Groups, Positions, & Egocentric Analysis
ECI 589 SNA and Education: Unit 3 Readings
In Unit 3 we examine common approaches and various algorithms used to analyze a network’s groups, positions and individual actors. The required and self-selected readings introduce both “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches through which groups are identified, as well as ways in which properties of ego networks are conceptualized and measured. 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 approaches to identifying groups appropriate to your own research area of interest.
Readings
For Unit 3, you will read chapters 6 and 7 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 second half of Part II focuses on ways to partition a network into groups based on relations rather than on the attributes that one may share with others. In addition, we learn how a network can also be divided into distinct positions, i.e. actors who occupy similar positions have similar relations to others but need not be directly tied to each other.
Self-Selected Study
Use the NCSU Library, Google Scholar or search engine to locate a research or practitioner-focused article, presentation, or resource that applies social network analysis to an educational context or topic of interest. More specifically, locate an egocentric network study OR a study that identifies a network’s groups and/or positions. 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 guide our discussions, we will collectively address a set of guiding questions provided below. You are also welcome to add your own topics or questions for the class to discuss.
Chapter 6: Groups and Positions in Complete Networks
Consider a network of which you are a part or a network you might be interested in studying and answer the following questions:
What types of groups and/or unique positions do you think might be identified through relational data (e.g., friendships, advice seeking, co-authorship, communication, collaboration, etc.)?
How might membership in those groups, or occupying certain positions, “influence” attitudes, behaviors, or outcomes for those individuals?
How might characteristics or attributes differ between groups or positions?
What research question(s) could you explore for this network?
As Carolan notes in Chapter 6, sometimes researchers use a cut-off value from valued data to identify whether a relationship between two nodes exists or not before analyzing the data. For example,
How did Daly and Finnigan (2011) use cut-off values in their study, The Ebb and Flow of Social Network Ties Between District Leaders Under High-Stakes Accountability? What was the rationale?
What might be some advantages and disadvantages of using cut-off values in networks with valued ties?
Chapter 7: Measures for Egocentric Network Analysis
Draft a research question for an egocentric analysis of a population you may be interested in studying, or that would be of interest to educational researchers.
Share your research question and then answer the following questions:
What methods might you employ to capture egocentric data to address this question?
What questions would you ask in order to identify ego’s alters?
What other information about the alters might you collected?
What egocentric measures would you use to address your question(s)?If a measure of centrality, which might you choose and why?
Self-Selected Study (Required)
For your self-selected study, provide an APA citation and abstract, then briefly answer the following questions depending on whether your article focused on group, positional, or egocentric analysis:
Group or Positional Analysis
How has a group been defined and measured? Were any alternatives considered? Does this definition of a group make sense given the network’s actors and relations among them? Is this definition restrictive or flexible?
Was a “top-down” or “bottom-up” approach used? Both?
How were the network’s positions defined and measured? How do these positions differ from the network’s groups? Is this difference made evident? What definition of equivalence informed the definition and measurement of the network’s positions? Was a reduced-form network presented? What does it indicate about the network’s hierarchy?Chapter 4: Basic Concepts (Required)
Egocentric Analysis
What makes this an egocentric network study? How were the egocentric network data collected? What measures of egos’ networks were included in the analysis?
Assume you wanted to examine whether a student’s popularity was associated with her or his attachment to school. How could you use a measure introduced in this chapter to capture “popularity”? Why did you select this measure over any others? Would you simply need ego-to-alter data or also alter-to-alter data?
If you wanted to examine the process through which a school reform initiative spreads throughout a school district, which egocentric concepts and measures would you employ?Chapter 5: Structural Measures for Complete Networks
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