Social Network Analysis Methods and Applications

Covers methods for the analysis of social networks and applies them to examples.

Social network analysis is used widely in the social and behavioral sciences, as well as in economics, marketing, and industrial engineering. The social network perspective focuses on relationships among social entities and is an important addition to standard social and behavioral research, which is primarily concerned with attributes of the social units. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications reviews and discusses methods for the analysis of social networks with a focus on applications of these methods to many substantive examples. It is a reference book that can be used by those who want a comprehensive review of network methods, or by researchers who have gathered network data and want to find the most appropriate method by which to analyze it. It is also intended for use as a textbook as it is the first book to provide comprehensive coverage of the methodology and applications of the field.

Part I. Introduction: Networks, Relations, and Structure: 1. Relations and networks in the social and behavioral sciences; 2. Social network data: collection and application; Part II. Mathematical Representations of Social Networks: 3. Notation; 4. Graphs and matrixes; Part III. Structural and Locational Properties: 5. Centrality, prestige, and related actor and group measures; 6. Structural balance, clusterability, and transitivity; 7. Cohesive subgroups; 8. Affiliations, co-memberships, and overlapping subgroups; Part IV. Roles and Positions: 9. Structural equivalence; 10. Blockmodels; 11. Relational algebras; 12. Network positions and roles; Part V. Dyadic and Triadic Methods: 13. Dyads; 14. Triads; Part VI. Statistical Dyadic Interaction Models: 15. Statistical analysis of single relational networks; 16. Stochastic blockmodels and goodness-of-fit indices; Part VII. Epilogue: 17. Future directions.

This book reviews and discusses methods for the analysis of social networks with a focus on applications of these methods to many substantive examples. As the first book to provide comprehensive coverage of the methodology and applications of the field, it is both a reference book and a textbook.