Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research
Studying group decision-making is challenging for multiple reasons. An important logistic difficulty is studying a sufficiently large number of groups, each with multiple participants. Assembling groups online could make this process easier and also provide access to group members more representativ...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2012-09-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500006379/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797697896389279744 |
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| author | Michel J. J. Handgraaf Kerry F. Milch Kirstin C. Appelt Philip Schuette Nicole A. Yoskowitz Elke U. Weber |
| author_facet | Michel J. J. Handgraaf Kerry F. Milch Kirstin C. Appelt Philip Schuette Nicole A. Yoskowitz Elke U. Weber |
| author_sort | Michel J. J. Handgraaf |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Studying group decision-making is challenging for multiple reasons. An important logistic difficulty is studying a sufficiently large number of groups, each with multiple participants. Assembling groups online could make this process easier and also provide access to group members more representative of real-world work groups than the sample of college students that typically comprise lab Face-to-Face (FtF) groups. The main goal of this paper is to compare the decisions of online groups to those of FtF groups. We did so in a study that manipulated gain/loss framing of a risky decision between groups and examined the decisions of both individual group members and groups. All of these dependent measures are compared for an online and an FtF sample. Our results suggest that web-conferencing can be a substitute for FtF interaction in group decision-making research, as we found no moderation effects of communication medium on individual or group decision outcome variables. The effects of medium that were found suggest that the use of online groups may be the preferred method for group research. To wit, discussions among the online groups were shorter, but generated a greater number of thought units, i.e., they made more efficient use of time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:46:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6b79c4c0d95140b397cd57cf653927ef |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:46:30Z |
| publishDate | 2012-09-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-6b79c4c0d95140b397cd57cf653927ef2023-09-03T12:44:20ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752012-09-01765966810.1017/S1930297500006379Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision researchMichel J. J. Handgraaf0Kerry F. Milch1Kirstin C. Appelt2Philip Schuette3Nicole A. Yoskowitz4Elke U. Weber5Social Sciences Group, Wageningen University, and Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, Columbia UniversityCenter for Research on Environmental Decisions, Columbia UniversityCenter for Research on Environmental Decisions, Columbia UniversityDepartment of Psychology, University of AmsterdamDepartment of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityDepartment of Psychology and Graduate School of Business, Columbia UniversityStudying group decision-making is challenging for multiple reasons. An important logistic difficulty is studying a sufficiently large number of groups, each with multiple participants. Assembling groups online could make this process easier and also provide access to group members more representative of real-world work groups than the sample of college students that typically comprise lab Face-to-Face (FtF) groups. The main goal of this paper is to compare the decisions of online groups to those of FtF groups. We did so in a study that manipulated gain/loss framing of a risky decision between groups and examined the decisions of both individual group members and groups. All of these dependent measures are compared for an online and an FtF sample. Our results suggest that web-conferencing can be a substitute for FtF interaction in group decision-making research, as we found no moderation effects of communication medium on individual or group decision outcome variables. The effects of medium that were found suggest that the use of online groups may be the preferred method for group research. To wit, discussions among the online groups were shorter, but generated a greater number of thought units, i.e., they made more efficient use of time.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500006379/type/journal_articlecomputer-mediated communicationface-to-face communicationframing effectsdecision makinggroup decisions |
| spellingShingle | Michel J. J. Handgraaf Kerry F. Milch Kirstin C. Appelt Philip Schuette Nicole A. Yoskowitz Elke U. Weber Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research Judgment and Decision Making computer-mediated communication face-to-face communication framing effects decision making group decisions |
| title | Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research |
| title_full | Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research |
| title_fullStr | Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research |
| title_short | Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research |
| title_sort | web conferencing as a viable method for group decision research |
| topic | computer-mediated communication face-to-face communication framing effects decision making group decisions |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500006379/type/journal_article |
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