researchers, with some convergence on the types of content involved and some crystallization of information about the stability of measures. Content corresponding to that initially identified by Jennings with task and with social concerns has continued to be central, but other concepts have also been found to recur in analyses. Sociometric procedures have also been important to the development of several other research areas. For example, study of the impact of group structure on the characteristics of its members or on group consequences, such as efficiency of task completion or morale of the group has made necessary a more formal development of notions of communication networks. REFERENCES Bion, W. R., 1961, Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. Tavistock, London. Criswell, Joan H.; and Jennings, Helen H. 1951 A Critique of Chapins Sociometric Stars as Isolates. American Journal of Sociology 57:260-264. Forsyth, Elaine; and Katz, Leo 1946 A Matrix Approach to the Analysis of Sociometric Data: Preliminary Report. Sociometry 9:340-347. Goodacre, Daniel M. 1951 The Use of a Sociometric Test as a Predictor of Combat Unit Effectiveness. Sociometry 14:148-152. Criswell, Joan H.; and Jennings, Helen H. 1951 A Critique of Chapins Sociometric Stars as Isolates. American Journal of Sociology 57:260-264. Moreno, Jacob Levy (1934, Revised edition 1953). Who Shall Survive? Beacon, NY: Beacon House. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sociometry.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociometry http://myborgang.blogspot.in/2013/04/socio-metric-test-sociogram-new-way-to.html