An evaluation of H. Turk's theory of the correlation between instrumental status & popularity status
Samenvatting
The theories of H. Turk (see SA A2752 & A2690), on the r between instrumental status (I-status) & popularity status (L-status) could be summarized in 2 theses: (1) The r between I- & L-status will be greater, as the involvement of group members with the task of the group is greater. (2) There is a causal relation between instrumental & liking behavior. Surveys on the relation between I- & L-status did not produce consistent results. Since the methodology, level of testing operationalization & specificity of the groups (psychiatric nurses) are open to critical remarks, it is useful to retest Turk's important theories. A postal questionnaire was sent twice to the members of 108 volley ball teams playing in the competition in 1967 -- 68. Both I-status & L-status were measured by rating the judgments by all members of the team on all members of their team. 4 hyp's were derived from Turk's theory: (A) An individual who is strongly involved with a group task will show a higher r between instrumental & liking judgments of the members of his group than an individual with a lower task involvement (individual level). (B) The r between instrumental & liking ranking will be greater (group level). (C) In groups with high mean task involvement there will be more liking for the instrumental leader than in groups with lower mean involvement (group level). (D) In groups with high mean task involvement there will be less liking for the instrumentally less useful group member than in groups with low involvement. The hyp's were tested with Kendall's test of concordance, Wilcoxon's matched pairs signed rank test, the Mann Whitney test, Spearman's coefficient of rank r, & Freund's t-test, depending upon the nature of the material, & the level of testing (individual or group level). It was concluded that Turk's theory, tested on the level of the individual, is not confirmed. The theory is confirmed if the hyp's are tested at the group level. Hyp (C) is confirmed, hyp (D) is not confirmed. There is a reasonable ground to accept Turk's first thesis (r between I- & L-structure is a function of task involvement of a group). By the survey the 2nd thesis by Turk (liking in task groups is determined by instrumental valuation) is supported. H. Van de Belt.
