Morenos Scientific Methodology

The Unsuspected Revolution.

Actively magic-poetic methodically scientific.
DRAFT Friday, 8 November, 2013
The chief methodological task of sociometry has been the revision
of the experimental method so that it can be applied effectively to
social phenomena.
(Moreno, 2012:39)

Abstract
This article aims to concisely describe J.L. Morenos philosophy of experimental design
and scientific method. Sociometry is central to Morenos social science and six principles
that guide sociometric research are described. Morenos social research methods have a
solid place in Morenos work and are a major contribution to social science. Greater
consciousness of Morenos scientific approach will strengthen and extend the
psychodramatic methods, social experiments and foster ethical social change.
Key Words
social science, scientific methodology, principles of sociometry, research, psychodrama,
experimental design.
Introduction
It did not strike me just how important Morenos scientific methodology was when I
discovered Who Shall Survive? Morenos seminal work at the start of my psychodrama
training. The book, first published in the early thirties emphasised a research method. My
personal therapy overwhelmed any attention to scientific methodology. I was not alone in
this, many people are hungry for therapy and thus psychodrama as personal development
is the best known of Morenos methods. I dismissed Morenos science talk as his need to
be seen as a credible person in the world. I no longer believe that was his motivation.
Science is at the core of his work. Moreno pioneered a paradigm of science that has not
made a shift into scientific consciousness.
In this article I will describe how Morenos philosophy of science and experimental
design is infused in his work and related to his concepts of warm up, action, spontaneity,
encounter, the power of the moment, and how to make a better world. Moreno is driven
by a quest to investigate human beings in a way is congruent with his understanding that
humans are not robots, that as agents with spontaneity they can't be known in the way we
know things. Moreno acknowledged his work was incomplete, and a world-wide project
a scheme well-nigh Utopian in concept (Moreno, 1978:121). Now, many decades later
there is a growing mistrust of research that in the psychosocial sphere (Greenberg, 2013)
because we are aware of the influence of financial interests. Understanding,
implementing and extending Morenos approach would lead to dramatic change in how
social research is evaluated and practiced.
Moreno, scientist
Moreno was not a scientist above all else. Some say Moreno was primarily a theatre
person (Scheiffele, 1995), a mystic (Schreiber, 2013:8) or a psychiatrist. Jonathan
D. Moreno introduces his father as "a religious prophet or a wizard or a guru ... he was all
of these and a scientist." (Moreno, 2011)
The prophet, wizard and guru can overshadow the scientist. Moreno was influenced by a
visionary experience, an idea fixe; a moment of insight:
I suffered from an idee fixe, from what might have been called
then an affectation, but of which might be said today, as the
harvest is coming in, that it was by "the grace of God." The idee
fixe became my constant source of productivity; it proclaimed
that there is a sort of primordial nature, which is immortal, and
returns afresh with every generation, a first universe which
contains all beings and in which all events are sacred. I liked that
enchanting realm and did not plan to leave it, ever.
Moreno, 2012:14
The mystical aspect is one half of the story. Further in the same book, The Future of Man,
Moreno describes exactly how he is motivated to investigate his own visionary
experience as a scientist.
I had a double task, to create, to produce the element within
myself first, to bring so to speak, the subjective-creative subject
matter to realization, then to isolate and investigate it. I began
to "warm up" to prophetic moods and heroic feelings, putting
them into my thoughts, my emotions, gestures and actions; it was
a sort of spontaneity research on the reality level.
Moreno, 2012:16
And the stage becomes and instrument for the research:
The theatre was a safe retreat for unsuspected revolution and
offered unlimited possibilities for spontaneity research on the
experimental level. Spontaneity could be tested and measured
Being brought up in a scientific environment I began to develop
hypotheses, procedures by which to test them and tests by which
to measure spontaneity. All this, not as a science for its own sake,
but as a preliminary and supplementary step for a theatre of
spontaneity which opened its gates to the worshipper of
immediate and creative genius.
Moreno 2012:17
The unsuspected revolution was that the stage offered a means for research. While there
is much of Morenos work that has been kidnapped, borrowed or duplicated this central
idea remains firmly in the psychodramatic community.
In the Preludes to Who Shall Survive?
I was fortunate to experience and act out firsthand during my
own life the transformation of a sacred into a secular cultural
order-a process which ordinarily lasts centuries of development.
The sociometric system gained in depth and clarity and was able
to combine the two extremes which have pervaded human
cultures, the concretely, actively magic-poetic, with the
objectively, methodically scientific.. Because I had lived through
two opposite cultural systems, first a sacred religious existence,
then a secular worldly existence, I could pass without difficulty
from religious into scientific thinking, in fact, they appeared like
two sides of the same coin. It is because the sociometric system
had first a religious character that all sociometric and
psychodramatic techniques were in their first format religious
and axiometric.
As I tried the
sociometric system first on the
universe and on the concept of God, its first manifesto was a
revolutionary religion, a change of the idea of the universe and
the idea of God. The God of Spinoza was not real and dynamic
enough
; his God was metric but void of
spontaneity and
creativity. The God of Jesus was further extended, the son
"withered away" until nothing was left except the universal
creativity of the Godhead and only one commandment: To each
according to what he is.*

* The postulates "each according to his needs or according to his
work capacity" still indicate a bias against all the potentialities of
the individual. The postulate above indicates an all-inclusive
acceptance of the individual "as he is."
: Moreno 1978:xxi
Moreno is explicit about the relation between his theology and science, he writes in a
preface to Das Stegreiftheater (Theatre of Spontaneity, first published in 1923) how that
book marked in my work the beginning of a new period: the transition from religious to
scientific writing. (Moreno 2010:17)
That he turned to scientific writing is no exaggeration. The title of the Journal he founded
is: Sociometry: A Journal of Inter-Personal Relations and Experimental Design.
1
He
wrote many articles with a focus on science. Who Shall Survive? (Moreno, 1978) is
devoted to describing the experimental method. Sociometry, Experimental Method and
the Science of Society. An Approach to a New Political Orientation. (Moreno, 1951), is a
treatise on method, in that book he says:
The experimental method in physics was furthered in the first half
of the seventeenth century, under the leadership of Galileo,
Bacon and Newton. The experimental method in the social
sciences was handicapped as long as it tried to follow the
physical model; it really got under way in the first half of the
twentieth century under the leadership of sociometry
(Moreno, 1951:13)
Moreno proposed a new methodology. He was convinced the scientific methods devised
for the physical sciences were not applicable to humans. His concepts: tele, warm
up, creativity, spontaneity, the here and now, encounter and action are interrelated
concepts that enable the exploration of human relationships.
Adam Blatner has reflected in some depth on Morenos idea fixe and methodologies and
concludes, as I do, that the imaginative qualities (Moreno refers to them as speculations,
Moreno, 1978:Foreword to the third Edition) are integrated with the scientific
methodological formulations, and relevant today:
Beyond this, I think he was on to something important: Moreno's
vision was of a kind of archetypal realm which synthesized the
Dionysian and the Apollonian, the egocentric, soul-amplifying
power of personal imagery and the social, organized, focusing
power of methodology. That these themes can be synthesized
through the vehicles of drama and the concretizing action
techniques of sociometry is still generally unrecognized in the
larger world. These ideas have tremendous relevance for the way
people deal with the known world, not just the social sciences,
but the arts and indeed all human endeavors. They have practical
implications, but deserve to be considered afresh (in the spirit of
spontaneity), and to be renewed in theory as well as in action.
Blatner 1996:Last paragraph
In !"#$"%&'() +,- ./0&($%&,'+1 !"#$"1"2) (Noieno, 19S4) Moreno sees the place of
his new science in the bigger picture:
Let us briey survey the development of scientic method.
There have been two phases in the development of scientic
method. First there were the observational sciences of astronomy,
geology and systematic biology. Then came the experimental
sciences of chemistry, physics and experimental biology. It has
been necessary for a true science of man to use, in addition to
those approaches, a third. An action science
(Moreno:1954:358-359)
It is a big claim to make; sociometry is the third form of science, a science of humankind.
Should we take this seriously?
The relationship between theory and practice
It is important to realise that he was not a theoretician but a practitioner. He deliberately
did not pursue the academic life. He created institutions, founded Journals but above all
practiced his theatrical, spiritual, psychological and scientific work. Actions speak louder
than words.
Moreno quotes a review of Kurt Lewins work by H.J. Eyseneck in the British Journal of
Sociology Dec. 1952 Vol. III, N0. 4. Lewins followers insist that theory preceded
experiment, and that the latter would have been impossible without the former. This is
clearly in contrast to Morenos own theory of how knowledge is created, which is a
circular process described in the Canon of creativity. There is warm up leading to
spontaneity leading creativity which leads to conserves which in turn lead to more
spontaneity. This is a more dialectical epistemology not unlike that of marx and Engles
one that is known as praxis and associated wit the work of Paulo Freire.
process of human critical reflection on the world and taking
conscious, transformative action on that world is how Freire
conceives of "praxis" (Davis & Freire, 1981; P. Freire, 1974,
1982a, 1982b), which is the core of his epistemology. Freire
(1982b) explains that,

[H]uman beings ... are being of 'praxis': of action and of
reflection. Humans find themselves marked by the results of their
own actions in their relations with the world, and through the
action on it. By acting they transform; by transforming they
create a reality which conditions their manner of acting.(p. 102)

Praxis, however, requires that humans, both individually and
collectively, act as Subjects in the world as opposed to being
objects to be acted upon (P. Freire, 1974, 1982a, 1982b). As
Subjects, then, humans, who are in a constant state of
development, can act to transform their reality and "go on to
a state of being, in search of becoming more fully human"
(P. Freire, 1982b, p. 145). By implication, to treat humans as
objects, thereby lessening their abilities to act to transform their
world, is to dehumanize them (P. Freire, 1982a, p. 5), a state of
being which engenders a state of oppression (P. Freire, 1974, p.
28).
Au, 2007
See also the quote mentioned above in the section on Principle 5 Adequate motivation.

If all sociometric techniques known today are used by the
population to transform its present social structure into a new
social order in accord with the set of values which they, the
people have decided to pursue.
Moreno, 1978:121
Sociometry
The third science, the action science is different from observational and physical science.
Calling it is science is difficult because the matter studied is in inverted commas:
Psychodrama can be dened therefore as the science which
explores the truth by dramatic methods.
Moreno, 1978:81
So what is this truth that it is in quote marks? This sentence follows:
It deals with inter-personal relations and private worlds. .

There may be aspects of people and society that can be investigated by the other forms of
science, however when it comes to the inter-personal and the private world, the realm of
the psyche, with its roots in the Greek word for breath; the realm of soul, myth, the in-
between in relationships, dreams, poetry, drama, sociometry is indicated, physical science
does not apply; the subject matter is not physical. Talking about psyche was once known
as psychology; logos of psyche. Language is created to speak of the psyche; mind, the
unconscious, shadow, self, ego, id, ego-states, gestalts. Plato used the word metaxy, an
in-between space where there are no objects, yet there is something to describe. Morenos
quote marks around the word truth do the job. They create a holding space in the same
way as the psychotherapeutic hour or the stage creates a place for the sacred.
Moreno brings a rich language to inter-personal relations and private worlds.
Sociometry is central at those times when people come together to explore the human
condition, modes of communication, forms of therapeutic intervention, patterns of
behaviour, classification of role systems, modes of organisations, motivation and so on.
In 1924 he wrote The theatre was a safe retreat for unsuspected revolution and offered
unlimited possibilities for spontaneity research on the experimental level. Spontaneity
could be tested and measured (Moreno 2012:17).
The stage is the instrument that opens a reality that is surplus to our every-day world.
All that ephemeral and subjective in the psyche is concretised and can be seen and
touched. The invisible can be measured.
Morenos language reflects the integrated nature of his work. Moreno sometimes used
sociometry as the name of his whole social science endeavour. Sometimes it is a
technique for therapeutic change in groups. As I wish to focus on the scientific method, I
will mostly use the word sociometry to cover his work in experimental design,
experimental sociology and his philosophy of science.
The word psychodrama is used to cover sociometry, role training, sociodrama and
classical psychodrama, in this context the group process aspect of sociometry and not the
research aspect is to the fore. The psyche and the socius are linked and Moreno often uses
the word psychosocial.
John Stuart Mill was right, Moreno points out, to be sceptical that social phenomena are
too inaccessible, inconsistent and fleeting to be a fitting subject matter for science but he
did not realise that it was the experimental method which was at fault. (Moreno,
1954:31) On the stage we make the psychosocil physical. Therefore the more
accomplished the group work, the fuller the theatrical production the more it will reveal
truth, the better the therapy and the better the science.
Moreno describes the complexity of sociometry in some depth:
What, precisely, is sociometry? The cornerstone of sociometry is
its Doctrine of Spontaneity and Creativity. It has created an
experimental methodology which is applicable to all social
sciences. It is the sociometric revision of the scientic method of
the social sciences that will gradually make such a thing as a
science of society possible. It gives its subjects research status by
changing them from subjects into participating and evaluating
actors; a social science becomes sociometric to the degree in
which it gives the members of the group research status and the
degree in which it is able to measure their activities; it goes to
work with actual or prospective groups and develops procedures
which can be used in actual situations. It puts an equally strong
emphasis upon group dynamics and group action as upon
measurement and evaluation. In the early phases of sociometry
measurement was mere counting, for instance, counting of words,
of acts, of roles, of choices and rejections, of steps in walking or
of mouthfuls and pauses in eating; these naive, rough forms of
measurement were an indispensable rst step before standardized
units of universal validity could be established.
Moreno 1978:18
In that one paragraph Moreno sums up a process he worked with and wrote about all his
life.
People are not objects
Sociometry indicated when working with people as people, not things.
"The social sciences needat least in their crucial dimension
different methods of approach. The crux of the ontology of
science is the status of the research objects. Their status is not
uniform in all sciences. There is a group of sciences like
astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology in which the research
Objects are always mere objects. Their actions speak for
themselves and the generalizations concluded from them are not
threatened by any metaphysical protest or social revolution of
their kind. "
(Moreno, 1953:63)
Moreno had an idea of the god like sacredness of human beings. This was an observation
of the way people are, and how they are different from machines. All his writing and his
lifes work is related to the basic understanding that we are not automatons. We have
consciousness. This is a profound fact, I am I, I can act, I can relate.
When God created the world He started off by making every
being a machine. He made one machine push the other and the
whole universe ran like a machine. That seemed to be
comfortable, safe and smooth. But then He thought it over. He
smiled and put just an ounce of spontaneity into each of the
machines and this has made for endless trouble ever since and
for endless enjoyment.
Moreno 1978:xvii

Moreno and Buber were contemporaries and have a lot in common.
2
Sandra Turner in her
thesis (1990) shows how both men value encounter. Both understand the I-
You relationship and both see it as sacred in a way I-it not. Science belongs to the I-It
world according to Buber. Buber writes of the I-You relationship:
The human being who but now was unique and devoid of
qualities, not at hand but only present, not experienceable, only
touchable, has again become a He or She, an aggregate of
qualities, a quantum with a shape. Now I can again abstract from
him the color of his hair, of his speech, of his graciousness; but
as long as I can do that he is my You no longer and not yet again.
Buber, 68

The world that appears to you in this way is unreliable, for it
appears always new to you, and you cannot take it by its word. It
lacks density, for everything in it permeates everything else. It
lacks duration, for it comes even when not called and vanishes
even when you cling to it. It cannot be surveyed: if you try to
make it surveyable, you lose it.
Buber, 83
Moreno while having a similar understanding of the sacredness of the I-You, believes
investigation is possible without destroying the You-ness. I imagine a conversation
between Moreno and Buber might have looked something like this:

Buber: As soon as you can measure it, you have not really seen it in its fullness. This is
particularly true of people. Connect with them and you are in a sacred space which
disappears if you then step out to observe it.
Moreno: I'm totally with you when you say to really connect with a person (or even a
thing) you need to meet, to encounter it. That is very different from the world of things.
But I think we can measure the relationship with people AND stay in what you call the I-
You world.
Buber: You can't convince me that it can be done. Observe it and you are no longer in
the relationship, you are a third party, the You becomes an It, an object.
Moreno: It can be done, but with great difficulty. The world may not even be ready for
it. It would mean creating a deep warm up to this venture. Observation would not be at a
distance but right there in the relationship. Rules would need to be created a method
developed, a method for investigating the I-Thou, a sociometry. Using the methods of the
observational, physical and biological sciences with people, we agree, would not be in the
sacred realm of authentic encounter. There is another possibility.
Buber: True encounter is hard enough and rare enough now. I don't think your
sociometry will ever get off the ground. People are new in every moment.
Moreno: I agree. It will be a science of the here and now. And more than that, humans
participate is creation, they partake of the divine in that they can become spontaneous,
creators with god, they can consciously create something new. It will be a science that
embraces the uniquely new moments of spontaneity. It will measure and train people in
spontaneity; it will investigate and transform people at the same time. The relationship is
transformed from within at the same time as transforming the participants.
I'm going to make this happen, it is the only way we shall survive.
Buber: But is it ethical to have an agenda like this for other people?
Moreno: If true spontaneity is achieved then the peoples aspirations will lead the way.
(1978:xci)
Six Principles of Sociometry
Moreno calls them rules or principles and also says, sociometric procedure is not a rigid
set of rules, it has to be modified and adapted to any group situation as it arises.
(Moreno 2012:27)
The principles are interrelated. The list is followed by more details about each principle.
__________________________________________________
1. Principle of warm up.
The researcher and the participants become informed, ready, willing and able to
participate in an investigation or a research project.
2. Principle of action
Participation is done in action. Learning is experiential, it is learning by doing.
3. Principle of co-action
Participants in the group are researchers, and the leader is also a participant.
4. Principle of dynamic difference
Group process attends to the discrepancy between the overt and the underlying
motivations.
5. Principle of adequate motivation to create change
Participants should feel about the experiment that it is in their own cause.
6. Principle of collaborative recording and publishing
Recording and publishing is designed and integrated into the project.
__________________________________________________
1. Principle of Warm up.
The researcher and the participants become informed, ready, willing and able to
participate in an investigation or a research project.
What differentiates an experimental research project from a therapy group, organisational
development, or a training group? The main difference is in this first principle, warm up.
Everything in the group is influenced by a well established a warm up. The purpose and
planning influence the group. The researcher can create the warm up or the warm up can
be group led.
Moreno refers to the Rule of the warming up process or active productivity.
3

The human actor may lose his spontaneity in an instant, and a
few moments later he may have a hard time to recall the
experience during the act. In order to be adequate in a particular
act he should begin to warm up as near to the act as possible and
you ought to know when he begins to warm up. (Rule of the
warming up process or active productivity.)

In the warming up process of the group it is best to view all the
co-actors in situ and to view them in the direction of their
productivity. ln order to view them you have to move with them,
but how can you move with them unless you, the experimenter,
are a part of the movement, a co-actor? The safest way to be in
the warming up process yourself is to become a member of the
group.
Moreno 1978:62
Moreno has requirement for sociometry: that the participants in the situation are drawn
to one another by one or more criteria.
4
(Moreno 1978:91) If the warm up includes
investigation, experimentation or research then participants will embrace that purpose.
Contrasting his methods with those of Freud, Moreno states:
We reversed the psychoanalytic technique and turned the subject
loose as a totality, turned him into spontaneous action, into a
spontaneous actor. Instead of searching after past experiences,
the subject turned his mind to the present, to immediate
production.
Moreno 1978:9
Warm up is always to action and production.
2. Principle of Action in the here and now
Participation is done in action. Learning is experiential, it is learning by doing.
The term active productivity, connected here with warm up means that warm up is not
only a state, but an active, collaborative and interactive process. Moreno in Theatre of
Spontaneity, originally published in 1923, has this to say, clarifying his use of the term
productive:
The aim of inter-personal creativity is a double one, to be
productive and socially present, receptive to the productivity of
the others and to ones own productivity at the same time. The
correspondence and communication between a number of
spontaneous actors needs therefore, elaborate support.
Moreno 2010:70
Zerka Moreno said in her session at the Oxford international conference in 1994, "Dr
Moreno created psychodrama because language is not the high road to the psyche but
movement is. From the earliest moments our actions communicate throughout a non-
verbal period of life. Action is prior to language." (Holmes, 1994:78).
Moreno has a Rule of universal participation in action (1978:63) This may seem simple
and obvious yet research can easily fail to meet the spirit of this principle, for example
when people are asked to introspect and report that information in surveys.
3. Principle of co-action
Participants in the group are researchers, and the leader is also a participant.
Gene Eliasoph, one of first psychodrama practitioners and a protg the founder tells how
in 1954 he heard J.L. Moreno tell a group he was leading: We are all patients in this
group, and we are therapists as well for one another. I will learn from you and you will
learn from me, and who knows, we may be the first group to fly to the moon!" (Nicholas
& Eliasoph, 2002)
The actor must become an observer of himself and an actor
towards the observer. And the observer must become an actor
towards the observed and an observer of himself; one must co-act
with the other, a meeting is taking place. The methodological
problem is to bring the act into the observer and the observer
into the act.
(Moreno:1954:358-359)
The meeting is an encounter. Note the connection of the methodological principle and the
well-known poem in the opening of Psychodrama Vol 1
A meeting of two: eye to eye, face to face.
And when you are near I will tear your eyes out
and place them instead of mine,
and you will tear my eyes out
and will place them instead of yours,
then I will look at you with your eyes
and you will look at me with mine.
Moreno 1977:1
That the researcher becomes a participant and the participants become researchers is an
encounter and role-reversal. If the researcher and the participants are able to stand in each
others shoes they become the other. Moreno means something literal, all participants are
fully in both roles.
The safest way to be in the warming up process yourself is to
become a member of the group. (Rule of co-action of the
researcher with the group.) But by becoming a member of the
group you are robbed of your role of the investigator who is to be
outside of it, projecting, creating, and manipulating the
experiment. You cannot be a genuine member and simultaneously
a secret agent of the experimental method. The way out is to
give every member of the group research status, to make them
all experimenters and as each is carrying on his own
experiment....
(Moreno, 1978:61-62)
As time goes on he may become better adjusted to his double
role, since he shares it with every member of his group. But when
he plans an experiment he may watch his step and not impose it
too hastily on the group. Indeed, he should not assume the allures
of an experimenter more than any other member.
(Moreno, 1978: 62)
4. Principle of dynamic difference
Group process attends to the discrepancy between the overt and the underlying
motivations.
The internal, material structure of the group is only in rare
instances visible on the surface of social interaction; and if it is
so, no one knows for certain that the surface structure is the
duplicate of the depth structure. As even our most minute
observations of the interaction may be incomplete, meaningless
or useless to the actors, we must get our actors to act as they
would when engaged in real living, The organism in the eld
becomes the actor in situ. Whole cultures can be acted out"
piecemeal in the experimental settings of axiodrama and
sociodrama, with protagonists as creators and interpreters.
Moreno 1978:60-61
Living in the group he will soon discover that there is a deep
discrepancy between the ofcial and secret needs, official and
secret value svstems. (Rule of dynamic difference in group
structure, peripheral versus central.) Before any experimental
design or any social program is proposed he has to take into
account the actual constitution of the group.
Moreno, 1978:62
For example Diana Jones describes a phenomena that drew her to sociometry:
As I worked in organisations I began to observe that while the
outer group structure of an organisation is apparent, be it senior
executive teams, teams of managers and staf, project teams and
service delivery units, the inner structure of relationships at any
particular time, of who is close to whom, who is distant from
whom, and on what basis, generally remains invisible and
unspoken.
Jones, 1996:4
Focus on depth is also expressed by the Rule of "giauual" inclusion of all extianeous
ciiteiia." Moreno speaks of "the slow dialectic process of the sociometric experiment."
(1978:63)
The words dynamic difference describe well what I saw unfold in a recent training
group for therapists and counsellors. The overt aim of the members was to learn
techniques and skills to attend to people who had experienced trauma in their lives. Later
in the group members gradually revealed the trauma in their own lives. Each level of
consciousness relates to the other, there is a useful dynamic between the different
expression and motivations.
5. Principle of adequate motivation to create change
Participants should feel about the experiment that it is in their own cause.
In order to give every member adequate motivation to participate
spontaneously, every participant should feel about the experiment
that it is his own cause, and not for the one who promotes the
ideathe tester, the employer, or any other power agent. As his
learning expands to knowing how to bore with research ideas
from within he may get the idea of being a member of two or
more groups, one serving as a control of the other. This should
not be an experiment of nature without the conscious
participation of the actors, but one consciously and
systematically created and projected by the total group.
Moreno 1978:62-63
I can imagine this experience: the idea of being a member of two groups or more groups
one serving as a control of the other. It flows from the double life as participant
researcher. It is like in psychodrama training group that is simultaneously, at another
level a personal development group. The use of the word control group is deliberate on
Morenos part. A group can experiment with different interventions. Then there are
indeed more groups, not a double blind experiment but a double consciousness
experiment.
I recall a training group for counsellors where we consciously experimented in pairs by
listening to each other, in two ways, one, by responding with self disclosure of some
similar moment in our own lives and secondly, using only doubling and mirroring. A
sociogram revealed that the doubling and mirroring are essential as the first and major
component of good listening.
... construct a test in such a manner that it is itself a motive, an
incentive, a purpose, primarily for the subject instead of the
tester. lf the test procedure is identical with a life-goal of the
subject he can never feel himself to have been victimised or
abused... From the point of view of the subject it is not a test at
all and this is as it should be.
Moreno 1978:105
What makes a motivation adequate is that it is the cause of the participants. Moreno was
fully aware of the importance of Marx, and while he does not subscribe to class in a the
way that Marx does, there is a reference here to a class being conscious and acting in its
own cause. Moreno can apply his methods to the micro and macro levels at the same
time. Motivation is for some psychosocial change.
This passage from Who Shall Survive? contains references to many of the principles of
sociometry so I will quote it here in full, then the sentence that relates to forming a new
social order.
A sociometric study becomes an experiment a) if all its situations,
its home, work, educational, recreational, cultural and
administrative groupings are created by the total community of
citizens-investigators, each citizen being an investigator and each
investigator being a member of the community. The social actors
are producing and analytic actors at one and the same time. The
setting must obviously be life itself and not a laboratory. One
may, of course, call an ongoing concern like a community, a
laboratory, but this kind of a laboratory has a different meaning
from that of the physicist or the animal psychologist. b) If all its
formal and informal groups, in accord with its criteria, are
involved in the social transformation. c) If, whenever necessary,
with the full consent and cooperation of the entire community,
certain social conditions are kept constant, whereas the hypo-
thetical conditions are allowed to vary. d) If all sociometric
techniques known today are used by the population to transform
its present social structure into a new social order in accord with
the set of values which they, the people have decided to pursue.
This set of values may be a Christian system of values, a
Hinduistic system of values, a cooperativistic system of values, a
communistic or a democratic system of values. Whatever the
system of values, the sociometric method is the surest guide
towards their realisation.

The sentence that relates to adequate motivation is this one:
If all sociometric techniques known today are used by the
population to transform its present social structure into a new
social order in accord with the set of values which they, the
people have decided to pursue.

Moreno is saying if this condition is not met it is not a sociometric experiment. It shows
how revolutionary he thought sociometry could be, and it emphasises that knowledge and
change are connected.
A truly therapeutic procedure cannot have less an objective than
the whole of mankind. But no adequate therapy can be prescribed
as long as mankind is not a unity in some fashion and as long as
its organization remains unknown.
Moreno 1978:3
Moreno described a logical part (referring to the methods used to test validity) of research
and a material part (referring to the nature of the subject of the experiment.) The neglect
of knowing how to work with people rather than things means have been crippled in the
ability to create social change:
Whereas the logical aspects of experimentation have been
stressed abundantly, from Francis Bacon (1) to Mill and up to
our own time, the material part has been so sadly neglected that
the development of the social sciences has been seriously
crippled and with it the possibility of providing the total of human
society with more rigorous and adequate instruments of social
change than are available. It has become, therefore, an important
task of the sociological thought of our own century to correct the
most flagrant error of methodical insight which has made social
research trivial and confusing while deteriorating its outlook.
Moreno 2012:38-39
They are strong words, the most flagrant error of methodical insight which has made
social research trivial and confusing while deteriorating its outlook. Has this error in fact
been corrected? I don't think so. That theatre can be a laboratory for all kinds of research
for example is not a notion that survives to this day.
Often the term modern research when used in the social sphere it is vague, and refers to
research whose underpinnings are taken for granted. This covers many methodologies
and the research and the reference to it often motivated and funded outside of the
participant groups. Modern research in psychotherapy can be motivated by a need to be
evidence based, and the motivation for that is funding and recognition by the state and
insurance companies. The driver these external bodies is their financial and political
agendas. Moreno understood this right from the start, and the principle of adequate
motivation is central to the method.
6. Principle of collaborative recording and publishing.
Recording and publishing is designed and integrated into the project.
Science includes the integration of new knowledge with the web of the old. Moreno
created Journals and books, those ventures put sociometry on the map. There are many
more publishing options available today than in Morenos lifetime. It is possible innovate
recording and publishing that is highly inclusive of the participants. The principle is
clear:
Recorders, observers, and analysts are made natural parts of the
group process: they are given a function of immediate usefulness
for every participant.
Moreno 2012:43
I have one example, of something at the minor end but motivated by think of the
psychodramatic method as including research component:
In a couple therapy training group we consciously experimented with ways of working in
the warm up phase of a couple therapy session. The couple was created in depth using a
sociodrama where the original social and cultural atom of each partner was enacted and
all group members had taken the role at some stage over two days. All the group
members worked for some time as therapists with the couple during the initial phase of a
session (group members taking turns to be the couple).
After the therapist had worked with the couple for the first few minutes of a session we
heard from the couple, the therapist and the audience and we recorded what we
considered were useful ways of working in these initial moments.
The document was used to update a handout I use in the training. I can imagine
extending this approach in its depth of investigation as well as in the writing and
distribution of the results.

Psychodramatic work, (using that term in the broadest sense) is already an experiment.
Much of our work is already being written up. Case studies, assignments for trainees,
thesis. Just as the work itself the science is unconscious, in our writing too the fuller
development of sociometry as science would show itself. The aspect that could be
heightened is the recording of the results and thinking of who the work is for beyond the
immediate members of the group.
Writing is fully integrated if the group leader does not need to ask that awkward question
may I have your permission to publish? That question is already addressed either in the
formation of the group or in the warm up. Who writes and where it goes is consciously
addressed by the group.
I wish I had more experimental groups to report on here in the meantime join me in
some of my imaginary small steps.
Imagine a sociodrama session commencing with the question what are the principles of
being authentic in the work place? Could the step be added to the findings and writing a
collaborative document for specified wider distribution be added? This would be a small
shift in the group process that is inline with honouring at least some principles of
Morenos experimental design approach. Such a document would not need to be
submitted to a Journal, but could be referenced in a blog post or linked to on a website.
The peer review aspect of the document is built in. The peers agreed in the group, on the
findings of perhaps several days of sociodramatic experimentation, testing approaches in
the microcosmic world on the stage. We make our sociometric methodology clear.
Both the method and the ability to present it, how and who to present the information to
are needed. We use sociometry to explore social questions and devise ways to record
them and to link them to other information networks.
The work of Jim Rough the originator of wisdom councils (2002) and Dynamic
Facilitation (Zubizarreta, 2006) has methods of enhancing and using the isomorphic
relationship between groups and society. Wisdom councils implement many sociometric
principles though they are not explicitly related to Morenos work. They have implicit in
them a form of recording and distribution of the findings of the group. Wisdom Councils
are a form of experimental design that could be studied and adapted and well be used
with more psychodramatic methods.
We are grappling with a revolutionary approach. Note that this is in a world where
publication is also undergoing a revolutionary change. It may conjure up a wide range of
processes. There are peer-reviewed journals, whose prestige is based on the citations in
other peer-reviewed journals. At the other end of the spectrum are newsletters and
YouTube videos. Publication is changing. There is an open access movement using the
Creative Commons copyright system to see that knowledge is available to all and this
movement is growing.
5






The integration of the principles into a seamless process.
The principles above are part of an integrated methodology, an abstraction from a living
vital process.
The following passage is typical of Morenos writing and shows how the principles flow
together.
The subjects, because they are doing the scenes themselves,
starting from the origin of their feelings for each other and
assuming the social roles required by the situations on hand,
creating the dialogue, the scenes, the sequences and the climaxes,
bring the dynamics of group structure to life. The vehicle permits
every type of interaction to take place between the participant
actors, from the most casual and little structured to the most
complex human venture.
Noieno, 19S4:S61-S61
The researcher is not per se the person who creates a hypothesis. The researcher is a
person who leads the group so that the group can form a hypothesis. Or the researcher
brings together a group of people around a proposal, in this case too the group members
choose the area of concern by virtue of joining the group.
The results of these efforts are: a) Sociological theory and theory
of action have been brought into a single system, pointing the
way towards an experimental sociology; b) it is found
increasingly productive to start with deep material inquiry rst
and to let the production of hypotheses develop in the course of
experimentation. The customary a priori formulation of
hypotheses often operates as a cultural conserve on the
investigator, blocking his spontaneity in the production of action
theory.
Moreno, 1954:363


An action science of man requires in its crucial parts and basic
research, in addition to observational and manipulatory
experimental techniques, the development of autonomous and
autometric experimental designs, created of the subjects, for
the subjects and by the subjects.
Moreno:1954:358-359
The phrase: maximum spontaneous participation (Moreno 2012:25) sums up these
principles well. When these criteria are met they define a "sociometric experiment". The
phrase near sociometric is used knowing that these criteria cannot all be met all the
time.
Zerka T. Moreno in The Function of Tele in Human Relations sums up the principles
of sociometry as a research mode:
The essential reason for doing sociometric investigations is not
just to make relationships visible and available for interpretation,
but to reconstruct groups so as to maximize sociostasis and find
some resolution to the problem of the unchosen or rejected. These
measures are guides towards change in action in life itself.
Group members become co-researchers with the investigator of
their own groups, not merely verbally but in interaction. It is
meant to activate the tele existing in the group and stabilize the
relationships.
True sociometry is done with a view to change the group, not
merely as a form of academic exercise. (The Sociometry Reader,
op. cit., Sociometry and the Science of Man, 1956).
Moreno, Z. T. 2000: 234-235
What is science? Where does sociometry fit in?
With these Six Principles of Sociometry we can evaluate research. The degree to which
research is sociometric has ethical implications. It also has implications for the validity
and truth of the findings. To see the importance of this third form of science it is useful to
reflect on what science is and how it evolves.

Kevin Kelly: the evolution and future of science
Kevin Kelly, among other things, is a philosopher of the scientific method. Here is his
definition of science:
"... science is a machine we have invented to connect information.
It is built to integrate new knowledge with the web of the old. "
(Kelly, 2010 Loc 4988)
Kelly has made a study of the evolution of the scientific methods. Reading his story of
the unfolding, and continuous development of science I realise that Morenos claims to a
place for sociometry as a third form are not so outragious.
Despite its own rhetoric, science is not built to increase either the
truthfulness or the total volume of information. It is designed
to increase the order and organization of knowledge we generate
about the world. Science creates toolstechniques and
methods that manipulate information such that it can be tested,
compared, recorded, recalled in an orderly fashion, and related
to other knowledge. Truth is really only a measure of how well
specic facts can be built upon, extended, and interconnected.
(Kelly, 2010 Location 4964)
Kevin Kelly sees science as more than the actual experiments. The results exist in a web
of communication, in a mediated community. This is done through a variety of means:
Unied knowledge is constructed by the technical mechanics of
duplication, printing, postal networks, libraries, indexing,
catalogs, citations, tagging, cross-referencing, bibliographies,
keyword search, annotation, peer review, and hyperlinking. Each
epistemic invention expands the web of verifiable facts and links
one bit of knowledge to another. Knowledge is thus a network
phenomenon, with each fact a node. We say knowledge increases
not only when the number of facts increases, but also, and more
so, when the number and strength of relationships between facts
increases. It is that relatedness that gives knowledge its power.
(Kevin Kelly, 2010 Location 4988)
Here is his summary of the evolution of science:
The scientic method is not one uniform method. It is a
collection of scores of techniques and processes that has evolved
over centuries (and continues to evolve). Each method is one
small step that incrementally increases the unity of knowledge in
society. A few of the more seminal inventions in the scientic
method include:

280 B.C.E. Cataloged library with index (at Alexandria), a way to search
recorded information
1403 Collaborative encyclopedia, a pooling of knowledge from more than one
person
1590 Controlled experiment, used by Francis Bacon, wherein one changes a
single variable in a test
1600 Laboratory
1609 Telescopes and microscopes
1650 Society of experts
1665 Necessary repeatability, Robert Boyles idea that results of an experiment
must be repeatable to be valid
1687 Hypothesis/prediction (Isaac Newton)
1752 Peer-review-refereed journal, adding a layer of conrmation and validation
over shared knowledge
1885 Blinded, randomized design, a way to reduce human bias; randomness as a
new kind of information
1934 Falsifiable testability, Karl Poppers notion that any valid experiment must
have some testable way it can fail
1937 Controlled placebo, a renement in experiments to remove the effect of
biased knowledge of the participant
1946 Computer simulations, a new way of making a theory and generating data
1952 Double-blind experiment, a further renement to remove the effect of
knowledge of the experimenter
1962 Study of scientific method (Thomas Kuhn)
1974 Meta-analysis, a second-level analysis of all previous analysis in a given
eld
Together these landmark innovations create the modern practice
of science. (I am ignoring various alternative claims of priority
because for my purposes the exact dates dont matter.) A typical
scientic discovery today will rely on facts and a falsiable
hypothesis; be tested in repeatable, controlled experiments,
perhaps with placebos and double-blind controls; and be
reported in a peer-reviewed journal and indexed in a library of
related reports.

The scientic method, like science itself, is accumulated
structure. New scientic instruments and tools add new ways to
organize information. Recent methods build upon earlier
techniques.
(Kelly 2010, location 5059)
Notably absent, though we can imagine it finding its place in the timeline is:
1928 The sociometric test, Moreno's method of measuring the relationship
between people based on various criteria, and including the subjects of the
experiment as researchers, and the researcher as participant.
However Kelly speculating on the future of science on the influential website The Edge
Writes:
Return of the Subjective Science came into its own when it
managed to refuse the subjective and embrace the objective. The
repeatability of an experiment by another, perhaps less
enthusiastic, observer was instrumental in keeping science
rational. But as science plunges into the outer limits of scale at
the largest and smallest ends and confronts the weirdness of the
fundamental principles of matter/energy/information such as that
inherent in quantum effects, it may not be able to ignore the role
of observer. Existence seems to be a paradox of self-causality,
and any science exploring the origins of existence will eventually
have to embrace the subjective, without becoming irrational. The
tools for managing paradox are still undeveloped.
Kelly, 2006

Moreno was conscious of this inclusion of the subjective in his methods. Sociometric
methods are a synthesis of subjective with objective methods of investigation.
(2012:44)
I have quoted Kelly at length to show that science evolves, and that it is not one thing.
Surprisingly different approaches contribute to an evolving scientific method. Moranian
methods could be a link to the science of the subjective that Kelly is looking forward to
even in science at the limits of scale and certainly in the realm of the psychosocial.
That Moreno thought this would happen and he made efforts to make it happen the
following quotes show.
By the third millennium or thereabout a new position will
crystallize. It will be a reversal of the old. ... Indeed, the
leadership in scientific method and discovery which has been for
nearly two and a half thousand years in the hands of physicists
will pass to social scientists, and just as the social sciences were
dependent upon the physical sciences for hypothesis and
methods, the social sciences will some day help the physical
sciences to understand and run the physical universe.

Because of the value which the experimental method has shown
in these areas [physical and biological sciences] the conclusion
has been drawn by many writers that it can be applied to the
social sciences. But their optimism is unjustified. Mill's
skepticism was correct in principle; but he did not realise that it
was the experimental method which was at fault, and not the
inaccessibility and fleeting inconsistency of the social
phenomena.

The chief methodological task of sociometry has been the revision
of the experimental method so that it can be applied effectively to
social phenomena.
(Moreno, 1954:31)
The Sociometry Paradigm
That science evolves in leaps is central to Thomas S. Khuns The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions (1970). The language of one paradigm, such as Newtons does not hold up in
another. The universe of discourse from one does not work in another. Normal science,
for example, often suppresses fundamental novelties because they are necessarily
subversive of its basic commitments. (Kuhn 1970:5). normal science means research
rmly based upon one or more past scientic achievements, achievements that some
particular scientic community acknowledges for a time as supplying the foundation for
its further practice. (Kuhn 1970:10)
It may be that when the Sociometry journal was handed over The American Sociological
Society. (Moreno, 1955) the specifics of sociometry were lost in the development of a
more generalized social psychology. The journal still exists today and does address a
field that is closer to sociometry than the other journals of The American Sociological
Society., but still may have lost something of the focus.
When Moreno decided to step down as editor in 1955, he gave
Sociometry to the American Sociological Society. The journal's
name changed to Sociometry: Journal of Research in Social
Psychology in 1956, and the new editors broadened the scope of
the journal to focus on "the systematic exploration of the
processes and products of social interaction at the interpersonal,
intrapersonal, intergroup and intragroup levels" (Editorial
1956). In 1978 Sociometry changed its name to Social
Psychology and in 1979 to Social Psychology Quarterly. The
purpose of the journal's name change was to reflect more
accurately the broad field of theory and research in social
psychology. Nevertheless, the journal continued (as stated on the
inside cover) to publish "articles concerning the processes and
products of social interaction," suggesting that studies of group
structure would still find a home. The journal further broadened
its scope in 1988 (as stated on the inside cover) to "publishing
papers on the link between the individual and society," but it
continued with the tradition of welcoming sociometric research
(e.g., Hallinan and Kubitschek 1990).
Harrod, Welch, and Kushkowski 2009
Within the psychodrama field there is an upsurge of interest in research, however often
Morenos methods are not mentioned. The emphasis is on a normal research to establish
psychodrama as evidence based practice. An example is the handout Research Process
Overview by Annika Okamoto and Michael Gross (2013) for their workshop at the April
2013 ASGPP conference on Evidence Based Practice, published in the newly formed
ASGPP research blog. The handout is useful in that it is a guide to a research process
however there is little to ensure that the principles of sociometry are taken into account.
There is also trend to change psychodrama to make it easier to research. From
Reformulating psychodrama as an experiential reintegration action therapy (ERAT), The
corrective emotional approach, by David A Kipper
the original theory of psychodrama did not lend itself to an
impressive body of scientic research regarding its validity and
clinical effectiveness. Indeed, for a long time several reviewers
pointed to the paucity of such research and recommended various
approaches to remedy this situation (for example, D'Amato and
Dean 1988; Rawlinson 2000; Kipper and Hundal 2003). In
contrast, it is believed that the ERAT reformulation is easily
amenable to empirical, qualitative and narrative research
(Kipper and Ritchie 2003).
Kipper 2007
To what extent are the principles of sociometry integrated into the reformulation?

Varieties of Morenos Science



Science is not one thing and Morenos social science also has many facets. Consider the
following passage from Morenos article Sociometry and Experimental Sociology.
The neo-dramatic technique of spontaneous roleplaying has been,
consciously or unconsciously, the model for numerous varieties
of small group research. The subjects of a sociological
experiment may be brought together in an attempt to create a
society in miniature or some relevant fragment of it. These
experimental productions of group activity in statu nascendi
which are similar to spontaneous drama show signicant features
and lend themselves to quantitative measurement and to
qualitative analysis. The subjects, because they are doing the
scenes themselves, starting from the origin of their feelings for
each other and assuming the social roles required by the
situations on hand, creating the dialogue, the scenes, the
sequences and the climaxes, bring the dynamics of group
structure to life. The vehicle permits every type of interaction to
take place between the participant actors, from the most casual
and little structured to the most complex human venture.
(Noieno, 19S4:S61-S61)

In this passage we can see he sketches various approaches and qualities of research:

Research has been conscious or unconscious and there are many varieties.
Subjects may be bought together for a sociological experiment
The group is a society in miniature
There can be experimental productions
There is value in activity that is in statu nacendi, the moment of birth or
emergence
Drama lends itself to quantitative and qualitative analysis
Scenes exploring the origins of the feelings for each other bring the group
structure to life.
The small group can explore the casual and little structured events and most
complex human venture.

Moreno also speaks about I that validation:
In order to meet with the special character of psychotherapeutic
processes, the difficulty of framing them into an experimental
design, it may be useful to differentiate two kinds of validity,
scientific validation as currently considered unexceptional in the
scientific fraternity, and "existential" validation which looms in
all psychotherapeutic practices and is the cause of many
misunderstandings of what is scientific and what is not. The
meaning of existential validation should be clearly spelled out as
making claims of validity only in situ, in the here and now
without any attempt to confirm the past or to predict the future. It
should be classified as more than art, although when people talk
about the art of psychotherapy it is implied that what takes place
has existential validation. Scientific and existential validation do
not exclude one another, they should be constructed as a
continuum.
Moreno & Moreno 2011:94
I will discuss the variety experiments and research under the following headings

Research inherent in the psychodramatic methods.
Research projects
Isomorphism society in miniature
Quantitative measurement and qualitative analysis

Research inherent in the psychodramatic methods.
Every psychodrama group is an experiment. The word protagonist has the Greek agon at
its root, one who undergoes a test. Research may be conscious or unconscious.
Research methodology is so well integrated into the psychodrama methods that it is
almost invisible. The groups have outcomes but not a formal experimental structure, or
published results.
The three phases of a group: warm up, enactment and sharing can be viewed as:
Investigation and hypothesis formation
Experimentation
Interpretation and outcome
Consider the investigation and hypothesis formation inherent in a typical psychodrama
group. In the warm up phase there is an investigation of the connections around concerns
in the group. Questions for exploration are identified and sometimes various solutions are
proposed. Common understanding of terms may be reached. There is formal or informal
mapping of the sub-groups in relation to the themes. The protagonist is identified as
someone who embodies the themes (Logeman, 1999). The purpose of a drama is
established; crystallising and forming a personal take on the groups concerns.
The protagonist with the aid of the group explores and experiments and finds some
solution. In the sharing the findings are clarified, amplified and distributed among the
group. This is existential validation.
A sociodrama where social and political issues are re-enacted can shed light on actual
social situations. Social roles by definition are ones that people understand because they
are part of the society. This what is meant when Moreno says: "assuming the social roles
required by the situations on hand" (Moreno, 1954:361-361)
This is not pretence, role play it is not acting in the sense of pretending.
The productions emerge in statu nascendi, extemporaneously,
Without prior preparation of the participants. It is of essence to
the production that the scenes enacted are real and meaningful to
the participants, and real and meaningful within their participant
culture.
(Noieno, 19S4:S61)
It is a drama of the group.
Looking at these familiar groups with my eyes attuned to the scientific method I see its
presence at work just below the surface. Are the understandings and outcomes
universally meaningful?
It is of essence to the production that the scenes enacted are real
and meaningful to the participants, and real and meaningful
within their participant culture. However much we try to keep the
research and experimental aspects of these productions apart, it
becomes increasingly clear that in order to obtain signicant
material, signicant for the group which cooperates in a
particular production, the subjects have to be deeply involved
privately, because personal problems are directly treated or
indirectly touched, or socially, because certain cultural, ethical
and political problems have become deeply anchored in the
subjects. Without an existential warm up of the participant actors
not only the cathartic benet of the participants will fail to be
accomplished but even more, the research benet for a material
inquiry into the dynamics of group structure will fade out. Here
research techniques and action theory are integrated because of
their natural relationship.
(Moreno, 1954:361)
Psychodramatists, sociodramatists and sociometrists working in organisational
development have been doing research all along.

Moreno wrote a front piece for the Group Psychotherapy journal in 1968, The Validity of
Psychodrama, that sheds light on how he envisages the method.
The question as to the validity of psychodrama has aroused
considerable controversy in the course of the years. There have
been two opinions. One emphasizes that the usual measures of
reliability and validity do not seem to be particularly appropriate
for psychodrama. If each person acts out his life honestly, the
data are perfectly reliable and valid. The second opinion is that
the current methods of measuring validity can be applied. The
two opinions do not exclude one another. The two methods of
validation can be combined.

But it is accurate to say that the validity of psychodrama does not
require proof beyond its face value. It is a statement of the
persons themselves, what they experience at a certain moment in
respect to a given activity. Psychodrama deals with primary acts
and bits of behavior, and not with factors like intelligence,
genes, or any other hidden factor. A choice is not more hon-
orable because it is statistically valid. There is no need for
further validation as long as the members of the group and their
behavior are taken as they are expressed in the present tense and
as long as no pretense is made that the future of the participants
can be predicted from the events which have been produced or
that generalizations can be drawn from whatever the events dem-
onstrated. But one can state with certainty that what matters is
that the actions and decisions are valid for the paricipants
themselves at the time when they are experienced. In such a case,
one may talk about an existential validation, and it should be
denitely separated from scientic validation. But when one
thinks of existential validation, one must guard against auto-
matically thinking that this must be an impulsive and irrational
kind of behavior. It may be behavior of the highest and most well-
organized kind.
Moreno 1968:3
Adam Blatner in the introduction to the fourth edition of Foundations of Psychodrama
History, Theory and Practice writes:
The analogy to a laboratory also suggests the activity of
exploration and experimentation, trial and error in a controlled
environment. In psychodrama, that control is provided by the
special, as-if context of play. In this setting, mistakes don't
have the same meaning as they do in the real world," and so
people can try out alternative behavioral responses. An eminent
physicist noted, Science advances only by making all possible
mistakes.... the main thing is to make the mistakes as fast as
possible and to recognize them (Wheeler, 1981, p. 26).
Discovering which attitudes and behaviors work best in complex
social situations also can be approached scientifically using
psychodramatic methods. Those risking this kind of experiential
learning are protected by psychodrama's special setting
committed to support rather than rejection.
Blatner, 2002:XVIII
If the question and outcome were recorded then the experimental work in many groups
would t be explicit. Moments of experimental design could be noted, and insights
recorded. Many sessions explore in action something of what is viable and useful to the
advancement of human interaction and life.
The simple question, how useful was this group for you could be expanded to be a truly
sociometric test of the efficacy of the group. Groupworkers expanding their work to
include more coscious use of sociometry for many things, for example evaluation of
effectiveness of the group.
Research projects
Moreno describes how the subjects of a sociological experiment may be brought
together. People come together all the time to collaborate to discover the new. There are
scientific organisations, grants, clubs and universities dedicate to furthering science. To
bring people together is one way to initiate research.
At the time of writing the first draft of this article I offered to conduct a workshop at the
2014 AANZPA conference in Melbourne. The focus of this writing led me to include the
possibility of experimentation into the design.
Here is the description to the workshop, you will see it aims to bring people together with
a particular interest and there is the warm up to experiment and record the results:
Doubling and Spontaneity
A three hour workshop
The purpose of this workshop is to strengthen our use of doubling
when there is a focus on relationship building and conflict
resolution. The doubling will assist the protagonist to accept their
feelings and thoughts and to express them without accusation or
criticism.
Using sociodramatic enactment we will explore and evaluate this
form of doubling. We will identify principles that apply in
different contexts and use the concept of spontaneity to guide our
observations. An email group will be available for those who
wish to follow up the session by collating our findings.

Groups with a description that includes a specific question, that explicitly defines the
group as part of the research team and that raises the matter of publishing outcomes from
the outset would create the warm up for these things to happen. Group led research
investigates matters of interest to the group. The difference between this and a therapy
group is in the warm up and in that the results will be collated and added to the scientific
endeavour. Therapy is not excluded. Parameters of confidentiality could be part of the
initial brief. The process of reading, collating, writing, editing and presenting the material
could be prescribed beforehand and/or developed by the group.
Isomorphism society in miniature
Groups are a "society in miniature" (Moreno, 1954:361-361) this is why a group has
implications and meaning beyond the group. This is especially true when there is
enactment on the stage. Psychodramatically we may have killed and been killed in war,
died in a famine, married, divorced, murdered and plundered, lived several lives that in a
sociodrama that spanned the life of a tribe over several generations. Such enactments are
immersions into the fabric of the archetypal social forces we know in our bones; learning
by being. It can shake us to the core to be part of a "society in miniature". We experience
universal humans roles.
The group may to some extent represent the demographics of a larger society, however
this only partially yields the isomorphic resonance. The group will have a limited range
of psychodramatic roles, ones that are unique to the members. However, between them
they have a vast knowledge of the social roles, ones they understand from their own
experience from being in a social world. A group can tap into this wealth and create a
society in miniature with remarkable accuracy. It is through role reversal and
participation that qualitative insights are gained that would be hard to gain in other ways.
The group is isomorphic with the world and dramatic production maximises that
harmony. The personal structures in the small group resonate with social structures and
we explore both at the same time.
Douglas Hofstadter provides an informal definition of isomorphism:
The word isomorphism applies when two complex structures
can be mapped onto each other, in such a way that to each part
of one structure there is a corresponding part in the other
structure, where "corresponding" means that the two parts play
similar roles in their respective structures.
(Hofstadter, 1980:57)
It is the isomorphism between the role system in one persons social and cultural atom
and the role system in a group that means one protagonist can do the work for the whole
group. Similarly it is the isomorphism between a group and the larger society that
enables social research to occur in a small group, a society in miniature.
The work of Jim Rough the originator of wisdom councils (2002) and Dynamic
Facilitation (Zubizarreta, 2006) has methods of enhancing and making the isomorphic
relationship between groups and society explicit. Wisdom councils are small groups that
consciously work to report back to the larger society on their findings. Wisdom Councils
are a form of experimental design that could be studied and adapted and well be used
with more psychodramatic methods.
In Psychodrama, Second Volume experimentation is described in some detail how the
theatre is a laboratory:
Another frequent application of role-playing techniques is the
testing of non-directive counsellors in settings which are
constructed as closely as possible like the actual situation itself.
Experiments in our laboratories in Beacon and New York have
shown the productivity of the role-playing method when applied
to the more complicated situations of the group. A series of
experiments have been set up in which a) a psychoanalyst
assumes the "role" of a psychoanalyst and another individual
assumes the role of a patient on the couch. The session is carried
out as if it would be an actual therapeutic session, b) A non-
directive counselling situation has been set up in which a trained
non-directive counsellor takes the role of the counsellor and
another individual the role of a client. Again, both try to come as
close as possible to the real feeling and actual process taking
place in an actual counselling situation, c) In a group therapy
experiment a number of individuals and a therapist are placed
around a table. The therapist plays the part of the therapist; the
individuals around the table play the part of the patients, trying
to act as closely as possible the way they would act in a real
group therapeutic session. d) A psychodramatically trained
individual assumes the role of a psychodramatic director; a
group of individuals try to play the part of an audience. The
session is to run according to the customary rules, a member of
the audience is selected to be the protagonist and he plays the
part of the protagonist, trying to be like a real one. The setting up
of such experiments is no easy matter; it is not as simple as
merely hiring a number of subjects. It would be like studying
cancer on individuals who are not afflicted with the disease. The
condition sine qua non is here the therapeutic talent of the
experimental subjects, that they are sensitive for the mental
syndrome studied and sufficiently alert to express their
experiences; the other important factor is the therapeutic skill
and resourcefulness of the overall conductor. The crux is the
degree of involvement and warm-up of all participants; if they
are too "cold", the factors which are under study will not emerge
and the purpose of the experiments will be defeated. Role-playing
of therapeutic situations may concentrate first on the study of the
four factors which have been shown by the investigations
reported above as being of crucial importance in all patient-
therapist relationships, the "feeling for one another", the
"perception of one another", the motoric events the
"interacting" between them, and the "role relations" emerging to
and fro in an ongoing therapeutic situation.
(Moreno and Moreno, 2011:22-23)
Theatre has always been a way to explore the world. That theatre can be seen as a
scientific instrument is not so strange if we think of simulation as a form of doing
science. Theatre is a living laboratory. It is a world alongside the world a meta world.

Quantitative measurement and qualitative analysis
The quantitative measurement and qualitative analysis Moreno speaks of takes place in
various forms.
Firstly it is integrated in the work in an unconscious way as described above. There is a
qualitative analysis inherent in the warm up and sharing phases of the group. Often
spectrograms and sociometric tests are employed, and these can yield more quantifiable
information. This is the unconscious social experiment.
Qualitative social information is hard to find in society. Just how does an immigrant feel
as they come to a new society? How does this change over time? What are the chief
influences that make a difference? A group of people with knowledge and interest in this
area could explore the world of the immigrant sociodramatically and psychodramatically
and experience through enactment not only facts but the experiential impact of their
situation.
Historical writing, fact or fiction includes the entering into another world in the
imagination. This paper Configuring Historical Facts through Historical Fiction
explores trustworthiness of these explorations:
We suggest that historical fiction helps to encourage and broaden
consideration of the inner life of historical fact that informs the
search for similarities and differences that exist through time in
human motivation, action, and cohabitation. Arguably, historical
fiction proves as trustworthy a resource in this endeavor as
history textbooks. In his study of historians and high school
students reading historical texts, Sam Wineburg illustrates this
point, observing that when asked to rank the relative
trustworthiness of the eight documents, historians ranked this
excerpt [from an American history textbook] last, even less
trustworthy than an excerpt from a fiction work.10 Our concern
here has less to do with the factual validity of textbooks than with
the veracity that historical fiction can provide students seeking to
imagine what the past has to do with their present understandings
of self and society. Historical fiction offers both students and
teachers explorations of difficult choices and human
contradictions, as well as insight into the complexities of social
life, in order to counterbalance the superficial coverage of human
challenges.
den Heyer and Fidyk 142:2007
Individual writers working exclusively with their imagination can produce trustworthy
information. People gathered for the purpose of exploring social phenomena, interacting
and role reversing can amplify this effect and produce significant insights.
Warm up to research
If the six principles of sociometry are adhered to, human dignity is maintained; people
will not become things. The common practice of asking people to consent to research
with a simple yes is not co-action. Becoming a guinea pig, being used, is something
people have every reason to fear.
A negative warm up to research results from the non-sociometric research we are used to,
research that is not as Moreno put it 'of the people, by the people and for the people'
(Moreno, 1947). It is so often by vested interest, on an uninvolved population with the
purpose to better able to manipulate them. Sociometric research has that barrier to
overcome. Ironically if the research is of benefit to the participants and there is
enthusiasm for the project it may be seen as not being objective.
For example: Slawson (1965:531), commenting on the effectiveness of psychodrama in
treating hospitalised patients, states:
The zeal and perseverance of many practitioners not only implies
bias, but precludes even a pretence of objectivity.

Can Morenos social science find a new life in psychodramatic practice and in the world
of social science? The development of experimental designs, created of the subjects, for
the subjects and by the subjects. (Moreno:1954:358) would be a first step. An
understanding and commitment to the six principles is in itself a major warm up and
shifts the nature of everyday practice and research proposals.
Who Shall Survive? lists over a hundred hypotheses for further investigation. Many of
these proposals for further study are related to studying sociometry itself, for example:
36. Place the sociometric investigator into the midst of several
populations, not to give a test, but a) to arouse his warm up
towards a given population and the warm up of that population
towards him; and b) to test his sensitivity for the criteria most
signicant for it.

The investigator who establishes a rapport, enters into a
maximum of involvement with a population and will choose the
right criterion in the course of his warm up will provoke a wider
and deeper participation of the population than the investigator
who gives the test coldly by means of a mailed questionnaire, for
instance, or similar methods which try to reduce his involvement
to a minimum.
Moreno 1978:711-712
Morenos principles were developed early in the evolution of social science and while
they have not managed to dominate the field, some aspects of his work have continued to
develop and many of the values are found in other research methodologies. If the
sociometric values are adhered to, much can be learned from other methods even though
they are not fully sociometric.
What follows are sections on methodologies that have something in common with
Morenos social science and some of them are directly related. Some may have
kidnapped sociometry. All have an alternative that differentiates them from positivist
physical science.
Pragmatism
Moreno acknowledges the influence of the pragmatists:
The soil for sociometry was prepared by the thinking of J.
Baldwin, C. H. Cooley, G. H. Mead, W. I. Thomas and
particularly John Dewey. Sociologists and educators were the
rst to accept it.
Moreno, 1978:lx
Pragmatism a philosophy that influenced Moreno continued to develop research
methodology in its own right. Kevin Kellys descriptions of science make it clear there is
no one scientific method. Abraham Kaplan makes the same point in his book
influenced by the pragmatism of Peirce, James and Dewey: The Conduct of Inquiry:
Methodology for Behavioral Science.
I forgo a denition because l believe there is no one thing to be
dened. If we are to do justice to this complexity, l think it is
hard to improve on P. W. Bridgman's remark that the scientist
has no other method than doing his damnedest."
Kaplan (1964:27)
Patricia A. Shields (1998) draws on a scientific approach with its roots in pragmatism.
She defines five main styles of research and how each will have its associated type of
question and conceptual framework. The five styles are:
1. Exploratory Research
2. Descriptive Research
3. Understanding Research
4. Explanatory Research
5. Predictive Research

Figure 1 on of her paper goes into detail for each style and is reproduced in full:





This typology would form an excellent basis for a group to warm up to their purpose and
to create an experimental design.

Sociometry and Action Research
There was, what Moreno calls a secession in the development of sociometry by Kurt
Lewin. He described this in a paper in 1953 and this was reprinted in the Preludes in Who
Shall Survive? the following year.
Action Research, or Group Dynamics is often attributed to Lewin, however the true
origin could more correctly attributed to Moreno (Gunz, 1996). There is a significant
difference between sociometry as a research method and action research. Two main ones
cited by Moreno are spontaneity and the basis in action.
Lewin was original as a theoretician but his experimental work in
group and action dynamics was not original. The techniques
which made his work popular stem from me, they led him and his
students to the study of autocratic and democratic group
structure, group decision and roleplaying. He did not have
rsthand inspirations in these areas but was quick in secondary
elaboration and giving them a topological costume. He became
belatedly aware of this incongruity and tried to develop,
supplementary to topological theory, a theory of action of his
own, using my action theories as a model. But he did not succeed
in this, he did not see clearly the relationship between
spontaneity, warming up, the stages leading up to and the
operational circumstances emerging in the moment of action. He
tried to set up a theory of change without a theory of spontaneity,
a theory of action without a theory of the actor in situ, a theory of
productivity without a theory of creativity. This theoretical
deciency led to deciencies in the comprehension and the effect
of action techniques. Lewins chief handicap was that he tried to
formulate a theory of action without being an action technician
himself. He had to depend upon his students to be indoctrinated
into them and they were themselves unimaginative and
inadequately trained.
Moreno 1978: civ-cv
It is interesting that decades later in an article comparing the two methods Phil Carter,
Building purposeful action: action methods and action research, mentions that is the
warm up to spontaneity that he would like to see action research incorporate into their
approach.
I hope action researchers are encouraged to creatively apply
some of the components, techniques, and perspectives of AM
[Morenos action methods] that have been presented here.
Following the theory of spontaneity an action researcher may
wish to change their initial task from problem identification to
health identification. They may also wish to utilise the dramatic
stage and techniques in order to encourage the integrated
presence of all human facilities in the living dynamics of
individuals co-creating in the here-and-now moment.

While AR [Action Research] and AM have distinctive
backgrounds with their own unique theoretical basis and set of
methods, they both have similar worldviews with similar
objectives and principles. Hopefully this paper shows that AM
can benefit AR. A future study could show how AR can benefit
AM. It appears that connections between AR and AM could be
strengthened for mutual benefit. Perhaps uniting the two under a
common banner would be beneficial. One potentially profitable
effort in this area would be the expansion of current descriptions
of action science (Argyris et al. 1985; Friedman, 2001).

I think that an investigation of action research could be investigated to see if there are
after the 60 year long split some things that can be learned to strengthen sociometry as
a research method.
Regardless of the origins the phrase attributed to Lewin sums up an idea that is central to
the Moranian method. This the principle of adequate motivation:
"You cannot understand a system until you try to change it"

The branch that broke away with Lewin has grown and many of the Morenian principles
are alive and well in the methods. See for example some websites about action research
and action science. Here is the opening passage from Participatory action research a
section on the Learning for Sustainability website, developed by Will Allan (n.d.)
(Accessed 14 October, 2013)

Action research comprises a family of research methodologies
which aim to pursue action and research outcomes at the same
time (PAR, action learning, soft systems methodology, etc.). It
therefore has some components which resemble consultancy or
change agency, and some which resemble field research. The
focus is action to improve a situation and the research is the
conscious effort, as part of the process, to formulate public
knowledge that adds to theories of action that promote or inhibit
learning in behavioural systems. In this sense the participatory
action researcher is a practitioner, an interventionist seeking to
help improve client systems. However, lasting improvement
requires that the participatory action researcher help clients to
change themselves so that their interactions will create these
conditions for inquiry and learning. Hence to the aims of
contributing to the practical improvement of problem situations
and to the goals of developing public knowledge we can add a
third aim of participatory action research, to develop the self -
help competencies of people facing problems.
The principles of action research can be seen to underpin the
development and improvement of practice in all the fields of
inquiry within this site. The concept of learning by doing in which
learning is perceived as experiential and reflexive is fundamental
to this approach. It recognises that people learn through the
active adaptation of their existing knowledge in response to their
experiences with other people and their environment. Moreover,
the process of building on experience is a natural one for most
people and action research provides a framework for formalising
and making this process more effective. By making explicit and
documenting the processes by which individuals carry out their
activities and problem solving processes allows for the fine
tuning and improvement of these processes. And while action
research is inherently a collaborative approach, it is also useful
as an approach to one's individual work.

Will Allens site lists many useful resources including a link to the Action Science
Network.
The Action Science Network aims to accurately describe and
efficiently demonstrate the theory and practice of action science
and, secondarily, to connect individuals and groups interested in
working with action science.
The "action science" strategy of organizational development was
defined and vigorously advanced primarily by Dr. Chris Argyris
(with important help from Donald Schon and others) over a
period of more than 50 years.
In the field of Organizational Development, action science is also
known as action inquiry, action research, or organizational
learning.
Argyris' action science has roots in works by world thinkers such
as John Dewey (1859-1952) and Kurt Lewin (1890-1947).
Action Science Network (n.d.)
Could it be that this spontaneity is lacking in action research is because it is so it is most
frequently discouraged and restrained by cultural devices. See Morenos well-known
passage defining spontaneity:
Spontaneity operates in the present, now and here; it propels the
individual towards an adequate response to a new situation or a
new response to an old situation. It is strategically linked in two
opposite directions, to automatism and reexivity, as well as to
productivity and creativity. It is, in its evolution, older than
libido, memory or intelligence. Although the most universal and
evolutionarily the oldest, it is the least developed among the
factors operating in Man's world; it is most frequently
discouraged and restrained by cultural devices.
Moreno 1978:42
Bob Dick is an advocate of Action Research in Australia From his website:
It's a natural way of acting and researching at the same time
With the exception of well-practised tasks there is a natural
rhythm to the way most of us behave. We do something. We check
if it worked as expected. If it didn't, we analyse what happened
and what we might do differently. If necessary we repeat the
process.
act -> review -> act -> review ...
This is the natural cycle which action research uses to achieve its
twin outcomes of action (for example, change) and research (for
example, understanding). You might say that action research is
true to label -- it is action and research.
action research = action and research
Some features of action research assist the action. Some assist
the research. Some assist the "and" -- they help the action and the
research fit together.
Dick, 2002


Indigenous Knowledge
To enhance the perspective that there is something misleading about the term science as
used in the dominant discourse, it is worth seeing knowledge and knowledge-making
through the eyes of indigenous cultures. A paper by Charles Royal
6
is informative:
The second key theme within indigenous knowledge concerns the
weaving of knowledge and experience across domains of
knowledge and the boundaries articulated for disciplines. This
theme arises from the notion that indigenous knowledge is
holistic in the sense that knowledge is interconnected and
relational in the same way that all life is interconnected and
relational. We dwell within the web or weave of life in Ma!ori
we use ta!tai or genealogies for all creation as a metaphor for this
aspect of existence and so our knowledge reflects this reality.
Some see this theme as an attempt to undermine and compromise
disciplines. Some might even suggest that this idea is anti-
methodological. (One will note how this theme is deeply relevant
to notions of power and its expression through knowledge.)
However, the idea of weaving across boundaries can not take
place without the boundaries themselves existing. Just as the
world contains natural borders as between the sea and land, as
between mountains and flatland, as between knowing and
ignorance so there are natural borders within knowledge and
they exist for substantial reasons. A holistic view of the world
and of knowledge is not blind to parts, boundaries, borders and
thresholds but rather sees these parts both as wholes in
themselves as well as parts of larger wholes (confer holon.).
Life is a complex and multidimensional whole and the quest to
see the whole is to render disciplines as part of a complex set of
pathways leading to wholeness rather fragmentation. In this way
of viewing the world, understanding relationship is the key to
understanding the world.
Royal 2005:4
I quote this passage to give a sense of the spirit that infuses knowing in the Ma!ori culture,
and to lead to the remarkable last line: In this way of viewing the world, understanding
relationship is the key to understanding the world.
This is central in Moreno as well. We are students of the in-between. In a way there is
nothing there. We can't bottle it, it is the space between that is so rich we can describe it
in metaphor or in theory, but the actual phenomena we are looking at is between people
and things. There is another passage in the same paper on the creation of new knowledge:
Wa!nanga is considered here as an activity, an active process of
exploring and considering. Further, we can say that the general
purpose of the activity called wa!nanga is the creation of new
knowledge and understanding. When some one or some people
are conducting wa!nanga, they are going through a process whose
outcome is a new idea, a new understanding, new knowledge.
This idea is reinforced in everyday parlance. For example, when
we use a phrase like:
Kei te wa!nanga ta!tou i te pa!tai nei.
we are saying that:
We are considering/debating/analysing/exploring the question
(before us).
The intention, of course, is to find out something new, to come to
a new understanding or realisation. Whilst the sense of finding
or seeking is not made explicit in the term wa!nanga, it is
nevertheless implied and well understood throughout the
community of Ma!ori language users. Hence, we can say that at a
very simple and everyday level, wa!nanga is used to stand for a
process by which we can come to some kind of new idea or
understanding. Wa!nanga is also used to refer to a particular
person skilled in the work of the whare wa!nanga:
Kihai i tae ki nga pukenga, ki nga wananga, ki nga tauira.
He was not taught by the teachers, the learned ones, the
exemplars.
Royal 2005:11
I want to draw attention to an article that discusses the co-production of knowledge by
indigenous and non-indigenous people. There is an immediate sense that when it comes
to the principles of sociometry the indigenous cultures have an approach built into their
bones that is in harmony with sociometry:
A dialogue of science and traditional knowledge: co-production
of knowledge
There is another aspect of this knowledge building. Knowledge is
a dynamic process, and knowledge is contingent upon being
formed, validated and adapted to changing circumstances. This
invites the development of relationships between researchers and
indigenous people as co-producers of knowledge (Davidson-Hunt
& OFlaherty 2007). A diversity of indigenous groups in Canada
has welcomed a dialogue with science to help co-produce locally
relevant knowledge in a number of different areas. These have
included the co-production of knowl- edge for resource
management and planning (Davidson-Hunt & OFlaherty 2007);
dealing with environmental contaminants (Berkes et al. 2001);
community health (Parlee et al. 2005); development impacts
(Peloquin & Berkes 2009); environmental monitoring (Berkes et
al. 2007); climate change (Berkes & Jolly 2001; Peloquin &
Berkes 2009), and protected areas and biodiversity conservation
(Davidson-Hunt & Berkes 2006; Berkes et al. 2007). Non-
indigenous researchers have played a major role in knowledge
co-production in these areas, always preceded by trust-building,
development of working relationships, and respect for areas that
should not be researched.
Berkes 2009:153

Feminist Standpoint
Feminist standpoint theorists make three principal claims: (1)
Knowledge is socially situated. (2) Marginalized groups are
socially situated in ways that make it more possible for them to be
aware of things and ask questions than it is for the non-
marginalized. (3) Research, particularly that focused on power
relations, should begin with the lives of the marginalized.
Feminist standpoint theory, then, makes a contribution to
epistemology, to methodological debates in the social and natural
sciences, to philosophy of science, and to political activism. It has
been one of the most influential and debated theories to emerge
from second-wave feminist thinking. Feminist standpoint theories
place relations between political and social power and
knowledge center-stage. These theories are both descriptive and
normative, describing and analyzing the causal effects of power
structures on knowledge while also advocating a specific route
for enquiry, a route that begins from standpoints emerging from
shared political struggle within marginalized lives. Feminist
standpoint theories emerged in the 1970s, in the first instance
from Marxist feminist and feminist critical theoretical
approaches within a range of social scientific disciplines. They
thereby offer epistemological and methodological approaches
that are specific to a variety of disciplinary frameworks, but
share a commitment to acknowledging, analyzing and drawing on
power/knowledge relationships, and on bringing about change
which results in more just societies. Feminist scholars working
within a number of disciplinessuch as Dorothy Smith, Nancy
Hartsock, Hilary Rose, Sandra Harding, Patricia Hill Collins,
Alison Jaggar and Donna Harawayhave advocated taking
womens lived experiences, particularly experiences of (caring)
work, as the beginning of scientific enquiry. Central to all these
standpoint theories are feminist analyses and critiques of
relations between material experience, power, and epistemology,
and of the effects of power relations on the production of
knowledge.
Bowell, 2011


Practice based research
Greenberg S.L.
The research approach I recommend involves the intensive
analysis of concrete-change performances using both intensive
observation and measurement of in-session behavior, as well as
the investigation of participants' subjective recall of their
experience. The goal is to build models of client-change
processes and the therapist interventions that set these in motion.
Examples of research efforts to study the allowing of emotional
pain, the process of interruption of emotion, and the process of
resolution of hopelessness are given.
Greenberg 1999
Charmaine McVea in AANZPA Journal No. 14 in an article: Its Not Enough Just To
Say It Works: Research Into Psychodrama and Experiential Therapies, creates an
excellent warm up to a variety of possibilities for research that could meet all the
sociometric principles:
Some of the ways we can develop case-study research in
psychodrama include:
1. Focussing research questions on issues of relevance to
practitioners and clients by studying significant events within
sessions, how they come about, their impact on clients, and how
the director might make use of these events (e.g. Mahrer and
Boulet 1999).
2. Examining multiple cases, to test whether results are
replicated across cases, and to identify whether results are
general, typical or variant (e.g. Hill, Thompson and Williams
1997).
3. Developing plausible therapy and non-therapy explanations
for post-psychodrama changes by such means as:
a. mapping outcomes against processes within psychodrama
sessions (e.g. Greenberg 1986; Elliott 2002), and
b. comparing processes and outcomes of successful and non-
successful sessions.
4. Using videotapes of psychodrama sessions to enable
information to be collected from a variety of sources - including
director and protagonist recall of significant events, and
independent researchers participating in process analysis (e.g.
Greenberg 1999; Mahrer 1999).
5. Using measures that are being used by other experiential
psychotherapy researchers so that our work can be readily
placed alongside a larger body of work (refer to the Network for
Research on Experiential Psychotherapies www.experiential-
researchers.org/ index.html).
McVea, 2004
Advocates of practice based research, Scott D Miller, Barry Duncan and Jaqueline A.
Spark say this in their book The Heroic Client: a Revolutionary way to Improve
Effectiveness Through Client-directed, Outcome-informed Therapy:
We mean revolutionary way to reect two themes central to
this book. One is our revolutionary desire to overthrow mental
health practices that do not promote a partnership with clients in
all decisions that affect their well being. The second theme is the
revolutionary improvements that recent research about outcome
feedback has demonstratedusing client-based outcome
feedback increases effectiveness by an incredible 65 percent in
real clinical settings. Such results, when taken in combination
with the elds obvious failure to discover and systematize
therapeutic process in a manner that reliably improves success,
have led us to conclude that the best hope for improving
effectiveness will be found in outcome management.
Duncan, Miller and Sparks, 2004:location 258

The highlight of their research is that modalities of psychotherapy are not as relevant as
listening to clients feedback on what is useful in the therapy.


Qualitative Research
Conclusion
Because of the potential for qualitative research to contribute to
evidence-based practice, qualitative research methods represent
a useful set of techniques for the scientist-practitioner. Although
the terms and concepts associated with qualitative research may
be unfamiliar to traditionally trained school psychologists, many
of the processes that qualitative researchers use are actually
quite similar to professional activities in which many school
psychologists engage on a routine basis. As a result, many
elements of qualitative research may readily be incorporated into
the scientific practice of school psychology.
Meyers and Sylvester 2006


This paper can be seen as a response to the call to discuss
explicitly the criteria for judging qual- itative, case and
interpretive research in informa- tion systems (Lee et al. 1995,
p. 367). Therefore, just as principles and guidelines for case
studies were provided by analyzing them from the philo- sophical
perspective of positivism (Lee 1989), so this paper will do the
same for interpretive field research, but from the philosophical
perspective of hermeneutics. Also, just as suggestions were made
for researchers who wished to undertake research employing the
case research strategy and offered criteria for the evaluation of
case study research (Benbasat et al. 1987, p. 369), so this paper
does the same, except that we focus on interpretive field research.


These principles are relevant the Principles of Sociometry mentioned in this paper. For
example, The Fundamental Principle of the Hermeneutic Circle:
This principle suggests that all human understanding is achieved
by iterating between considering the interdependent meaning of
parts and the whole that they form. This principle of human
understanding is fundamental to all the other principles.
Klein & Myers 1999:72
While the wording is different, the sense is one that includes Rule of "giauual"
inclusion of all extianeous ciiteiia." that I have incluueu unuei piinciple S: Piinciple
of uynamic uiffeience. Moreno speaks of "the slow dialectic process of the sociometric
experiment." (1978:63)
Another of Klein & Myers principles : 3. The Principle of Interaction Between the
Researchers and the Subjects
Requires critical reflection on how the research materials (or
data) were socially constructed through the interaction
between the researchers and participants.
Klein & Myers 1999:72
This principle is not as strongly stated as the principle of co-action but the same value is
inherent in it.
The other principles in this paper are not so clearly related however they are not in
conflict with the sociometric method and would assist in a warm up to research, and the
writing process.

Social Network Analysis
Another field that acknowledges sociometry at its roots is social network analysis.
(Borgatti, 1996) This field has grown exponentially with the Internet, and with the
popularity of social networking sites. Note this passage from the address to the Annual
Sunbelt Social Network Conference by Charles Kadushin.
Let me now briey run down what I saw as the methodological
problems facing the eld in 1979. I rst dis- cussed the problems
of data collection, noting that although Moreno invented
sociometry, he left us with a lot of problems. I mentioned the
informant accuracy problem rst brought to our attention by
Bernard and company (1981) and further discussed by Hammer
(1984). While some may say that the greatest contribution to
methods of the Irvine team led by Freeman is UCINET (and as a
regular user I am much appreciative), my own feeling is that the
theory and demonstration of sociometric deep structure is
probably their most important work. Much more needs to be done
here, however, as I will point out momentarily. Then there was
the great invention by a Toronto team (Weman himself assigns
credit to Shulman, 1972) of the sample survey research ego-
centered network system. I rank the invention of this method as
close to the invention of sociometry itself as generative of both
empirical studies and theoretical problems. We have now done
much work with this approach (I would still like to nd an
acceptable one word tag for it - I will leave the problem to Barry)
and I think we now know much more about its advantages and
limitations. '
Kadushin 1988
Also:
Similarly, the greatest advances in our eld have come as the
result of new data collection techniques (e.g., sociometry). There
is a serious crisis in our current ability to collect good
sociometric data in unbounded systems and some major
inventions must occur to lift us out of reanalysis of dated data
sets.
Kadushin 1988
It is satisfying to see the link with Moreno acknowledged and the connection made
explicit with the use of the word sociometry. More investigation is needed, but it seems
likely that only a few of the six principles of sociometry apply to any of these studies. My
exploration of the field shows that there is a wealth of knowledge about research, and
much could be learned to strengthen the use of sociometry, especially in the area of
quantification. See for example Community structure in social and biological networks
(Girvan and Newman, 2002).
The Frankfurt School Critical Theory
Habermas wants to establish the "validity of reflection". For
example, Descartes, in his Meditations on the First Philosophy ,
sought to find a source of knowledge that would ground the
knowledge that he had doubted. Similarly, Habermas wants to
establish such a foundation, although he does not turn to God for
his basis. Instead, "Habermas's aim is to show that the power of
reason is grounded in the process of reflection." Habermas
believes that "bad science" has its root "in the 'cognitive attitude'
of scientistic (positivist) science." The very culture of modern
science, rooted as it is in positivism, cannot bring itself to be
reflective, as Habermas demands, without abandoning the
ideology of "objectivity".
Furthermore, Habermas sees critical theory as a way to
recognize the telos of society and to normatively evaluate
society's current state as it relates to the fulfillment of that telos.
"For Habermas, this telos is the end of coercion and the
attainment of autonomy through reason, the end of alienation
through a consensual harmony of interests, and the end of
injustice and poverty through the rational administration of
justice." [Braaten 111]
Stickle, n.d.
Critical Theory and Action Research have similar philosophy and for example are taught
together in the Washington School of Social Work. (Sohng, 2005). The rejection of a
positivist philosophy is central to these methods.
From Wikipedia on The Authoritarian Personality (1950):
The Authoritarian Personality is a 1950 sociology book by
Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson,
and Nevitt Sanford, researchers working at the University of
California, Berkeley, during and shortly after World War II.

Though strongly criticized for bias and methodology,[4][5] the
book was highly influential in American social sciences,
particularly in the first decade after its publication: No volume
published since the war in the field of social psychology has had
a greater impact on the direction of the actual empirical work
being carried on in the universities today.[6]
Wikipedia accessed 14 October, 2013
One of the central tenets on critical theory is the revolutionary ideal of equality, and this
relates to Morenos principle of co-action. In Jacques Rancire and the Contemporary
Scene: The Evidence of Equality and the Practice of Writing, Jean Philippe Deranty and
Alison Ross, say this in relation to Jacques Ranciere a writer associated with critical
theory.
This intrinsic performative dimension of Rancires philosophical
writing applies especially to the guiding axiom of his thinking,
the axiom of equality. Equality for Rancire cannot be
demonstrated through induction or deduction; it can only be
veried locally and problematically in practice. Such practical
verication of equality, which for Rancire constitutes the core
definition of politics, involves a series of moves and
displacements within existing discourses, since politics for him
aims fundamentally at challenging a given sharing/dividing
(partage) of the sensible. This core discursive dimension of the
verification of equality, however, has ripple effects in the
different universes of established thought, which prop up, through
reasons and explanations, the existing discourses of society. In
other words, the practical verification of equality aims to achieve
real life effects, but in all necessity is also waged in discourse
and in thought, and thus necessarily enrols the theorist in its
process.
Deranty and Ross (2012:Loc 134)
Connected Knowing
Helen La Kelly Hunt writes Relationship as a Living Laboratory (2005). Her writing is
significant in two ways. One, the idea that a relationship can be a laboratory is strongly
in the spirit of Moranian scientific methodology. In human relationships, laboratory and
stage are closely related. The chapter is significant in another way. Hunt introduces the
idea of connected knowing, distinguishing it from separate knowing. She values both
ways of knowing and opens up two distinct epistemologies and scientific methods.
The Epistemological Distinction Between Separate and
Connected Knowing Is Important for Relational Theory
As indicated by theorist Sandra Harding, who referred to an
epistemological crisis of the West, the eld of epistemology is
in flux. As our culture grapples with postmodern concepts, we are
struggling to understand how knowledge is gained. A Harvard
study on mens development (Perry, 1970) led to the concern that
womens perspectives were missing from theories of
psychological and ethical development. The book Womenis Ways
of Knowing (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986) was
intended to describe not only the different ways that women know
but also how women in the United States are socialized to know
(Goldberger, 1996, p. 8). Belenky et al.s conceptualization of the
different ways that people know reected what many theorists
had already concluded: that the mind-body dualism of
psychology, which articially separates cognition, emotion, and
behavior, has created a compartmentalized approach to
understanding the human experience.

Belenky et al. (1986) introduced the concept of procedural
knowing, which has two designations. The rst is separate
knowing, a distanced and impartial stance toward that which is
to be known. This is the skeptical stance of the devils advocate.
Dating back to the Socratic method, separate knowing is the
backbone of Western academia; it is the sort of inquiry that
occurs in the classrooms of higher education. We can better
understand separate objective knowing by looking at the
etymology of the word objective: ob, off; jest, throw.
Separate knowing employs a throwing off or away, which
allows us to look at a thing critically. The second designation is
connected knowing, an attempt to enter into the space of the thing
to be known and to identify with it. This kind of knowing is
conceived as a. positive, effortful act that is more intuitive and
less rational. Connected knowing requires not merely
sympathetic understanding or the absence olf negative evaluation
but also affirmation of the other. It follows Martin Buber's
recommendations to image the real, to make the other
present, which requires a bold swinging . . . into the life of the
other (cited in Clinchy, 1996, p. 218). Womens Ways of
Knowing emphasized that connected knowing is not superior to
separate knowing, but neither is it inferior. Although both are
important, connected (that is, feminine) ways of knowing
historically have been devalued (Golberger, 1996, p. 9). Blythe
Clinchy (1996) observed that separate knowing requires a
removal of the self, whereas connected knowing requires an
investment of the self, which does not automatically accept the
other but instead engages in self-reflection. The investigator
listens to the self in order to listen to the respondent. [The
investigator uses] the self to understand the other (Clinchy,
1996, p. 219)
Hunt (2005:37-38)
Note: I have added Hunts references to the Bibliography .
That the method used to develop Imago therapy, a relationship laboratory is not well
understood or valued is indicated by the fact that there is a strong move within the Imago
movement to develop the separate knowing aspect of the process of knowing. They are
striving to be evidence based, without claiming their roots in practice based evidence.
Citizen Science
Citizen science (also known as crowd science, crowd-sourced
science, ornetworked science) is scientific research conducted, in
whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists, often
by crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. Formally, citizen science
has been defined as "the systematic collection and analysis of
data; development of technology; testing of natural phenomena;
and the dissemination of these activities by researchers on a
primarily avocational basis".[1] Citizen science is sometimes
called "public participation in scientific research."[2][3][4]
Wikipedia
Almost exclusively applies to the physical sciences, however there is some mention of it
in social science projects. The methodologies might inspire future sociometrists to use
the Internet more fully.
Open Research
Open research is research conducted in the spirit of free and
open source software. Much like open source schemes that are
built around a source code that is made public, the central theme
of open research is to make clear accounts of the methodology
freely available via the internet, along with any data or results
extracted or derived from them. This permits a massively
distributed collaboration, and one in which anyone may
participate at any level of the project.
If the research is scientific in nature, it is frequently referred to
as open science.[1][2] Open research can also include social
sciences, the humanities,mathematics, engineering and medicine.
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_research
Open Access
Open access (OA) is the practice of providing unrestricted access
via the Internet to peer-reviewed scholarly research. It is most
commonly applied toscholarly journal articles, but it is also
increasingly being provided to theses, book chapters,[2] and
scholarly monographs.[3]
Open access comes in two degrees: Gratis open access, which is
no-cost online access, and Libre open access, which also includes
some additional usage rights.[4]These usage rights are often
granted by the use of Creative Commons licenses.[5]
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access_(publishing)

Evidence Based Practice
Figure 2 is from the notes by Annika Okamoto and Michael Gross for their workshop at
the April 2013 ASGPP conference on Evidence Based Practice. The few pages create an
excellent warm up to all matters a sociometric research project would need to attend to.

Figure 2. From a handout by Annika Okamoto and Michael Gross (2013)

Constructivist Research
As Peter Howie (2011) mentioned Morenos work can be seen as clearly falling outside
of the positivist approach to knowing and being closely related in this respect to
constructivist theory. Just how closely related constructivist methodology is to
sociometry can be seen in this paper about research in information systems (IS), How we
Invent What we Measure: A Constructionist Critique of the Empiricist Bias in IS
Research.
In this paper I have argued that there are two prototypical
metaphysical positions that inform IS researchers, positivism and
constructionism. While positivists believe in an objective world
independent of human intervention, constructionist believe that
the world is a social construction. The methodological position
that results from positivism is empiricism understood as the
attempt to gain understanding of the real world. I have tried to
show that empiricism is flawed because it cannot live up to the
expectation of producing objective knowledge. It can only
produce knowledge on the basis of prior knowledge and thus
produces self-fulfilling prophecies. My central question was why,
if this is true, constructionist researchers still use this flawed
epistemology.
The answer lies in pragmatic considerations. Empirical research
is publishable because it represents the current consensus
regarding scientific rationality (cf. Lyytinen & Hirschheim 1988).
Researchers must appear to be rational and therefore adhere to
given standards. For the constructionist this is no principal
problem because she understands rationality as just another
social construct which plays a part in the collective meaning
making. A constructionist who does empirical research, even
hard core statistical positivist empirical research therefore does
not have to be self-contradictory. She may just try to speak the
language that renders her ideas understandable.
Stahl, 2003
George Kelly, who I believe went to the Sunday Beacon sessions (source) Uses the term
personal constructs. His notion of people as scientists is clearly related to Moreno and
pragmatism.
The body of Kelly's work, The Psychology of Personal
Constructs, Volume I and II was written in 1955[1] when Kelly
was a professor at Ohio State University. The first three chapters
of the book were republished by W. W. Norton in paperback in
1963[2] and consist only of his theory of personality which is
covered in most personality books. The re-publication omitted
Kelly's assessment technique, the Rep Grid Test, and his method
of psychotherapy (Fixed Role Therapy) which is rarely practiced
in the form he proposed.
On the other hand, Kelly's fundamental view of people as naive
scientists was incorporated into most later-developed forms of
cognitive-behavioral therapy that blossomed in the late 70s and
early 80s and even, surprisingly, into Intersubjective
psychoanalysis which leaned heavily on Kelly's
phenomenological perspective and his notion of schematic
processing of social information [3]
Wikipedia
Turning the tables: Moranian methods in the physical sciences
Moreno predicted his third science, sociometric methods, would impact on the physical
and biological sciences:
By the third millennium or thereabout a new position will
crystallize. It will be a reversal of the old. ... Indeed, the
leadership in scientific method and discovery which has been for
nearly two and a half thousand years in the hands of physicists
will pass to social scientists, and just as the social sciences were
dependent upon the physical sciences for hypothesis and
methods, the social sciences will some day help the physical
sciences to understand and run the physical universe.
Moreno, 1954:31
People role reverse to discover and understand reality. Look at how Richard Feynman
used role reversal in his scientific explorations:
Feynmans essential insight was to place himself once again in
the electron, to see what the electron would see at light speed. He
would see at light speed. He would see the protons flashing
toward himand they were therefore flattened relativistically
into pancakes. Relativity also slowed their internal clocks, in
effect, and, from the electrons point of view, froze the partons
into immobility. His scheme reduced the messy interaction of an
electron with a fog of different particles to a much simpler
interaction
Gleick, 2011: location 7016
Conclusion
I will sum up the possibilities this paper points to.
Our intuitive sense of the shortcoming of traditional non-paricipatory social science is not
only valid but can lead to an alternative approach based on Morenos social science;
sociometry. In training and education Sociometry can provide more effective practice and
evaluation. Sociometry, as a methodology for social science and experimental design will
emerge as a recognised and significant method in psychology, sociology and all social
scisnce. An impressive possibility is that Moreno's vision is validated and the methods
used in this socio-psychological sphere spill over and enrich the work of scientists in
other fields, strenghening our connection with people working in the biological and
physical sciences especially quantum physics.

The opening lines of Who Shall Survive? reveals his asperations for major social change,
with sociometrys objective being the whole of mankind (1978:3). Sociometry has the
deep conviction that people can collaborate, that together they can go beyond the surface
structures of the group and unleash creativity as they reach levels of ethical spontaneity.
The possibility exists that sociometry is the key to the survival of humanity.

This article points to possibilities and also to much that can be done to fully embrace
Morenos work. There is historical and theoretical investigation needed that is only
hinted at in this article.
How do the original research items done in the name of sociometry stack up? It may not
be realistic to apply the six principles to review existing work. Morenos use of the term
near sociometric indicates that there is a continuum. Can they be repeated in some
way? This might lead to the construction of similar groups today.
Within AANZPA, how many of the thesis (there are over 100) contribute to Morenos
social science in some way?
A thorough resource is the Bibliography of Psychodrama Inception to Now (Wieser,
n.d.). The site has over 6000 references to psychodrama, including Morenos work. He
explicitly does not include specifically sociometric research, and points to Adam
Blatners Sociometry Bibliography.(Blatner n.d.)
Such literature review would be a major contribution however main implication of this of
this paper is in our practice. The purpose of theory is to test it in action

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*

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a secession from the Sociometric Movement. Sociometry Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 101-104.
American Sociological Association.

Moreno, J. L. (2012). Sociometry, Experimental Method and the Science of Society. An
Approach to a New Political Orientation. The North-West Psychodrama Association,
U.K. (Pdf edition) Lu Lu Press. Earlier ed 1951 Beacon House, Beacon, New York.
*
Moreno, J.L. (1978). Who Shall Survive? Foundations of Sociometry, Group
Psychotherapy and Sociodrama. Beacon House, Beacon, New York. Accessed in pdf
form August 2013: http://www.americandeception.com As far as I can tell this is
identical to the 1953 edition and uses the same page numbers. (Has a new Preface)

Moreno, J.L. (1954) Sociometry and Experimental Sociology. In Sociometry: A Journal
of Inter-Personal Relations and Experimental Design. Vol. XVII No.4 Beacon House,
Beacon, New York.
Moreno, J.L. (1955). The Birth of a New Era for Sociometry: Dedicated to the Occasion
of the Transfer of Sociometry to The American Sociological Society. In Sociometry: A
Journal of Inter-Personal Relations and Experimental Design. Vol. XVIII
No.4 Beacon House, Beacon, New York.
*
Moreno, J.L., (1968). The Validity of Psychodrama. Group Psychotherapy, Volume XXI,
No. 1, American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama.
Moreno, J.L. (1977). Psychodrama First Volume (4th edition). Beacon House, Beacon,
New York.
*
Moreno, J.L. (2010). The Theatre of Spontaneity. The North-West Psychodrama
Association, U.K. (Pdf edition)
*
Moreno, J.L. (2013). The Future of Man's World. Foreword to the 2013 Edition by
Edward Schreiber The North-West Psychodrama Association, UK, Lulu Press. (original
ed. 1947)
*
Moreno, J.L. (2011). The Autobiography of J.L. Moreno, Guest Editor Jonathan D.
Moreno, The North-West Psychodrama Association, UK, Lulu Press.


Moreno, Z. T. (2000) The Function of "Tele" in Human Relations in Zeig, J. (Ed), The
Evolution of Psychotherapy: A Meeting of the Minds, Article 35 pp 289 301, Erickson
Foundation Press, Phoenix, Arizona. (Also available in Moreno, Z.T. 2006) Accessed 25
August, 2013: http://psybc.com/pdfs/library/MORENO.pdf
Moreno, Z.T. (2006). The Quintessential Zerka: Writings by Zerka Toeman Moreno on
Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy. Rutledge New York
Moreno, Z.T. (2007). Morenos Influence on Martin Buber. Psychodrama Network News
Winter. American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama. Accessed at
http://www.asgpp.org/docs/PNNWinter07.pdf
Moreno, J.L. and Moreno, Z. T. (2011) Psychodrama Second Volume: Foundations of
Psychotherapy, The North-West Psychodrama Association, UK, Lulu Press. (Earlier eds:
1959, 1975 Beacon House N. Y.)
Meyers, Adena B. & Sylvester, Brent A. (2006). The Role of Qualitative Research
Methods in Evidence-Based Practice. NASP Communiqu, Vol. 34, #5 Accessed: 6
September, 2013. http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/cq345research.aspx
Phelan, Helen. (2002). The Internal Consultant: The Sociometrist Working with
Transitions. AANZPA Thesis, Perth WA. Accessed:
www.psybernet.co.nz/files/psychodrama/theses/090.pdf
*
Rough, Jim. (2002). Society's Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in
All the People. AuthorHouse


Root-Bernstein, Michele and Robert. (2010). Einstein On Creative Thinking: Music and
the Intuitive Art of Scientific Imagination. Accessed 9 April 2013 at
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201003/einstein-creative-thinking-
music-and-the-intuitive-art-scientific-imagination.
Nicholas, Mary and Eliasoph, Gene. (2002). Who Was J.L. Moreno and Why Do We
Care? The Group Circle, American Group Psychotherapy Association, Inc. Accessed
27 July 2013 at http://www.agpa.org/pubs/GC_0802_moreno.html
Okamoto, Annika & Gross, Michael (2013) Research Process Overview. Workshop
handout, April 2013 ASGPP Conference. Accessed 9 August 2013:
http://asgpplistserv.org/?p=21 and http://asgpplistserv.org/?ddownload=83
Perry, W. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years.
Austin, Tex.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Phelan, Helen. (2002). The Internal Consultant: The Sociometrist Working with
Transitions. AANZPA Thesis
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play. Published online. Accessed 6 September:
2013: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/medu.12004/full

Royal, Charles. (2005) Exploring Indigenous Knowledge: Te Ahukaram!. Accessed 28
August, 2013 charles-royal.com/assets/exploringindigenousknowledge.pdf
Rough, Jim (Year) The book on wisdom councils can be referred to here.
Rough, J. (2006). Dynamic Facilitation. In Zubizarreta, R. Dynamic Facilitation Manual.
Accessed at http:www.co-intelligence.oigBFNanual.html access again
Shedler, Jonathan. (2010). The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. American
Psychologist. Vol. 65. No. 2 Accessed 29 September, 2013:
http://www.apsa.org/portals/1/docs/news/jonathanshedlerstudy20100202.pdf


*
Scheiffele, Eberhard. (1995). The Theatre of Truth: Psychodrama, Spontaneity and
Improvisation: The Theatrical Theories and Inuences of Jacob Levy Moreno.
Dissertation, University of California. Lulu Press.
Stahl, Bernd Carsten. (2003). How we Invent What we Measure: A Constructionist
Critique of the Empiricist Bias in IS Research. Ninth Americas Conference on
Information Systems p.2883. Accessed 16 September, 2013:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.103.320&rep=rep1&type=pdf
*
Shields, Patricia M. (1998). Pragmatism as Philosophy of Science: A Tool for Public
Administration. Research in Public Administration, Vol 4, pages 195.225. Accessed 7
August 2013: https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/3954/fulltext.pdf
Schramski, Thomas G. & Feldman, Clyde A. (1984). Selected Abstracts of Outcome
Research and Evaluation in the Action Methods. Tuscon: Tuscon Center for
Psychodrama and Group Process.
*
Schreiber, Edward. (2013). Foreword to the 2013 Edition, Moreno, J.L. (2013). The
Future of Man's World. Foreword to the 2013 Edition by The North-West Psychodrama
Association, UK, Lulu Press. (original ed. 1947)

Singal, Sally. (2003). Efficacy of Psychodrama. Phd Thesis, McGill University, Montreal
Slawson, P.F. (1965) "Psychodrama as a Treatment for Hospitalised Patients: A
Controlled Study" in American Journal of Psychiatry, Vo1.122, pp.53O533. Note I got
this from Richard Halls thesis
Stickle, Steve. (n.d.) An Introduction to J. Habermas. Accessed, 16 September, 2013:
http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/hbrms.html
Sugg, Jason. (2012). Small Graces: Mapping a Route of Beauty to the Heart of the
World. UMI Dissertation Publishing. Ann Arbor
Sohng, Sue. (2005). Critical Methodology and Participatory Action Research. University
of Washington School of Social Work. Accessed, 17 September, 2013:
http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/pdf_files/syllabus_2005_final.pdf
Turner, Sandra. (1990) Meeting: Developing the relationship of "I to Thou" through the
method of psychodrama. AANZPA Thesis
Vandana, Shiva. (n.d.) The neem tree - a case history of biopiracy. Accessed 10 August
2013: http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/pir-ch.htm
Waldl, Robert. (2010). Moreno's Influence on Martin Buber's Dialogical Philosophy.
Accessed 8 September, 2013: http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/BuberMoreno.html
Wieser, Michael (ed). (n.d.) Bibliography of Psychodrama Inception to Now. Accessed
2 September, 2013 http://pdbib.org/
*
Zubizarreta, R. (2006). Dynamic Facilitation Manual. Accessed at http://www.co-
intelligence.org/DFManual.html




Endnotes


1
The journal changed its name in 1951. The editorial of that journal reflects on the
scientific method, I'll quote it in full:
EDITORIAL

The title of a scientic journal should be the shortest expression of its policy. When the
title of this journal Sociometry was selected in the latter part of 1936 it was Gardner
Murphy, its rst Editor, who suggested that an under title be added: A journal of Inter-
Personal Relations, as this might indicate to the readers a larger area of research.

Today, after fteen years, the original policy as expressed in its title has lost none of its
vigor, except that meanwhile, due to the very inuence which sociometry has exerted
upon the various branches of social science, most journals in this eld in the United
States as well as in other English speaking countries have opened their pages to papers
dealing with sociometric methods, including, among others, the sociometric test, role
playing, sociodrama, psychodrama and group psychotherapy.

This fortunate development has stimulated us to pay increased attention to the area of
research with which sociometry has identied itself from the very beginningthe area of
experimental design in the social sciences. Because of the growing need for deepening
our knowledge in this area and in order to emphasize our desire to be of service we have
broadened the title of this journal, to be known henceforth as Sociometry, A Journal of
Inter-Personal Relations and Experimental Design.

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
(1951)


2
Zerka Moreno (2007:6) published an item, Morenos Influence on Martin Buber in the
Psychodrama Network News. She highlighted the importance of Psychodrama as a means
of creating encounter. The opening paragraph follows. Dr. Robert Waldl from Vienna,
who presented at both the New York and Miami conferences, has discovered that J.L.

Moreno influenced Martin Buber in his ideas of The Encounter. Moreno started his
publications from 1914 onwards under the title series Einladung zu einer Begegnung, or
Invitations to an Encounter, predating Bubers Ich und Du, or I and Thou by nine years.
Dr. Waldl is planning to publish his PhD thesis in German and we hope for an English
translation in the not too distant future. The significance of this discovery cannot be
overestimated considering Bubers influence on philosophy, theology and psychology.
While it is true that Buber broadened the idea of The Encounter, he did not create
instruments for it to occur. Moreno literally invited such meetings and furthermore,
produced the various instruments we now use to facilitate the human encounter,
sociometry, group psychotherapy, psychodrama, sociodrama.
A transcript with illustrations is published on Adam Blatners website (Wald 2010) and
includes links to the thesis (in german).
3
Most of the Six Principles of Sociometry are based on rules described in an essay,
originally published 1948, in Sociometry, Experimental Method and The Science Of
Society: An Approach to a New Political Orientation, called Sociometry, and the
Experimental Method (2012:37), I discovered later that the section where these rules
appear, The Nature of the Warming Up Process and the Experimental Method, is
almost word for word the same as a section entitled Ontology of Sociometric Theory in
the 1953 edition of Who Shall Survive? ;"<,-+'$",5 "= !"#$"%&'() >("<0
?5)#4"'4&(+0) +,- !"#$"-(+%+@ (1953:59). The 1953 version appears to be the latest
version. The first edition, Who Shall Survive? 9 6&7 900("+#4 '" '4& ?("A1&% "=
B<%+, C,'&((&1+'$",5 DEFGHI is quite different and does not include the section at all.
As I describe the Six Principles of Sociometry I will quote from the section from the
1978 pdf edition of Who Shall Survive? Where this section is the same as in the 1953
edition.

4
Diana Jones lists four requirements of sociometric explorations (1996:12);

a) that the participants in the situation are drawn to one another by one or more criteria
b) that a criterion is selected to which the participants respond, at the moment of the test,
with a high degree of spontaneity
c) that the subjects are adequately motivated so that their responses may be sincere
d) that the criterion selected for testing is strong, enduring and denite, and not weak,
transitory and indefinite
These relate more directly to methodology for conducting the sociometric test. Morenos
words that introduce these requirements in the full edition of Who Shall Survive?
(1978:91) are: The theory of sociometric testing requires: Note that though these
criteria relate to the sociometric test (a part of, but not the whole of sociometry as a
methodology of social science) they include warm up and item c reiterates the fifth of the
six principles identified in this essay, the principle of adequate motivation.
5
Open Access is well explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access
6
Video of Charles Royal speaking on this topic at a Royal Society Conference session
two, about 45 minutes into the session. Accessd 28 August, 2013
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/events/2012-transit-of-venus-forum-lifting-our-
horizon/forum-programme/