RECONSIDERATION OF THE USE OF PEER SOCIOMETRICS FOR EVALUATING SOCIAL-SKILLS TRAINING - IMPLICATIONS OF AN IDIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF TEMPORAL STABILITY

Social-skills training studies using sociometric procedures as depende nt measures have often yielded mixed results as to the improvement of the subjects. Failure to document improvement in peer acceptance subse quent to behavior change has led some to question the validity of soci al-skills interventions, whereas others have questioned the psychometr ic properties of the measures themselves. This study examined the temp oral stability of the two major types of peer measures used in social- skills interventions studies: peer-nomination measures of liking and p eer-rating measures of liking. Subjects were 87 children in three four th-grade and two fifth-grade classrooms. Temporal stability was assess ed across time intervals of 2, 6, and 8 weeks. Temporal stability was examined as it traditionally has been at the group level (using Pearso n product-moment correlations), and at the level at which data are nor mally examined for change in social-skills interventions, at the level of the individual child (using phi and Cramer's V coefficients). Asse ssed at the group level, the three types of peer measures were general ly moderately to highly stable. Stability coefficients for individual children's scores on the peer measures, however, indicated instability at the level of the individual child. These problems regarding stabil ity at the individual, idiographic level may be especially relevant wh en sociometric procedures are used as dependent measures in individual subject design studies. Conceptual and practical implications of the findings for the assessment of social-skills interventions are discuss ed.