Procedures in which children individually nominate the peers whom they like (attraction) and dislike (repulsion) the most. In other words, they establish a child’s status in his or her peer group in terms of popularity or rejection. The most widely used sociometric procedure is that to found in Coie, J.D., & Dodge, K.A. (1983). Continuities and change in children’s social status: a five year longitudinal study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 29, 261-282. It involves asking children to rate how much they like or dislike each of their classmates, ratings that are then used to assign them to one of five groups: Popular, Rejected, Neglected (not particularly liked or disliked, but tend to go unnoticed), Average (average number of both positive and negative nominations), and Controversial (liked by a few children, but disliked by a few). Another procedure is Walsh’s Classroom Sociometrics, which is computer program that analyses nominations so that children are automatically classified into one of the five Coie and Dodge groups. Much sociometric research with children is longitudinal in design so that the long-term consequences of popularity or rejection by peers can be determined, as well as means of monitoring the effects of interventions. Some methodological problems have been identified with sociometric procedures such as the potential for a response bias if names are presented for rating in alphabetical order. Sociometry was the brain child of the psychotherapist Jacob Levy Moreno (1889-1974) who was interested how social structures impinged on feelings of psychological well-being. His main methodological innovation was the sociogram (a way of graphically displaying social links that a person has in a group).
See Attractions, Friendship, Indifference, Peer group, Peers, Pupil Evaluation Inventory, Revised Class Play, Socialization, Social network