Information Sampling During Group Performance

在解决问题或做出决定时，小团队可能会受益于拥有能够贡献各种知识和洞察力的成员。然而，先前的研究表明，决策群体(即被要求做出判断的群体)往往没有考虑到单一成员持有的信息。表面上，无组织的讨论集中在所有成员都已经知道的信息上，因此，团队经常忽视他们集体知识支持的选项。这项拟议的研究将考察这种现象在多大程度上适用于那些解决问题的群体，这些群体的答案显然是正确的。此外，这项研究还将考察在小组讨论中战略性地组成的少数派别在促进更有效的信息交流方面的作用。通过跟踪讨论期间信息的流动和影响，这项研究还将提供完善群体决策讨论模型所需的数据。该模型模拟了在进行群体决策的过程中，面对面讨论过程中信息的抽样和使用。它提供了一种方便的方式来表示组交互的复杂性，并检查组组成(例如，大小和派系表示)和任务需求(例如，决策选项的数量或可能的解决方案和信息负载)的变化的含义。

When solving a problem or making a decision, small groups can potentially benefit from having members who can contribute a diversity of knowledge and insights. Previous research suggests, however, that decision.making groups (i.e., groups asked to make a judgment) often fail to consider information that is held by single members. Face.to.face, unstructured discussion focuses on information that all members already know, and, as a result, groups frequently overlook an option that is favored by their collective knowledge. The proposed research will examine the extent to which this phenomenon generalizes to groups that are solving a problem with a demonstratably correct answer. Additionally, the research will examine the role of strategically composed minority factions in facilitating more effective information exchange during group discussion. By tracking the flow and impact of information during discussion, the research will also provide data needed to refine the DISCUSS model of group decision making. This model simulates the sampling and use of information during face.to.face discussion en route to a group decision. It provides a convenient way of representing the complexities of group interaction and of examining the implications of changes in group composition (e.g., size and factional representation) and task demands (e.g., number of decision options or possible solutions and information load).