SSRAT: The processing of rating scales for the determination of two-dimensional sociometric status

SSRAT is an MS-DOS computer program for two-dimensional sociometric status determination with rating scales. It classifies members of a population into five sociometric status groups, using 3-, 5-, 7-, or 9-point ratings in matrices of assessors and assessed. The processing of rating scales instead of nominations offers several advantages, including increased variability and reliability of the resulting scores. SSRAT is built on the null hypothesis of conditional random attribution of ratings, according to the particular probability distribution of an assessor. Output is available in the form of an ASCII SPSS data file for further statistical processing. Recent studies show that SSRAT, in comparison with nomination methods, (1) is superior in determining popular persons while it detects rejected persons as well, and (2) probably yields classifications that have a higher temporal stability.