Design and Analysis Issues in Group Research

对小群体领域的研究对于全面理解社会行为很重要。目前，由于缺乏充分的统计工具来全面描述发生在小群体中的持续过程，对群体的研究受到限制。群体研究最有趣和最重要的方面之一是，人们在群体中相互作用，并通过这种相互作用相互影响。今天可用的方法要么忽略了这样一个事实，要么将其视为统计上的麻烦，即人们在群体中相互作用，因此相互联系。了解群体中人与人之间的联系将有助于澄清小群体中社会互动的本质。这项研究将调查三种不同的研究设计。第一个设计是影响力网络，它涉及到人们在群体中相互影响的程度的模型。这些类型的模型允许研究不同类型的影响等级对群体生产力和群体成员满意度的影响。第二种设计是轮换设计，人们从一个群体移动到另一个群体。在轮换设计中，每个人都参加几个小组，这样当一个人成为新小组的成员时，可以检查个人行为的一致性。第三个设计是世代设计。在这种设计中，组成员的更替是存在的。一些小组成员进入小组，其他成员离开。这个设计基本上模拟了家庭中的出生和死亡周期。这种设计允许在成员变化的情况下检查组规范的稳定性。对于每个领域，研究将探索设计考虑因素，并开发数据分析技术和计算机软件。这些方法应该对领导力、社会影响力、群体社会化、生产力和个性的研究人员有用。

Research in the area of small groups is important to the complete understanding of social behavior. Currently, the study of groups is limited by the lack of adequate statistical tools to describe fully the ongoing processes that occur in small groups. One of the most interesting and important aspects of group research is that people interact with one another in groups and, through this interaction, influence one another. Methods which are available today either ignore or treat as a statistical nuisance the fact that people in groups interact with one another and are, therefore, linked to one another. Understanding the links between people in groups will help clarify the nature of social interaction in small groups. This research will investigate three different research designs. The first design, influence networks, involves models of the extent to which people influence each other in groups. These types of models allow study of the effect of different types of influence hierarchies on group productivity and group member satisfaction. The second design is the rotation design, in which people move from group to group. In the rotation design, each person participates in several groups, so that the consistency of individual behavior when a person becomes a member of a new group can be examined. The third design is the generations design. In this design, there is a turnover in group membership. Some group members enter the group and other members leave. This design essentially models the birth and death cycles in families. This design allows examination of the stability of group norms with changing members. For each area, the research will explore design considerations and develop data analysis techniques and computer software. These methods should be of use to researchers of leadership, social influence, group socialization, productivity, and personality.