Using sociometric techniques to assess the social impacts of inclusion: Some methodological considerations

In recent years, sociometric techniques have been increasingly used to assess friendship development in children with special educational needs integrated in regular educational settings. In this paper, the findings produced by different techniques are contrasted with a view to examining whether the variable findings reported can be attributed to the technique employed. The analysis revealed that peer nominations have been used to determine pupils' social status and have overwhelmingly produced negative results. Peer ratings have been used to ascertain the level of acceptance pupils enjoy within their class network and have also produced negative results. Social Cognitive Mapping has been used to obtain information about the nature of social networks and the relations among peers and has produced mixed to positive results. As such, Social Cognitive Mapping could be viewed as a more robust approach that addresses more thoroughly the complexities of young children's social relations than the other two classic sociometric techniques. The paper concludes with highlighting methodological challenges surrounding the application of sociometric techniques and advocates their embedding within innovative multi-method research designs