Methods for Research on Interaction in Groups

Abstract

ForewordThis document presents as briefly as may be possible a number of research methods. These methods are our means for studying group process, personality dynamics, and "psychological subgroups" in their interrelations with each other* The basic inquiry* operationally defined by these methods, is into the various shifting qualities of group experiencing* Back of any inquiry and guiding its creation of mat-tods, is a nore or less formulated set of intuitions about the nature of the phenomena being studied* In our work, these intuitions represent a philosophical position! that the primary characteristic of experiencing is interaction; that interaction is controlled by the tot-al patterning of circumstances in the universe studied} that the individual is the locus of a modifiable pattern of directional influences; that the "total" situation" is a stntc of the group culture, complete with conscious and preconscijus agreements; that indiviQual's behaviors presented to the croup are sumptcmatic of :yocesses of integration of immediate experiencing in the present ;roup vrith habits and learnings from previous exocriences ia other groups (and cultures); and that affiliations among individual represent interdependent reinforcement of channels lor (needneftting) action* In operation, this position requires a continuously "vhclistic" view; emphasis upon dynamics (e.g. emotional and motivational processes) and purposes (i.e. quality of experience sought); and a tendency to think of the < roup as a system of inter-relationships among individuals who are themselves sub-systems* More specifically, as applied to method, a number of relevant features* in order of their appearance in this document, may be pointed tot 1* "?hc elimination of uie cognition-emotion dichotomy in favor of the "work-emotionality" continuum (after 3ion) t 2« The perception of this pattern as descriotive both of group culture and of individual participation, and the notion that the description must oe given sequentially rather than cumulatively, (This is the definition of the "situation".) 3« The perceotion of verbal content as symptomatic oniyi and its use to deck inferences about the quality of experiencing rather than its use as the basis of such inferences.U« The recognition that a changed quality of group experiencing must also mean a chanced pattern of participation! raid the use of this principle for objective unitization of meetincs. 5»The recopnition that the building of group culture must proceed through the integration of varied qualities of experience (which, among them, provide opportunities for all to participate); and the development of means to represent and study these shifts from unit to unit, 6. The description of indivioual "personality in the sane terms as the definition of the croup interaction, with consequently greater power of preaicting individual contribution to group process. 7© The recognition that interpersonal affiliations nay be actually based on shared sucultures oriented around core conflicts (e"f> dependencycounterd...