Conferencing and teleconferencing in three communication modes as a function of the number of conferees

Abstract

Nine groups of 2,3, and 4 students each, 27 groups in all, discussed topics face-to-face or in one of 2 teleconference modes: teletype and televoice. Each group used only one of the 3 communication modes to solve a different problem on each of 3 successive days. Each problem encouraged opinionated discussion and required the group to arrive at a consensus about certain topical issues. Group size had no effect on time to solution or on the solutions themselves, but an increase in groupsize resulted in an increase in almost every group measure of communication. The larger groups used more messages, more words, communicated faster, and exhibited greater relative variability among the numbers of messages generated by the individuals within groups than did the smaller groups. Equivalent solutions were also reached in all communication modes, but subjects in face-to-face conferences used more messages and words than did subjects in either of the telecommunication modes. Communication rates were much higher and solutions were reached much faster in the two conference modes that had a voice channel, i.e., face-to-face and televoice, than in the teletype mode. Few practice effects were found.