Multiple and single interaction dyadic research designs: Conceptual and analytic issues

During the last 2 decades, psychologists increasingly have studied human in teraction in a social rather than in an asocial context. Although this ecol ogical approach to the study of social interaction signifies the vitality o f social psychology, the design and analysis of this research presents chal lenges that are not encountered in an asocial context. This article surveys a set of multiple interaction designs and associated analytic strategies t hat permit estimation of individual and dyadic phenomena. In addition, new analytic approaches to the hierarchically nested dyadic design (a special c ase of the multiple interaction design) that is used in studies of personal relationships and behavior genetics are discussed.