Master 2019/2020

Social Network Analysis

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Elective course (Comparative Politics of Eurasia)

Area of studies: Political Science

Delivered by: Department of Sociology

Where: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences

When: 2 year, 1, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Valeria A. Ivaniushina

Master’s programme: Comparative Politics of Eurasia

Language: English

ECTS credits: 5

Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course covering following topics: network terminology and metrics, network in bibliometrics, network theory and applications. Part of the course will be practical training in SNA research methods and techniques.

Learning Objectives

• Explore main conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches related to Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Able to conduct professional communication in Russian and/or English in a multicultural environment with the use of different communication technologies
• Able to use relevant research results in political science and adjacent sciences, to develop applications of political science for solving practical tasks
• Able to analyze empirical data with the use of modern qualitative and quantitative methods and software
• Able to develop a design for academic and applied research, including collective one, with the use of modern political science methodology

Course Contents

• Network terminology and metrics. Describing, visualising and analysing networks. Software: Pajek, Gephi, R.
  1) Network terminology and basic concepts Definition of a network. Nodes (vertices) and links (arcs, edges). Directed and undirected relations. Representation of social relations as graphs. How to record network data: adjacency matrix, edge list, node list. 2) Network structure: centrality Egonetworks, k-neighbors. Centrality measures: in/out degree centrality; betweenness; closeness; eigenvector, Katz & PageRank. Centrality vs. centralization. Degree distribution and centralization measures. 3) Social capital What is social capital? Definitions of P.Bourdieu, J.S.Coleman, R.D.Putnam, A.Portes. Bonding and bridging; social capital formation; social capital and economic development. World Bank's programs with emphasis on social capital. Operationalization and measures of social capital. 4) Network structure: components and communities. Weak, strong, and giant components. Diffusion of information in networks. Real life examples. Network modularity. Community detection algorithms: local and global definitions, vertex dissimilarity. Clustering: hierarchical, partitional, spectral. Communities in real-life networks.
• Network in bibliometrics: using SNA for bibliographic search and analysis. Software: VosViewer and CitNetExplorer.
  5) Networks in bibliometrics. Two-mode (bimodal) networks. Affiliation matrix. Weighted networks. Bibliometric networks: co-citation, bib-coupling, co-authorship. Journal networks. Timeline in bibliometric analysis.
• Network theory and applications. Network analysis in political studies. Network models. Software: Pajek, Gephi, R.
  6) Network models: Random graphs (Erdos-Renuy), Small world, Preferential attachment (Power law). Network characteristics: shortest path, clusterization coefficient (local and global). Resistance to attacks. 7) Diffusion of information in networks. Opinion formation. Social movements. Recruiting through networks. 8) Project presentations 9) Test

Assessment Elements

• Class attendance, preparation and participation in class discussions
  Missed seminars policy: If students have valid excuses to miss seminars confirmed by the study office, they can compensate the whole participation grade provided that they submitted all the compensating tasks not later than two weeks before the end of the course (compensating tasks are discussed with the teacher). Seminars missed without valid excuse can't be retaken but up to 60% of preparation & participation grade can be compensated via additional task on the topic of the missed seminar; Student should request a task by email not later than by the next seminar and submit not later than three days after that.
• Individual project (written essay) with oral presentation
• Final written test
  Missed test policy: Test missed by the student without a valid excuse can be retaken with a 25% grade penalty. Penalty does not apply if a student has a valid excuse confirmed by the study office.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.4 * Class attendance, preparation and participation in class discussions + 0.25 * Final written test + 0.35 * Individual project (written essay) with oral presentation

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Thomas Scherngell, Alessandro Lomi, & Paola Zappa. (2019). Social Network Analysis. Introduction to methods and applications to the EUPRO database. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2560148

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Huber, L. M., & Schneider, H. L. (2008). Social Networks : Development, Evaluation and Influence. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=311265