SOCIOGRAM and AUTOBIOGRAPHY

A sociogram is a sociometric instrument which diagrammatically

inidicates the formation and changes of a group.

It is a map of interpersonal relationships and interpersonal lines of

communication.

It is a graphic representation of social links that a person has. It is a

graph drawing that plots the structure of interpersonal relations in

a group situation.

Five Basic Stages of Sociogram

A. Criterion Selection

B. Matrix Formation

C. Sociogram Charting

D. Analysis

E. Application

Criterion Selection

- “What” one wishes to measure, usually a question about some aspect of social

interaction.

Micro sociological norms of groups

Quantitative and qualitative vehicle which systematically brings the respondents to select

or reject other people whom they wish to participate in an activity.

Sociometric Matrix Formation

- A data summary sheet which systematically organizes the choices and/or rejections as presented by each respondent.

- It a multicellular chart with two margins in which the respondents’ names are listed: one at the left vertical margin and the other at the top, proceeding horizontally.

- Each chooser’s responses are indicated in the cell that intersects with the name of his sociometric choice.

It is very economical to use the matrix to locate the sociometric stars, rejectees, and

isolates.

The sociometric stars are those people who have received the largest number of positive

choices.

The sociometric rejectees receive the largest number of negative choices.

The sociometric isolates are those people who have received no positive or negative

choices, and they have made no choices.

Among the circles and triangles are connecting straight lines

called vectors The vectors represent the type and

direction of each person’s choice. Positive choices are

symbolically represented with red vectors pointing toward the

person chosen. Negative selections are shown via black

vectors. Neutral selections are depicted via blue vectors. A

hatch mark indicates reciprocity.

When two people select one another a red line with

a hatch mark reveals mutual attraction. A black line

intersected by a hatch is the symbol for mutual

rejection. A blue line with a hatch mark is mutual

neutrality. Any combination of choices is linked with

a hatched line. If a quantitative criterion is included,

e.g., time spent, the number should accompany the

symbol .

Sociogram Charting

Types of Sociogram

1. Classic Sociogram

2. Target Sociogram

TYPES OF SOCIOGRAM

Classic Sociogram

-drawn on any plain rectangular

page

-Sociometric stars are located

toward the center of the page

with succeeding graduations

moving toward the periphery.

-Isolates are charted at the edges

of the page.

Target Sociogram

-a modification of Moreno’s sociogram.

-differs in design rather than method

-Instead of locating the triangles and circles freely on a page, concentric circles are preestablished to resemble a bulls-eye target and the symbols are placed in the appropriate circle.

-Stars are placed in the innermost or center-most circle.

-Isolates are placed in the largest or outer circle (farthest from the bulls-eye). Non-stars and non-isolates are placed in the circles in a gradient fashion-from greates number of choices to fewest number.

-Each circle represents a “number-of –choices-received” range.

D. Analysis

Analyzing a sociogram depends

upon what one is hoping to find.

One may be searching for dyads

(pairs), triangles (grouping of

threes), squares (foursomes),

isolates, stars, or chains (inte-

linking people).

Application

Before implementing a sociogram into action, if there is an action criterion, remember that criteria are frequently only applicable to the time of administration and the

conditions which surrounded the driteria. If a long interval of time passes before

applying the criterion, the choices might change and render the sociogram

inapplicable. Also, people might be added to or deleted from the social network which was used during the sociometric selections and again validate its implementation.

If the participants of a sociometric investigation which feedback via the sociogram, the

administrator needs to carefully explain the rationale of sociometric procedure, the

inherent limitations of this tool and receive total consensus from the participants that

feedback is desired. Failure on the part of the administrator to respond to these three

explanations may antagonize the participants, destroy their trust, and perhaps cause

someone unnecessary pain, embarrassment or exposure.

SOCIOMETRY IN THE CLASSROOM

SOCIOGRAM INTERPRETATION AND TERMINOLOGY

One might note that the basic terminology which follows can be broken down into two

categories, Stars, Isolates and Ghosts (A, B and C) are terms which describe individual

children or INDIVIDUAL PHENOMENA, while mutual choices, chains, islands and triangles (D, E,

F and G) are attributes of social interaction within a group or GROUP PHENOMENA.

I. INDIVIDUAL PHENOMENA

A. Stars. When several children "positively" nominate the same

person the many arrows all lead to that person thus

emphasizing their "starness". They are the center or "hub of

attraction." We call them "stars." Judy and Justin are the stars

in Figure 14. In the case of a "negative nomination," we might

want to note the individual with several arrows as a "negative

Star".

B. Isolates. Children who have not been "positively"

nominated by anyone in the group are usually defined as

"isolates". Note that they have already been somewhat

defined in the discussion of the Target Technique in STEP 4

(Neglected Children). Placing them on the fringes or outer

edges of the sociogram visually emphasizes there "isolation"

within the context of the classroom group.

One could discern their status from the Bar Graph of STEP 3 or the

Target Technique of STEP 4 with no need to see a sociogram,

however, we would not know who their positive nor their negative

nominations are unless we made a sociogram. This is useful

information if any intervention is going to be attempted. This term,

ISOLATE, is usually not used to describe children who receive no

"negative" nominations.

Children who receive no positive or negative nominations are called

"Ghosts." Of course, if you do not solicit negative nomination

information you will not no the difference between a "Ghost" and an

"Isolate."

C. GHOSTS. As described above in "B" a Ghost is a person who is not even acknowledged as

being in the classroom. Noone positively nominates them and they receive no negative

nominations. However, they do make nominations. In effect, they might as well not even be

in the classroom.

2. GROUP PHENOMENA

D. MUTUAL CHOICES. These consist of pairs of children who chose each other. In FIGURE 11

we can see that Mike chooses Jim and Sam chose Victor. If one is not interested in

distinguishing between 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices, there may be many mutual choices in a

sociogram. The more there are the more congenial the group is and thus there may be a

greater positive social climate to the classroom. Obviously, mutual negative choices are

dangerous situations to be avoided, corrected by intervention, or at least used as useful

knowledge when grouping children with each other.

E. CHAINS. A chain is when one person nominates another who in turn nominates another

child, etc. Examples from FIGURE 14 would be Garry - June - Doris - Judy - Nelda. This term is

usually reserved for describing the 1st level nominations only. Chains have a tendency to lead

toward a "Star".

F. ISLANDS. When pairs (mutual choices) or small groups are separated from the larger

patterns, and members of this group are not nominated by anyone in other patterns, we

describe them as "Islands." Examples in FIGURE 14 would be Victor - Sam - Millard, and Mike -

Jim - Harry. Once again, this term is usually reserved for describing 1st level nominations.

G. TRIANGLES and CIRCLES. When a chain comes back on itself by having the last person

nominate the first, we call it a TRIANGLE if it involves only three people. If there are more than

three people we call it a CIRCLE. An example of a Triangle in FIGURE 14 would be Norris -

Justin - Sol - Norris.

Construction

To construct a class sociogram, ask each pupil to confidentially list two students to work with

on an activity. The topic does not matter; in most cases the social relationships will be

relatively constant regardless of the activity. Make sure they put their own name on the top of

the paper.

Write up this data as a chart. Different-sized circles, as in the diagram, give visual impact to

these relationships and make it easy to discern the various degrees of popularity. This can be

done either on a computer, or by hand tracing. Arrows indicate who is choosing who.

Isolates

One of the alerts a teacher gets from this is that there are both boys and girls – the isolates –who no one has chosen or who have only been chosen by another isolate. While it is wise to have a certain degree of philosophical scepticism in making initial assumptions about isolates, they are a cause for concern.

Isolates can lack the social skills to make friendly overtures to their peers, and because of this inability, they will tend to be unhappy. This unhappiness will not just shut down academic learning, which is serious enough, it could also lead disruptive behaviour or, in a worse-case scenario to self harm or suicide. Thus when the sociogram establishes isolates, it is the teacher’s responsibility to react.

One uncomplicated solution is to attempt to integrate isolates into a group that they have shown interest in. In the girls’ group, top right, an attempt could be made to integrate either Lill or Livie or both in this way. However, such integration requires more than just arbitrarily inserting the islolate in a group. Teacher initiative will be crucial. Perhaps if an isolate is quiet and writes well she could be given the task of being the group’s scribe. This not only gives the girl a purpose, and through that some confidence, it also frees group members from having to take on what they may see as an onerous task and may give them some sense of gratitude to the scribe.

Another way would be to provide for small group activities and set the group number at four and arbitrarily mix in the isolates. Provided the teacher has set the group dynamics up in such a way that team work is required integration has a real chance of success.

However, the isolate may need careful instruction in social skills – the skills of emotional intelligence.

Girls and boys separation

Another alert is the clear division between the boys and the girls. Is this is what is wanted? Obviously it is a co-ed school so what does that imply? Is it an example of what Chris Argyris calls the gap between the espoused theory and the theory in action? Is the espoused theory that boys and girls are better off in a school where the genders are mixed? If so this shows that the theory in practice is not so.

If the genders are to be mixed, serious teacher reflection is needed before taking any action. If an instruction was given simply to choose a boy and a girl to work with a worse situation could arise if the decisions were made on a boyfriend/girlfriend basis. Reflection may suggest that in this case the gap between espoused theory and theory in practice is best left as it is, and gender issues and compatibility be addressed somewhere else.

Check out the group dynamics

There are several quite tight groups which may well merit some degree of philosophical scepticism.

Are these groups “cliques” only interested in being exclusive, maintaining boundaries to keep their exclusivity, or worse still being antagonistic toward others?

Who is the go to girl in the classroom? In a sociogram she would have by far the greatest number of arrows seeking her out. Yet beneath the radar her influence could be self serving, her ability to put down others sophisticated.

Graham Nuttal’s research, noted in his The Hidden Lives of Learners book, records the action of such a girl. A boy is having trouble spelling the word Sahara. He asks for her help. She carefully spells the word that subtlety reinforces her elite status. If that is not bad enough once he has the word she turns on the pressure by saying, “Why couldn’t you have copied it yourself? It’s on the White Board dumb ass!”

Sadly, Nuttal notes, the classroom teacher was unaware of all this.

For this girl it’s all about power, personal power, rather the empathy that holds a classroom together.

On the other hand those who are popular may well be part of a positive group fully integrated into the classroom culture, a catalyst for good. Both inside and outside their group, such individuals would be intent on “making the day” for both themselves and others. This is not dramatic stuff. Making their day starts with a cheerful “hello” or “good morning” together with a friendly welcoming smile. Likewise being there for them is more about simple, everyday things than dramatic happenings, for example, providing a pen or pencil when someone has forgotten theirs or the lead has broken.

Teachers should look for these positive behaviours, too, and reinforce them. In a general way a poster on the wall about making their day or being there for them would be a good backup.

Link to Habits of Mind

Teacher monitoring of the verbal interaction between the group, and the body language

accompanying it, should occur outside the classroom as well. If there is no smoke, no harm

has been done.

If there is the teacher is alerted early to the jockeying for dominance and power that will be

the antitheses of being kind and helpful. Then the teacher might give special attention to

Habits of Mind such as listening with understanding and empathy, and thinking

interdependently to have the students valuing each other, and working in a collegially

mutual interdependent way.

A teacher’s job does not start and end with the curriculum. The social side of the classroom is

perhaps equally important. The school is the sea. The students are the fish. If the sea is not

kept at the right temperature the fish will die! Sociograms won’t necessarily give the teacher

the answer, but they will certainly show where to look.