A study of randomly selected "Donahue" shows revealed how host Phil Donahue interacts with several parties at one time and how he subordinates various interactions to suit the hierarchy of importance he attributes to each party, with the television viewer being the most important. Donahue organizes his body movement mainly for television…

Research is in progress on oral interactive discourse, that is, discourse produced by several participants working in collaboration. The intent of the research is to investigate how the discourse is organized at several different levels of structure (acts, sequences of acts, interactive structure, propositional content, and formal realizations).…

Researchers are now attempting to improve techniques for studying stable behavior patterns in family systems over long periods of time, e.g., the marital dyad across several levels of function and dysfunction covering time periods of months to years. One approach to improving this research design is based on the assumptions that longitudinal…

This document presents an overview and progress report on the Family Research Project, started in 1974 to (1) study the relationship between family process and individual development of family members, especially children, (2) conceptualize and measure system level variables describing family structure and process, (3) develop microanalytic…

In addition to assessing observed communication behaviors, this paper suggests that SYMLOG--a System for the Multiple Level Observation of Groups--can be used by participant-observers as a foil for interpreting how their own value orientations affect their data collecting and theorizing. The first section of the paper examines the research role…

A study was conducted to describe the speech patterns of four adolescent girls. All four subjects were in the same eighth grade class and knew each other. Approximately 19 hours of observational data and 9 hours of interview data were collected. The descriptive framework of D. Hymes (1972), which focuses specifically on settings, participants,…

Taking a Rogerian approach, hypothesizing that groups develop through patterns similar to individuals' and that group maturity fosters excellence in learning, the authors offer criteria for analyzing group processes which may be translated into appropriate evaluative devices. One such device currently being used by adult educators is illustrated.…

This study focused on the role played by two factors--interpersonal attractiveness of group members and pattern of distribution of task-relevant information--in forming an influence base in task-oriented discussion groups. For purposes of the study, members of discussion groups who were confederates in the study were assigned attitudinal…

This study investigates the reactive effects of observers on interactions between teachers (undergraduates and mothers) and toddlers in a preventive educational program. Findings indicate that the presence of an observer differentially affects interactional patterns in the home. More specifically, undergraduates and toddlers are relatively…

A multi-aged primary classroom environment was observed to determine (1) the degree to which teacher behaviors specified by developers of an adaptive learning environment (ALE) are actually exhibited by the teachers, (2) the nature of classroom processes and interactions between teachers and students in an ALE, and (3) the extent to which…

This study was concerned with student perceptions of teacher warmth through verbal, nonverbal, and combined channels of communication, and with the identification of nonverbal cues that contributed to students' perceptions of teacher warmth. The study is based on the assumption that teaching is a communicative process that is facilitated by the…

Video-taped samples of two help-oriented groups were rated for six leader and participant facilitating behaviors and therapeutic process (self-exploration). As manifested by leaders and participants, two help-oriented behaviors were significantly correlated. Four leader behaviors were positively correlated with participant self-exploration,…

Research in crisis intervention has prescribed how trained but non-professional individuals should and do act in a crisis situation. The present study, however, focused on the types of responses untrained helpers use to respond to the crisis of another individual. Results indicate that types of responses vary significantly, with probing and…

The social world of the aged SRO tenant is described and analyzed. Characteristic features include an impoverishment of social roles and relationships which result in a "world of strangers." Dominant norms of SRO life which preclude the establishment of intimacy are examined; these include prescriptive norms of privacy, freedom, and…