Interdisciplinary Insights Into Group and Team Dynamics

Small group and team dynamics revealed: Bridging group research and computer science

Despite a wealth of research efforts, dynamics in groups are still difficult to capture. Group interactions are generally more complex and much harder to study than individual behavior. Group researchers who rely on videotaped and audiotaped group interactions often struggle with the sheer volume of fine-grained temporal interaction data. Computer scientists working in the area of social signal processing have been making significant advances in the analysis of small group interaction, particularly in controlled settings. However, field applications of these developments are still lacking, and big data processing in automated small group analysis has thus far been underexplored in group research.

To address these issues, this workshop will unite group and computer science scholars who use video and audio data to study interactions in small groups. The aim of this workshop is to initiate a joint research agenda. We will start by building a common language and understanding the goals of each discipline. Second, we will compare and contrast approaches to the analysis of small group interactions. Third, we will describe practically applicable workflows that will enable social scientists and computer scientists on this topic to work efficiently, avoiding the pitfalls that have occurred for others. We want to inspire new interdisciplinary approaches that embrace automation and consider the trade-offs between obtaining clean controlled sensor data and accurate data interpretation in less controlled and more ecologically valid settings.

Examples of research questions that we can explore during the workshop include the following:

Ø  To what degree are our technological advances congruent with social science methods of data collection and analysis?

Ø  How can individual measures of vocalics and other nonverbal behaviors be captured and analyzed at the group level?

Ø  How can nonverbal behaviors be measured with technology that can easily be used in the field (as opposed to the lab)?

Ø  Can technological measures identify and track group interactions as members evaluate information, address conflict, and develop decisions?