Personal Networks and Group Project Experiences in a Mixed-Major University Classroom. The Case of Data Science Minor at the HSE University

The social capital theory has been widely researched in connection to academic settings. Nonetheless, while social capital connection to academic achievement is widely researched, it is rather unclear how it affects students' satisfaction and perceived utility of studying in a group. Current research on social capital and students’ social networks show that students are driven mostly by homophily mechanisms in forming relationships with peers, which can generate inequality in resource access. This work is dedicated to analyzing how these patterns of inequality in social capital affect students academic performance and interact with satisfaction in group project participation in a mixed-major university course. Our analysis consists of two parts. Firstly, we investigate how inequality in social capital is revealed in the friendship and advice networks of students with methods of social network analysis. Secondly, we find associations between project team composition and personal social capital and different dimensions of satisfaction with project participation using statistical tests and archetypal analysis. Our findings reveal the mechanisms of reproducing inequality in resource access in a multi-major classroom, so as different aspects of the interaction between social capital and satisfaction with project experience. Our research complement existing research on social capital in higher education and give meaningful insights into mechanisms of inequality generation in a mixed-major classroom and how they intervene with group work experience.