SOCIOMETRY

INTRODUCTION
The word sociometry comes from latin word ‘socious’ which means
partner/friend/campanion and ‘metrum’ which means measure
Sociometry is the way of measuring the degree of relatedness among people
It is the methodology for tracking the energy vectors of interpersonal relationships
in a group
Sociometry is the quantitative method for measuring social relationships. It is the
study of interpersonal relationships between people in a group

DEFINITION
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’’

OBJECTIVES OF SOCIOMETRY
 Focusing on achieving business targets
 Focusing on key contributors who create value
 Enhancing the informal relationship networks
 Focusing on culture providing connection, and credibility.
 Sociometric tools are invaluable in identifying informal leaders

SITUATIONS OF SOCIOMETRY
 To explore intra group relationship which are hindering people producing
business results
 To move your organization from isolated business units to collaborative
groups
 To strengthen teams working in demanding situations
  To surface and sort out issues of group conflict, trust and identify
 To understand and address the soft and unspoken aspects of everyday group
life

PURPOSE OF SOCIOMETRY

 The purpose of sociometry is to facilitate group task effectiveness and

satisfaction of participants by bringing about greater degrees of mutuality
amongst people and greater authenticity in relationships.
 Measurement of relatedness can be useful not only in the assessment of
behaviour within groups, but also for interventions to bring about positive
change and for determining the extent of change.
 Sociometry can be the powerful tool for reducing conflict and improving
communication because it allows the group to see itself objectively and to
analyze its own dynamics
 It is also powerful tool for assessing dynamics and development in groups
devoted to therapy or training
 It shows the patterns of how individuals associate with each other when
acting as a group toward a specified end or goal

TYPES OF SOCIOMETRY
 RESEARCH SOCIOMETRY

 APPLIED SOCIOMETRY

RESEARCH SOCIOMETRY
Research sociometry is action research with groups exploring the socio-emotional
networks of relationships using specified criteria.
Example,
Who in the group do you want to sit beside you at work?
Who in the group do you go to for advice on a work problem?
Sometimes called network explorations, research sociometry is concerned with
relational patterns in small (individual an small group) and larger populations, such
as organizations and neighborhoods.

APPLIED SOSIOMETRY
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.

USES OF SOCIOMETRY
 Sociometric measurements can be used to study the type of interaction amd
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

METHODS OF SOCIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

 Sociometric matrixes

 Sociograms

 Sociometric indices
SOCIOMETRIC MATRICES
 It contains most important possibilities and implications for behavioural
researcher
 Convenient method of tabulation
 Matrix is rectangular array of numbers or other symbols

ADVANTAGES
 It is inclusive
 Joint relationship among pairs are recorded
 Matrices may be combined and compared

DISADVANTAGES
 Limited information about members of the group
 Not suitable for large groups
 Poor graphic device
 Poor tool for detecting mutual choices and other internal structure of group

SOCIOGRAM/ DIRECTED GRAPHS

Diagrammatic representation of internal structure of choices of members of a
group

ADVANTAGES
 Simple and valid method
 Finding natural or local leaders
 Second leaders
 May be applied for finding professional leaders
 Small and medium size groups and for descriptive purposes
LIMITATIONS
 Not suitable for larger groups
 Different individuals can draw different graph with same data
 Identified individual may not shoulder responsibility
 He may not be a neutral person
 Vary over time
 Don’t provide any reason for acceptance or rejection

RESEARCH APPLICATIONS OF SOCIOMETRY

 Prejudice in schools
 Praise and sociometric choices
 Animal sociometry
 Race, belief, and sociometric choice