Abstract
Abstract This study examined the effects of two task characteristics on written group products, and provided initial steps toward development of a general framework for the description and analysis of “intellective” group tasks. Task variables studied were: task type (production, discussion, and problem solving), and task difficulty. Measures of output characteristics were eight descriptive dimensions. Four hundred and thiry-two products were collected from 108 three-man groups, each of which worked on four different tasks. A total of 108 tasks were used. Task type determined up to 50% of the variance of products on some dimensions. Task difficulty moderately affected product characteristics, and incidental evidence indicated that order of task presentation had little effect on products. To explore further the nature of the differences among the task types, a multiple-discriminant analysis was computed to differentiate among the types in terms of product-dimension scores. Two vectors of discrimination were obtained, and the centroids of the three task types were located in the discriminant space. On the basis of these and other data, the nature of the “task space” within which the three types lie was reconceptualized. The revised “taks space” is two-dimensional: one dimension consists of categories of “task contents,” and the other consists of kinds of “process emphases.”
Published Version
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