PSYC 3430 Lecture 3: Studying Groups - Chap 2
15 Oct 2018
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Document Summary
Researchers" success in studying groups, too, depended on progress in measuring group members" interpersonal actions and psychological reactions. Here, we trace the growth and impact of two important measurement methods-observing groups and questioning group members-that gave group dynamics a foothold in the scientific tradition. Observation: a measurement method that involves watching and recording the activities of individuals and groups. Researchers can watch the members communicating with one another, performing their tasks, making decisions, confronting other groups, seeking new members and expelling old ones, accepting direction from their leaders, and so on. Sociologist william foote whyte (1943) relied on observation in his classic ethnographic study street. He undertook a detailed analysis of the life experiences of a group of young men who joined together regularly, usually at a particular street comer in their neighborhood, in italian american sections of boston in the late 1930s.
