A sociometric study in a group of preschool children is carried out in a playful way. Children are encouraged to give gifts to each other in confidence. Taking into account the peculiarities of the age when volitional processes in children are still underdeveloped, and not every child can keep information secret for now, the educator organizes collective activities with them during the game: reading, drawing or listening to music.
A sociometric survey is conducted by a researcher who is little familiar with a team of children. It is not recommended to carry out this procedure to the group teacher, as When distributing gifts, children can focus not on their desire, but on the opinion of the group educator. The researcher has a table prepared in advance on the table that includes the list of children. The method of sociometry involves the choice of three peers by children, to whom he would give one gift. The table is marked with the numbers 1, 2 and 3 made choices. As gifts, children can give cards, colorful illustrations, stickers or decals.
Preschoolers react painfully if they are left without gifts. Therefore, before the start of the game, the children are instructed that they should give three of their friends one picture, but someone will also put a gift in the locker for them. The researcher stocks up additional cards in case the children leave someone without a gift. A sociometric survey includes a number of questions:
1) Who would you give a gift to first ? Second? To the third? Why to him?
2) If you had the opportunity to all the children to make a gift, but one card would not be enough. Who wouldn’t have had a card? Why?
After the sociometric survey is completed, the child does not return to the group, but goes into the next room to the children who have already passed the procedure. This is done in order to prevent children from agreeing on who to give gifts to. The game process itself can be carried out in the locker room, where each preschooler has his own locker or in the classroom, where the children have permanent places, and special signed folders are prepared for gifts.
A sociometric survey is conducted to identify positive and negative choices by each child. The researcher estimates the reciprocity of the election, i.e. establishes friendships. Additionally, it tracks the relations of boys and girls, analyzes the causes of negative elections, which is possible, and is the cause of conflicts, negative relations among preschool children.
Sociometry is also the determination of the status of children in a group. The more gifts a child receives from their peers (the number of choices), the higher their status. Four status groups are identified: leaders, preferred, adopted, and rejected children. Leaders usually have 4-5 or more gifts, and outcasts do not receive a single one. The teacher, together with the researcher, analyzes the reasons for the rejection of children, their rejection in the team. The cause may be the incidence of a child who rarely visits the group, inability to play with peers, an unkempt appearance or aggressive behavior.
Based on the results of the study, the teacher and psychologist draw up a plan of correctional work with children who are in the status of outcasts. The results of the Secret game can also indirectly indicate the style of the teacher’s relationship with the children. So, if a group has many leaders and outcasts, the teacher’s style can be considered authoritarian, and if there is a uniform distribution of children among status groups - democratic.
A sociometric study can be supplemented by observations of children's play activities , diagnostic conversations with children about friendship.