Sociometric Choice

Measurement

Sociometry introduced rigorous measurement techniques for studying the microrelations within groups and communities. At the heart of sociometry was the sociometric choice test, which asked group members to report the most, and sometimes the least, preferred members for a specific purpose or circumstance. For example, school children would name three classmates with whom they would most like to play, workers would identify the people with whom they would most want to [Page 832]work on a committee, and military personnel would list the two people in their company whom they would most like to take home on a leave.

Different forms of the choice test vary in how many others the respondent may list as preferred or not preferred in a given circumstance. What is common, however, is that these self-reports are neither explicit evaluations of other group members nor overall liking or disliking reports about others irrespective of a specific context. Some scholars have suggested that other measurement techniques, such as the method of rank order (ranking in order of preference all group members) and paired comparisons (indicating the preferred person in each possible pairing of group members), are suitable substitutes for the traditional sociometric choice test.

Sociometrists aggregate their choice data in a variety of ways to indicate member roles in the group and features of the group. Members who are highly chosen by others are popular, those who are infrequently chosen are isolates, those who select many others as friends are positives, and those who select few others are negatives. Pairs are two members with mutually reciprocal bonds, and cliques are subgroups of three or more members with reciprocal bonds.

Sociometric choices also can be used to identify group cohesiveness (overall level of attraction in the group) and density (degree of mutual preference in the group). Member choices may be organized in a sociogram, which is a figure in two-dimensional space that maps member interrelations. Each group member is represented as a lettered or numbered circle. Lines between the circles indicate connections between members, and arrows indicate the direction of attraction. Today, computer software aids the creation of sociograms.

Causes and Consequences

Some have criticized sociometric research for measuring member choices but not the reasons behind them. However, research has identified several situational and personal factors that can influence sociometric choices. For example, physical proximity influences friendship choices such that people prefer those who are close by. When classroom seats or dormitory rooms are assigned randomly, students choose as friends those who were seating companions or dormitory roommates. People also choose as friends others whom they perceive as similar to themselves in values, beliefs, and interests, although contact with dissimilar people may mitigate this tendency. Members who hold a different opinion from the rest of a group are less preferred as future group mates than are those who conform to the group norm. And status influences sociometric choices in military units service personnel report liking and choosing highstatus members to take home on a leave.

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