AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS

Andrea Streilein

Ben Cushing

Cecilia Vargas

Charlene Warrington

David Tindall

Dennis WellsElliey Hobuti-Fard

Erin Seldat

Ko Takeuchi

Lily Farris

Tasha Riley

Victoria Silk

• My primary research interest is understanding the role of social networks in collective action and social movements -- especially regarding environmental issues.

• I have also done research on social networks and:

- street kids and delinquency- personal community ties- telephone communication- social capital- identity/values

OBJECTIVE:

• An introduction to the social network analysis perspective and some key social network concepts.

SOME TOPICS/QUESTIONS STUDIED BY NETWORK ANALYSTS

• How do innovations become diffused throughout a population?

• Why are some communities able to mobilize for collective action, while others fail to do so?

• How do viruses such as HIV spread throughout a population?

• How should community social structure be measured?

• How is the provision of social support related to network structure?

• What kinds of structural factors help explain who wins social conflicts?

• How can we understand the pattern of trade amongst nation states?

• How does structural location affect bargaining power (and outcomes) in exchange networks?

• What is the structural basis for social comparison (e.g., self/other evaluations of competence, justice, etc.)?

• What is the relationship between “peer influence” and delinquency?

• How do people get recruited into “religious cults”?

• What is the social basis for variation in recovery from illnesses such as breast cancer?

• What role do social networks play in helping one to “get a job”?

• What is the relationship between “social capital” and “cultural capital”?

• How is “social capital” related to “co-operation” in social dilemmas?

• What is the social structural basis of “the family”?

• How do “micro level interactions” become transformed to “macro level” sociological patterns?

• What is the structural basis of social influence and attitude formation?

• How does one understand the social structure of the global economy?

• What is the social structural basis of friendship?

• What is the relationship between network structure and social mobility?

SOME SOCIAL NETWORK CONCEPTS: points/nodes

• lines/ties• directed/non-directed (arcs/edges)

• ego nets versus whole nets• valued/non-valued• positive/negative• graphs/matrices

• square versus rectangular matrices(adjacency versus incidence matrices)

• bridges/break points• tie strength

• density• geodesics• centrality

(point centrality versus graph centrality)(degree/betweenness/closeness)

• cliques

A Matrix:

A B C DA 0 1 1 0B 1 0 1 0C 1 1 0 1D 0 0 1 0

A Graph:

AB

C

D

A Social Network

socnet01

A

B

C

D

E

FG

A

B

C

D E

F

G

A B C D E F GA 0 0 0 0 0 0 1B 0 0 0 0 0 0 1C 0 0 0 0 0 0 1D 0 0 0 0 0 0 1E 0 0 0 0 0 0 1F 0 0 0 0 0 0 1G 1 1 1 1 1 1 0

A B C D E F GA 0 1 0 0 0 0 1B 1 0 1 0 0 0 0C 0 1 0 1 0 0 0D 0 0 1 0 1 0 0E 0 0 0 1 0 1 0F 0 0 0 0 1 0 1G 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

SOCNET02 SOCNET03

CENTRALITY

DENSITY

D = ______ ln(n-1)/2

To calculate density in percentage terms: D x 100

* Note: the above formula applies to undirected graphs.

SOCNET04 SOCNET05

D = ____ 5

6(6-1)/2 = __ 5

15 = .33 D = ____ 10

6(6-1)/2 = __ 10

15 = .67

A

B

C D

E

F

A

B

C D

E

F

SOCNET04 SOCNET05

A B C D E FA 0 0 0 0 0 1B 0 0 0 0 0 1C 0 0 0 1 0 1D 0 0 1 0 1 0E 0 0 0 1 0 0F 1 1 1 0 0 0

A B C D E FA 0 1 0 0 1 1B 1 0 1 0 0 1C 0 1 0 1 0 1D 0 0 1 0 1 1E 1 0 0 1 0 1F 1 1 1 1 1 0

Centrality: Degree, Betweenness, and Closeness

a

b

c

d

e

SOCNET06

A B C D EA 0 1 0 0 0B 1 0 1 1 0C 0 1 0 1 0D 0 1 1 0 1E 0 0 0 1 0

Detecting Cliques.

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

SOCNET07

A B C D E F GA 0 1 0 0 0 0 0B 1 0 1 1 0 0 0C 0 1 0 1 0 0 0D 0 1 1 0 1 0 0E 0 0 0 1 0 1 1F 0 0 0 0 1 0 0G 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

SOME EXAMPLE SOCIAL NETWORKSURVEY INSTRUMENTS

(Time Permitting)

Some Useful References on Social Network Methods and Perspectives

Berkowitz, S.D. 1982. An Introduction to Structural Analysis: The Network Approach to Social Research. Toronto: Butterworths.

Burt, Ronald. 1980. "Models of Network Structure." Annual Review of Sociology 6:79-141.

Erickson, Bonnie, T.A. Nosanchuk, and Edward Lee. 1981. "Network Sampling in Practice: Some Second Steps." Social Networks, 3:127-36.

Erickson, Bonnie, and T.A. Nosanchuk 1983. "Applied Network Sampling." Social Networks, 5(4):367-382.

Freeman, Linton C. 1978/79. “Centrality in Social Networks: Conceptual Clarification.” Social Networks 1:215-239.

Freeman, Linton C., Douglas R. White, and A. Kimball Romney (Eds.). 1989. Research Methods in Social Network Analysis. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University Press.

Granovetter, Mark. 1977. “Network Sampling. Some First Steps.” American Journal of Sociology, 81:1287-1303.

Knoke, David and James H. Kuklinski. 1982. Network Analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Kontopoulos, Kyriankos. 1993. The Logics of Social Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Marsden, Peter. 1990. "Network Data and Measurement." Annual Review of Sociology 16:435-63.

Marsden, Peter V. and Nan Lin. 1982. Social Structure and Network Analysis. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Pattison, Philippa. 1993. Algebraic Models for Social Networks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Scott, John. 2000. Social Network Analysis: A Handbook. Second Edition. London: Sage Publications.

D.B. Tindall and Barry Wellman. 2001. "Canada as Social Structure: Social Network Analysis and Canadian Sociology." The Canadian Journal of Sociology, 26(3): 265-308.

Wasserman, Stanley and Joseph Galaskiewicz (Eds.). 1994. Advances in Social Network Analysis. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.

Wasserman, Stanley and Katherine Faust. 1994. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wellman, Barry and S.D. Berkowitz (Eds.). 1988. Social Structures: A Network Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.