The purpose of this research has been to determine the influence of verbal and nonverbal behavior on power and status within small groups. The interactions which took place within five small groups of students in a middle school spatial reasoning elective were analyzed. Verbal responses to requests for help were analyzed using sequential analysis software. Results indicated that the identity of the child asking a question or requesting help in some form or another is a better predictor of whether he/she will receive help than the type of questions he/she asks. Nonverbal behavior was analyzed for social gestures, body language, and shifts in possession of tools. Each nonverbal act was coded as either ?positive? (encouraging participation) or ?negative? (discouraging participation); and, the researchers found that in groups in which there was unequal participation and less ?help? provided among peers (according to the verbal analysis results) there tended to be more ?negative? nonverbal behavior demonstrated than in groups in which ?shared talk time? and ?helping behavior? were common characteristics of the norm. The combined results from the analyses of the verbal and nonverbal behavior of students within small groups were then reviewed through the conflict, power, status perspective of small group interactions in order to determine some common characteristics of high functioning (collaborative) and low functioning (non-collaborative) groups. Some common characteristics of the higher functioning groups include: few instances of conflict, shared ?talk time? and decision making, inclusive leadership, frequent use of encouraging social gestures and body language, and more sharing of tools than seizing; while, some shared traits among the lower functioning groups include: frequent occurrences of interpersonal conflict, a focus on process (rather than content), persuasive or alienating leadership, unequal participation and power, frequent use of discouraging social gestures and body language, and more seizing of tools than sharing. While ?functionality? was easily defined, labeling groups according to this characteristic proved to be a more difficult task. Although there was clearly a ?highest functioning? and a ?lowest functioning? group among the five, the other three groups fell somewhere in between these two, along a continuum (dependent upon the day).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-11082007-042527 |
| Date | 07 December 2007 |
| Creators | Morris, Lynnae Carol |
| Contributors | William Grant, Gail Jones, John Park, Eric Wiebe, Glenda Carter |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11082007-042527/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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