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Article Excerpt
Perceptions of children and teachers were examined to address concerns regarding children's welfare following sociometric testing. Third-graders (N = 91) were interviewed; teachers also reported on each child's responses to the testing. Results indicate that children were not hurt or upset by the testing, most enjoyed the procedures, did not feel that their peers treated them any differently following the testing, and understood their research rights. There were no relations between social preference as determined by peer nominations and teacher- and self-reported responses to sociometric testing. The implications of these results for the design and implementation of careful, ethical sociometric research with children are discussed.
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Researchers interested in the dynamics of children's peer groups rely heavily on sociometric methods of data collection. Sociometric assessment requires participants to nominate which of their peers possess a variety of positive and negative behavioral characteristics as well as which peers they like and (sometimes) which peers they dislike (e.g., Coie, Dodge, & Coppotelli, 1982). Children are ideal informants regarding the behaviors of their peers because they offer a unique perspective. Children can easily observe peers engaging in subtle behaviors, those behaviors that children are successful at hiding from their parents or teachers, and behaviors that occur only in the peer context. Similarly, although parents and teachers often have an accurate general impression of children's levels of peer acceptance, children themselves provide the most valid assessments of peer status.
Sociometric methods such as peer nominations and peer ratings are arguably paradoxical. Whereas their aim is to help researchers better understand the processes of peer acceptance and rejection with the ultimate goal of helping all children feel accepted, in addition they require children not only to think about peers and experiences that have possibly caused them great pain but also to report them to outsiders (albeit confidentially). Asking children to report on the negative behaviors of peers, such as aggression and delinquency, is vital to our understanding of how these behaviors are related to peer rejection and maladjustment (see Coie & Dodge, 1998; Parker & Asher, 1987).
The primary goal of this research was to examine the ethics of sociometric testing. This study contributes to the extant literature on this topic in three unique ways. First, we investigate children's and teachers' perceptions of emotional responses to the testing, whether children and teachers report that children were treated differently following sociometric testing, and whether children understood their research rights as participants as well as test for gender and peer status differences. Second, we use a multi-informant approach that includes data from both children and their teachers. Third, we use a combination of rating scales and open-ended interviews in order to measure both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the sociometric experience.
An Ethical Analysis of Sociometric Testing
Peer researchers are sensitive to the potential harm done to children by negative nominations and include a number of safeguards in their procedures, in keeping with their ethical responsibilities (Bell-Dolan & Wessler, 1994; see also Underwood, Mayeux, Risser, & Harper, 2006, for an extensive discussion of how American Psychological Association guidelines relate to sociometric research). Safeguards include explaining confidentiality, conducting the testing before a structured activity to minimize discussion and rumination, and concluding the testing with positively valenced questions as distractors. In one survey of 145 researchers who use sociometric procedures, less than 5% reported any negative impact on their participants (Bell-Dolan & Wessler, 1994).
Despite scientists' convictions that sociometric testing poses few risks, educators, administrators, parents, and the children themselves often still have concerns. They may fear that nominating peers for negative behaviors poses more than an acceptable risk to children's psychological well-being by causing distress and perhaps by leading peers to treat one another more negatively. Unfortunately, few empirical studies have examined the effects of sociometric testing on children.
Do Children Have Negative Emotional Reactions to Sociometric Testing?
One study has investigated the possible negative effects of sociometrics on children's well-being (Bell-Dolan, Foster, & Sikora, 1989). Fifth-graders who participated in traditional sociometric testing and a control group of children who answered questions about the school subjects they liked and disliked were administered measures of mood and loneliness right before and after the surveys. The children were also observed interacting with each other following the procedures. Children who took part in sociometric testing did not differ from the control children in their reactions to the procedures. Further, there were no differences before or after testing in mood or loneliness.
In another study investigating children's opinions of sociometric testing, children who participated in sociometrics at the end of fifth grade were asked several questions about the experience during the beginning of sixth grade (Iverson & Iverson, 1996). Almost all of the children remembered participating in the testing, and most claimed to have enjoyed it. The children acknowledged that they enjoyed the negative nominations less than the positive nominations. Thus, the sparse evidence available suggests that children do not have strong, negative emotional reactions to sociometric testing.
Do Children Treat One Another Differently Following Sociometric Testing?
Another possible risk to children who complete sociometrics is more concrete. Children who nominate their peers for any kind of behavior or status are being asked to ponder those peers' behaviors for some length of time, and there may be some emotional or behavioral carryover effects after the sociometric testing is completed. For example, children who are nominated frequently as "liked least" may be treated more negatively following sociometric procedures because their aversive behaviors have been made more salient to their classmates.
This possibility has been considered in three empirical studies. Hayvren and Hymel (1984) collected behavioral observation data 5 weeks before, 10 minutes after, and 5 weeks after sociometric procedures among preschoolers. Although the children did act more positively toward well-liked than disliked peers after the procedures, they did not act more negatively toward disliked peers after the testing than before it. Furthermore, children were overheard discussing the positive nominations they had made but not their negative nominations. These findings were later replicated in the Bell-Dolan et al. (1989) study, which found no differences in the social interactions of fifth-graders following sociometric testing. In the Iverson and Iverson (1996) study described above, one-third of the children admitted to discussing their nominations with their peers following the testing. There were no social status differences in how the children perceived the testing. In sum, the limited evidence suggests that the dynamics of social interaction in the peer context do not appear to change in a negative way following testing, as assessed by observations and children's reports.
Do Children Understand Their Research Rights Related to Sociometric Testing?
Other aspects of children's responses to sociometric testing remain to be investigated. Many of the safeguards that researchers insist are necessary for protecting children from harm concern protecting children's research rights: informed consent, confidentiality, and voluntary participation (Bell-Dolan & Wessler, 1994). However, no published research to date examines whether children actually understand their research rights when they participate in classroom sociometric testing.
Most research on children's understanding of their participation in behavioral research has assessed procedures that are fairly innocuous. One study of children's understanding of research related to a study of recognition of errors in math problems found that third- and fifth-graders understood they had a choice whether to participate, that older children understood the purpose of the study better than younger children, and that some children were confused about who would benefit from the study (Nannis, 1991). In another series of studies in which children were questioned about their research rights in relation to studies of math and money skills and food preferences, children ages 5-12 understood what they were being asked to do (Abramovitch, Freedman, Thoden, & Nikolich, 1991). Younger children were less certain about confidentiality and how to stop participating if they wished. In a similar study with 7-12 year olds, participants ++were still unable to describe the risks and benefits of the study but were more clear about the purpose of the research (Abramovitch, Freedman, Henry, & Van Brunschot, 1995).
In one of the few studies to assess children's understanding of their research rights in relation to research that could pose more risk, children ages 8, 10, and 12 responded to questions about their research rights after giving informed consent and after debriefing in a study of children's responses to peer provocation (Hurley & Underwood, 2002). Most participants reported that they gave assent freely and perceived no undue pressure to participate. Older children understood confidentiality and what taking part in the study would involve; more younger children were confused on both of these points. Most children had difficulty describing the research goals even after debriefing.
Researchers who use sociometric procedures are careful to ensure that children understand the procedures they are about to take part in, that they understand that their responses are confidential, that they know they have the right to stop participating at any time without penalty, and indeed that they do not have to participate at all if they do not wish to (Bell-Dolan & Wessler, 1994). However, there is no empirical evidence that the children who have participated in sociometric testing are fully aware of their research rights.
The Current Research
The current study aims to extend the findings of previous studies by reporting data from a detailed structured interview that was administered to children an average of about 15 weeks following sociometric testing in the spring of third grade. Questions focused on children's emotional reactions to the...
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