Data Management & Network Measurement
ECI 589 SNA and Education: Unit 2 Readings
Our primary goal in this unit is to examine common approaches to data management and measurement in network analysis. The required and self-selected readings provide an introduction the collection and management of relational data, as well as how we can begin to describe what a complete network looks like, not just visually, but mathematically. A secondary goal of readings and discussion is to help you start generating ideas for independent application of network analysis. As part of our readings, for example, you’ll learn how to specify a network “boundary” for your study based on different approaches.
Readings
For Unit 2, read chapters 4 and 5 from Social Network Analysis and Education (Carolan 2014) and locate one additional research article, presentation, or informal study to help address our discussion questions for the week.
SNA and Education Part II: Methods and Measures
The following readings for this unit illustrate how social network analysis provides educational researchers with a different way of thinking about and measuring learning processes and outcomes that explicitly account for the importance of one’s relationships with others, as well as the larger pattern in which these relationships are embedded.
Self-Selected Study
Use the NCSU Library, Google Scholar or search engine to locate one research or practitioner-focused article, presentation, or resource that illustrates the use of one or more network measures to describe a social network in an educational context of interest to you. You are also welcome to select one of the research papers listed in the syllabus or in our course text that may have peaked your interest. Your selection should address one or more of the discussion topics/questions (see below) and you’re welcome to identify SNA resources outside of the field of education.
Discussion
In lieu of the peer interaction and discussion of course materials that normally take place “in-class”, you’ll be asked to engage with other members of our learning community through discussion. With the exception of the Self-Selected Study questions, you are not required to address every guiding question, particularly if you feel others in the class have thoroughly addressed the topic or questions. Our aim for these discussions is to collectively build our understanding of SNA through back-and-forth dialogue and avoid a “collective monologue” in which we see 20 variations of effectively the same post.
To create a new post in response to one or more of the guiding questions listed below, click on the forum post associated with the chapter questions and then click “Reply” to add your response. Remember, you are not required to address every guiding question with the exception of the Self-Selected Study questions for which you must create one new discussion topic and respond to the discussion prompt and required questions.
Guiding Questions
To help facilitate discussion, we will collectively address the guiding questions provided below. You are also welcome to add your own topics or questions for the class to discuss.
Chapter 4: Basic Concepts (All Questions Required)
For your self-selected study, provide an APA citation and abstract, then briefly answer the following questions:
Does the study employ a positional, relational, or event-based approach to specify the network’s boundary.
Were the data collected on the complete, ego, or partial network? Describe the sources of these network data.
What relations were measured and what instruments were used to measure them? Evaluate the quality of these relational data in terms of validity, reliability, error, and patterns of missingness.
Chapter 5: Structural Measures for Complete Networks
Assume you have complete network-level data on school leaders in a large urban district that is transitioning to a new teacher-evaluation system. You have relational data on the frequency with which ego discusses this new system with each alter (0 = never, 1 = sometimes, 2 = regularly, and 3 = frequently) and whether ego turns to alter for advice regarding general professional matters (1 = yes, 0 = no).
Which structural properties of the complete network might be of interest to you? Please explain why these properties might be of interest.
Given the same network described above, what would high centralization scores on both relations indicate about this network’s ability to successfully transition to a new evaluation system?
How might your response to #2 differ if you knew that the networks also had high density scores? Given this new information, what would you predict about the transition to a new evaluation system?
Assessment
Grading for this assignment is fairly lenient, provided that it’s clear from your posts that you’ve done the required reading. Readings and discussion for each unit are worth 6 points and judged based on quantity and quality of your posts.
In term of quantity (3 points), you’ll be expected to create a new discussion topic your self-selected study and add at least 3 new posts and/or replies for a total of 4 posts. So others will have an opportunity to read and respond to your posts, your posts should be spread out over the course of the week and across at least two different days, preferably not the last two days.
In terms of quality (3 points), your posts over the next week should provide new or insightful contributions to that question or topic. There is no requisite for the length of each posting, in fact short conversational exchanges (1-3 paragraphs) are highly encouraged. I strongly recommend looking at the Productive Online Discussion Model copied below from Gao, Wang, and Sun (2009) for ways to contribute to the conversation.
At minimum, your collective posts should also help us interpret or elaborate on discussion topics, questions, or ideas others have shared by “making connection to the learning materials” and should reference at some point each of the required chapters and your self-selected reading or resource.
Productive Online Discussion Model
Disposition 1: Discuss to Comprehend
Actively engage in such cognitive processes as interpretation, elaboration, making connections to prior knowledge.
- Interpreting or elaborating the ideas by making connection to the learning materials
- Interpreting or elaborating the ideas by making connection to personal experience
- Interpreting or elaborating the ideas by making connection to other ideas, sources, or references
Disposition 2: Discuss to Critique
Carefully examine other people’s views, and be sensitive and analytical to conflicting views.
- Building or adding new insights or ideas to others’ posts
- Challenging ideas in the texts
- Challenging ideas in others’ posts
Disposition 3: Discuss to Construct Knowledge
Actively negotiate meanings, and be ready to reconsider, refine and sometimes revise their thinking.
- Comparing views from the texts or others’ posts
- Facilitating thinking and discussions by raising questions
- Refining and revising one’s own view based on the texts or others’ posts