SEMINAR

ON
SOCIOMETRY

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY
MS Priyanka Sharma lata
ASSITANT PROFESSOR MSC.NSG 1ST YEAR

SOCIOMETRY
 HISTORY OF SOCIOMETRY
 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.
 Many sociometric studies have been conducted since, by Moreno and
others, in settings including other schools, the military, therapy groups, and
business corporations.
 Moreno defines sociometry as “the mathematical study of psychological
properties of populations, the experimental technique of and the results
obtained by application of quantitative methods”.

INTRODUCTION
 The word Sociometry comes from Latin word “Socius,”-
Partner/Friend/Companion and “Metrum,”- Measure.
 Sociometry is a way of measuring the degree of relatedness among people.
 It is a methodology for tracking the energy vectors of interpersonal
relationships in a group.
 Study of interpersonal relationships between people in a group.
 The inquiry into the evolution and organization of groups and the position of
individuals within them.

DEFINITION
 Franz defines sociometry as “a method used for the discovery and
manipulation of social configurations by measuring the attractions and
repulsions between individuals in a group.”
 Moreno defined sociometry as “the mathematical study of psychological
properties of populations, the experimental technique of and the result
obtained by application of quantitative methods.

THE PURPOSES OF APPLYING SOCIOMETRY

 To learn the interaction & 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 & aptitudes of group members among eachother
 To identify subgroups,leaders and cliques of a group
 To obtain objective information about the real structure of a group and group
integrity.

THE İMPORTANCE AND FUNCTİONS OF SOCİOMETRY

 It enables us to learn about the group dynamics and evaluate socialization
levels of students after some social activities and their effects on reaching the
intended goal.
 It helps school administration,teachers and counseling department by
providing detailed information about the general structure & the social
relationships of the group by preparing social plans & programmes to
develop them in a better way and to find solutions to the problems.
 After applying these regulations,groups can be re-constructed to increase
efficiency in their performance.
 Due to being not an analyse of an invidual only,but the analyse of a person in
a whole group, this technique gives us extensive amount of information
about a lot of people at the same time.
 Sociometry also gives us a chance to identify the distance/closeness of the
group members with eachother and the interaction net among them.
 Additionally,it is beneficial in preventing adaptation problems after having
the application results in the hand.

USES OF SOCIOMETRY
 Sociometric measurements can be used to study the type of interaction and
factors affecting the interaction.
 It is also used to measure group characteristics- such as cohesiveness,
morale, bonding etc.
 It can also be used to measure individual characteristics such as leadership,
aggressiveness, liberalism and conservatism.
 Any personality factor that is related to interpersonal attraction can be
measured sociometrically.
 Sociometry provides a bird’s eye view of group structure and at the same
time indicates the degree of social attraction possessed by members of the
group.
 It enables the teacher to get a comprehensive picture of the structure of
social relationship.
 It is special method of obtaining the information through oral question,
written response and analyzing the record in studying the group.
  It is technique whereby each member is asked to state to state the kind of
relationship.
 It useful in assigning committee for student.
 It enhance the setting up small group.
 It help organize class projects.
 To organize classroom groups.
 This technique is simple is use and speedy in administration.
 To assist those who have become isolates in the group.

AREAS THAT SOCIOMETRY CAN BE APPLIED

 Educatıon
 Industry
 Servıce And Publıc Sector, And Sometimes Even İn:
 Army

LIMITATIONS OF SOCIOMETRY
a. Not necessarily.
b. Some members of the group may not reveal their real relationship on account
of some fear or other considerations.

THE MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL INTERACTION IS TERMED

SOCIOMETRY.
 Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in 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.

TYPES OF SOCIOMETRY
Sociometry has two main branches:
Research sociometry,
Applied sociometry.
 Research sociometry is action research with groups exploring the socio-
emotional networks of relationships using specified criteria. Example :
– 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 Neighborhoods.
 Applied sociometry utilize 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.

SOME CHARACTER TYPES OBSERVED IN SOCIMETRY

 Leaders
 Isolated ones
 Rejected ones
 Groups in-pairs
 Cliques
 Relationships in-chains

SOCIO-METRIC TECHNIQUE:
MEANING
Socio-metric technique or test as one of the non-testing devices was first
developed by J.L. Moreno and Hellen Jennings sometimes around 1960. It is a
means of presenting simply and graphically the structure of social relations,
lines of communication and the patterns of friendship, attractions and rejection
that exist at a given time among members of a particular group.
Through this technique the counsellor or the guidance personnel can measure
acceptance or rejection frequently between the members of the group. It is
commonly observed that some students always like to stay together, some
students are more liked by all students, some students aren’t liked by anyone
and so on. These social relationships existing among them influence all aspects
of their development.
It is therefore necessary for the teacher to evaluate these social relationships
that exist among the pupils or students. This socio-metric technique is a
method of evaluating the social acceptance of individual students. It is
grounded on individual student’s choices of friendship for some group
situations or activity. In this technique one can know which student would be
congenial for a working group or companions for certain work. In the
playground, the teacher may ask the question to a student.

THESE ARE;
(i) Whom do you want to be your team leader?
(ii) Whom do you want to make friendship? etc.
The choice of students indicates what types of relationship they have with
others.

THE ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OR FEATURES OF A SOCIO-METRIC

TEST ARE AS FOLLOWS:
(i) It is a simple and graphical presentation of data about the group.
(ii) It presents the structure of social relationship that exist among the members
of the group.
(iii) It indicates the friendship pattern among group members.
(iv) It indicates the line of attraction and rejection among group members.
(v) It has always a time reference.
(vi) It indicates at the person most chosen as the leader and the person not
chosen at all or the isolate.

THE TECHNIQUES FOLLOWED:

(i) If the group is large divide the group into smaller subgroups consisting of
ten members each.
(ii) The members of each group or sub-group may be numbered from one to
ten.
(iii) Ask each member to write the name or the number of a student with whom
he likes most to work, to play, or to sit etc.

HE MAY BE ASKED QUESTIONS LIKE THIS:

(a) Whom would you like to sit next to you in the class or in the bus while
going out on a journey?
(b) With whom would you like to work in the science laboratory?
(c) Whom would you like to be your class monitor?
(d) With whom would you like to go home?
(e) Choices and preferences of group members can be plotted graphically with
arrow marks. Marks will indicate single line or one way choice, preference,
likings and acceptance while will indicate mutual choice, preference, likings,
and acceptance. Each member of the group will be represented by a circle. You
have now got a ‘socio-gram’.
(f) While interpreting the socio-gram, concentrate on one member at a time.
(g) The point of greatest concentration and constellation of arrow marks
indicates highest number of choices and preferences. Such a member can be
easily picked up as the leader.
(h) Usually close relations, neighbours and members having common interests
choose each other. This should be kept in view while picking up the leader.
(i) A student who isn’t’ chosen by any other member of the group is called the
isolate.

A MEMBER OF THE GROUP MAY BECOME ISOLATE DUE TO

MANY FACTORS SUCH AS THE FOLLOWING:
1. He is a new member of the group.
2. He is shy and withdrawing in nature.
3. He doesn’t try to make friends.
4. He may belong either to a lower or to an upper socio-economic level.
There may be three points of greatest choices. This may indicate cliques or
sharp division of the group.

It is graphically presented below:

USES OF SOCIO-METRIC TECHNIQUE:

The Socio-metric technique has the following uses in the guidance
programme:
(i) By studying the choice of students through socio-metric technique the
teacher can determine the nature and degree of social relationship existing
among the students.
(ii) It is useful in identifying those who are isolated, the one who is not
preferred by any other individual.
(iii) It is also useful for identifying those who are liked by many others and
who can be better leader of the group. By working with them guidance can be
provided.
(iv)Socio-metric technique is more useful with small groups. The position or
status of the individual is determined on the basis of some particular criterion.
(v) It is a simple, economical and natural method of observational and data
collection.
(vi)Socio-metric methods are used whenever human actions like choosing,
influencing, dominating and communicating in group situations are involved.
(vii) They can be employed in a wide variety of research in the laboratory as
well as in the field.
(viii) They can be used to discover cheques in groups, communication and
influence channels, patterns of cohesiveness and connectedness and so on.

LIMITATIONS OF SOCIO-METRIC TECHNIQUE:

In spite of having the above merits or uses of this non-testing device, it is
criticized in the following grounds:
(i) A data of socio-metric tests seem so different from other kind of data.
(ii) The investigators or counselors find it difficult to think of socio-metric
measurement of individuals.
(iii) The rating of one person by others is an old practice.
(iv) There are certain traits or qualities that are very difficult to be measured
and if at all they are measured through observations or other tools the
measurement may not be accurate and free from subjectivity.
REFERENCES
 Bhaskar Nima, Text Book of Nursing Education, First Edition 2013, Published
By- Emmess Medical Publishers;
Page No:-
 Gupta Sanjay, A Textbook of Nursing Education, First Edition 2016, Published
By – Kumar Publishing House;
Page No:-