Facilitating successful focus groups requires both science and art. One element that can fully challenge focus group facilitators includes how to handle the unfocused focus group. This article describes "unfocus" and the benefits and disadvantages of unfocus in focus groups. Lessons learned from and approaches taken on this journey are shared to…

Defines dispersion as the degree to which the membership of an organization is spatially distributed and contends that employees' attitudes within an organization are affected by their employment level and the relative level of dispersion of their work location. (Available from the Journal of Applied Communications Research, Ed., Drawer NJ,…

This study looks at the relationship between the size of the small interacting group (in numbers of persons) and its environment; in this case, the density of its immediate population. Results indicated a significant inverse relationship between population density and the size of small interacting groups. (Author)

Systematic methods are needed for studying group development over time. The method described here permits interpretive description of a group session, useful both for feedback to the group and for further study of group processes. (Author)

Sources of variation in two measures of ethnic-group cohension are explored. The general model of the breakdown of ethnic-group cohension suggested by an older literature is not supported. A relatively simple model develops in which formal education plays a dominant role." (Author)

Under the assumption that traditional approaches to organizational structure have provided little insight into how structure might affect individual attitudes and behavior, this paper describes communication patterns within organizational structures and develops a network approach as a means by which individual response to traditional structural…

The question whether individual study of risk problems (familiarization) leads to greater risk taking was investigated. Several explanations of the risk taking shifts are explicit in their requirement for group or social interaction. Investigations of whether risk shifts can be produced in the absence of group interaction have produced conflicting…

Summarizes research on small group processes by giving a comprehensive account of the types of variables primarily studied in the laboratory. These include group structure, group composition, group size, and group relations. Considers effects of power, leadership, conformity to social norms, and role relationships. (Author/AV)

Two-level data sets are frequently encountered in social and behavioral science research. They arise when observations are drawn from a known hierarchical structure, as when individuals are randomly drawn from groups that are randomly drawn from a target population. When the covariance structures in the group level and the individual level are the…

A COMPREHENSIVE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS DEVELOPED, ANALYZED, AND TESTED TO BE USED FOR PORTRAYING THE "ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE" OF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. IT WAS STATED FIGURATIVELY THAT PERSONALITY IS TO THE INDIVIDUAL AS "CLIMATE" IS TO THE ORGANIZATION. OVER 70 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS WERE CHOSEN FROM VARIOUS REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES…

The separation of men's work from a family setting brings about greater female involvement in ties with relatives. Two specific hypotheses about sibling relationships developed from this laterality hypothesis were tested with data from an urban Finnish sample." (Author)

Summarizes research comparing boundaries around larger and smaller groups. Finds that the perception of group boundary permatbility varies with group size. Reports a greater perceived distinction between the group and the individual passerby as group size increases. Describes the effects of varying group member proximity. Discusses implications…