Perceived Similarity on Collaboration

An investigation on how initial perceived similarity sets the stage for future collaboration.

Barnard Social Interaction Lab

Project Summary

As part of Barnard College’s Summer Research Institute, I joined the Barnard Social Interaction Lab to investigate how perceived similarity can impact collaboration between two strangers. The goal of this research was to determine how perceived similarity, gained through lightly structured and unstructured conversations, could be associated with engagement and enjoyment during a collaborative task with a stranger.

As a researcher on the project, I was responsible for recruiting participants, facilitating research sessions, and leading analysis and the final presentation of the project and findings.

Outcome

As a result of this research, I found that perceived similarity positively predicted people’s enjoyment of a task with their partner, how well they thought they worked with them, and their partner’s perceptions of their collaboration. These findings could have larger implications of the importance of getting aquatinted with coworkers or peers in educational and professional work spaces.

In February of 2023, I presented this work to a larger audience as a featured project at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Conference.

Team

Katherine Thorson (P.I.), Humaira Ahmed, Phoebe Muntz

Role

Research Assistant

Key Skills and Methods

Participant Recruitment, Study Faciliation / Moderation, Survey Design, Quantitative Data Analysis

Timeline

June - August 2022

Tools

Qualtrics, Zoom, IBM SPSS, Excel, R

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Mobile Friendly Version

Learn more details about a few key aspects of our study below!

  • For this study, we leveraged multiple methods of recruiting for this research study.

    • In-person recruitment: Approaching students around campus

    • Social media: Posting recruitment graphics on social media to reach broader audiences

    • Flyering: Posting graphics with brief descriptions of the research study around campus

  • For this study, I conducted 1-hour study sessions between pairs of Barnard and Columbia students virtually on Zoom.

    • Each session had 3 phases:

      1. Structured introductory conversation

      1. Unstructured conversation

      2. Collaborative activity

    • Participants were surveyed after the unstructured conversation phase of the study and the collaborative activity

  • For analysis, I primarily used IBM SPSS, Excel, and R.

    • IBM SPSS: Run analysis on key demographics collected from participants to report

    • Excel: Visualize participant demographics

    • R: Creat visualizations to identify and demonstrate trends across participants and variables