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 Dear Readers,
Do you agree with the old adage "two heads are better than one"? Some argue that groups are actually slower to make decisions and that groups are no more accurate at problem-solving than individuals. But I say, the more the merrier. At least that's what I've concluded after reading the results of a study two Princeton economists published a few years ago.
Frustrated by the dearth of economic literature on group decision making, the professors conducted an experiment. They placed subjects, some as individuals and some in groups, in front of a computer and asked them to "draw" colored balls out of an electronic urn programmed initially with 50 percent blue and 50 percent red balls. At some point during the first 10 draws, though, the distribution switched to 70-30 in favor of one color. Subjects were then asked to figure out what the majority color was and when the change took place. (They were scored on both accuracy and the number of draws it took to reach a conclusion.) After 1,200 group rounds and 3,000 individual rounds the researchers concluded that not only did the groups come to a conclusion just as quickly as the individuals, but they were consistently more accurate. Surprised? So were the researchers, who had assumed just the opposite.
You're probably wondering why your SAS Training Report is citing this research. Well, during the month of July, SAS Education would like you to test the "two heads" theory for yourselves. We've made it easy; simply attend any of our public U.S. courses during the month of July and bring a co-worker along for FREE. We're sure you'll both return to the office smarter. And just think, if you put your heads together as the research suggests...look out! You can find all the details of our July 2-for-1 program here.
Enjoy this month's issue of STR. And, as always, thanks for reading.
Larry LaRusso
Editor, SAS Training Report
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