This paper describes a brief measure of Bales's three SYMLOG dimensions. A sample of 204 undergraduates with a mean age of 24.7 yr., 72.4% of whom were women, completed the usual version of the SYMLOG Trait Rating Form. This could also be scored as if it were a simplified version, omitting some items. The Simplified Measure of the SYMLOG Trait Rating Form correlated fairly highly with the full form—with r between .87 and .89 for the corresponding versions of all three scale dimension scores—making it a suitable substitute for research or illustrative purposes on occasions when respondents' time is of the essence.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BalesK. F.CohenS. P. (1979) SYMLOG: a system for the multiple level observation of groups. New York: Free Press.
2.
BlumbergH. H. (2001) The common ground of natural language and social interaction in personality description. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, 289–312.
3.
BlumbergH. H.HareA. P. (2005) Reliability of value, trait, and behavior forms. In HareA. P.SjvoldE.BakerH. G.PowersJ. P. (Eds.), Analysis of social interaction systems: SYMLOG research and applications. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Pp. 463–481.
4.
HareS. E.HareA. P. (1996) SYMLOG field theory: organizational consultation, value differences, personality and social perception. Westport, CT: Praeger.
5.
HarrisR. J. (1985) A primer of multivariate statistics. (2nd ed.) Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
6.
SchmittN. (1996) Uses and abuses of coefficient alpha. Psychological Assessment, 8, 350–353.
