A Non-Technical Introduction to Social Network Analysis Barry Wellman

1. Networks For Newbies A Non-Technical Introduction to Social Network AnalysisBarry Wellman Founder, International Network For Social Network Analysis Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1 wellman@chass.utoronto.cawww.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman

2. NetLab

3. Three Ways to Look at Reality • Categories • All Possess One or More Properties as an Aggregate of Individuals • Examples: Men, Developed Countries • Groups • (Almost) All Densely-Knit Within Tight Boundary • Thought of as a Solidary Unit (Really a Special Network) • Family, Workgroup, Community • Networks • Set of Connected Units: People, Organizations, Networks • Can Belong to Multiple Networks • Examples: Friendship, Organizational, Inter-Organizational, World-System, Internet

4. Nodes, Relationships & Ties • Nodes: A Unit That Possibly is Connected • Individuals, Households, Workgroups,Organizations, States Relationships (A Specific Type of Connection) A “Role Relationship” • Gives Emotional Support • Sends Money To • Attacks • Ties (One or More Relationships) • Friendship (with possibly many relationships) • Affiliations (Person – Organization) • Works for IBM; INSNA Member; Football Team • One-Mode, Two-Mode Networks

5. A Network is More Than The Sum of Its Ties • A Network Consists of One or More Nodes • Could be Persons, Organizations, Groups, Nations • Connected by One or More Ties • Could be One or More Relationships • That Form Distinct, Analyzable Patterns • Can Study Patterns of Relationships OR Ties • Emergent Properties (Simmel vs. Homans)

6. In a Sentence – “To Discover How A, Who is in Touch with B and C, Is Affected by the Relation Between B & C” John Barnes

7. 2 Minute History of Sunbelt Conference • Informal conferences in mid-late 1970s • Toronto (1974); Hawaii • Formalized as Sunbelt 1981 – annual • Why “Sunbelt”? • Normal Rotation: SE US, US West, Europe • Slovenia (2004); Charleston (Feb 2005), Vancouver? • Always Informal, But Serious Work

8. 10 Minute History of INSNA • Founded by Barry Wellman in 1976-1977 • Sabbatical Travel Carried Tales • Nick Mullins: Every “Theory Group” Has an Organizational Leader • Owned by Wellman until 1988 as small business • Subsequent Coordinators/Presidents • Al Wolfe, Steve Borgatti, Martin Everett • Steering Committee • Non-Profit Constitution under Borgatti; Coordinator > President • Bill Richards President, 2003- • Scott Feld VP; Katie Faust Treasurer; Frans Stokman, Euro. Rep. • Our First Real Election • Grown from 175 to 400 Members • Many More on Listserv (Not Limited to Members) • Steve Borgatti maintains; unmoderated • Website: www.insna.sfu.ca -- being upgraded

9. 10 Minute Overview - Journals • Wellman founded,edited,published Connections, 1977 • Informal journal: “Useful” articles, news, gossip, grants, abstracts, book summaries • Bill Richards, Tom Valente edit now • Lin Freeman founded, edits Social Networks, 1978? • Formal journal: Refereed articles • Ronald Breiger now co-editor • David Krackhardt founded, edits J of Social Structure, 2000? • Online, Refereed • Lots of visuals • Articles Appear Occasionally when their time has come

10. 10 Minute Overview – Key Books • Elizabeth Bott, Family & Social Network, 1957 • J. Clyde Mitchell, Networks, Norms & Institutions, 1973 • Holland & Leinhardt, Perspectives on Social Network Research,1979s • S. D. Berkowitz, An Introduction to Structural Analysis, 1982 • Knoke & Kuklinski, Network Analysis, 1983, Sage, low-cost • Charles Tilly, Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons, 1984 • Wellman & Berkowitz, eds., Social Structures, 1988 • David Knoke, Political Networks, 1990 • John Scott, Social Network Analysis, 1991 • Ron Burt, Structural Holes, 1992 • Manuel Castells, The Rise of Network Society, 1996, 2000 • Wasserman & Faust, Social Network Analysis, 1992 • Nan Lin, Social Capital (monograph & reader), 2001

11. 10 Minute Overview – Software • UCINet – Whole Network Analysis • Lin Freeman, Steve Borgatti, Martin Everett • MultiNet – Whole Network Analysis • + Nodal Characteristics • Structure – Ron Burt – Not Maintained • P*Star – Dyadic Analysis – Stan Wasserman • Krackplot – Network Visualization (Obsolete) • David Krackhardt, Jim Blythe • Pajek – Network Visualization – Supersedes Krackplot • Slovenia • Personal Network Analysis • SPSS/SAS – See Wellman, et al. “How To…” papers

12. 10 Minute Overview – Data Basis • Small Group “Sociometry”1930s > (Moreno, Bonacich, Cook) • Finding People Who Enjoy Working Together • Evolved into Exchange Theory, Small Group Studies • Ethnographic Studies, 1950s > (Mitchell, Barnes) • Does Modernization > Disconnection? • Survey Research: Personal Networks, 1970s > • Community, Support & Social Capital, “Guanxi” • Mathematics & Simulation, 1970s > (Freeman, White) • Formalist / Methods & Substantive Analysis • Survey & Archival Research, Whole Nets, 1970s > • Organizational, Inter-Organizational, Inter-National Analyses • Political Structures, 1970s > (Tilly, Wallerstein) • Social Movements, Mobilization (anti Alienation) • World Systems (asymmetric structure > Globalization) • Computer Networks as Social Networks, late 1990s > (Sack) • Automated Data Collection

13. The Multiple Ways of Network Analysis • Method – The Most Visible Manifestation • Misleading to Confuse Appearance with Reality • Data Gathering – see previous slide • Theory – Pattern Matters • Substance • Community, Organizational, Inter-Organizational, Terrorist, World System • An Add-On: • Add a Few Network Measures to a Study • Integrated Approach • A Way of Looking at the World: • Theory, Data Collection, Data Analysis, Substantive Analysis • Not Actor-Network Theory • Links to Structural Analyses in Other Disciplines

14. The Social Network Approach • The world is composed of networks - not densely-knit, tightly-bounded groups • Networks provide flexible means of social organization and of thinking about social organization • Networks have emergent properties of structure and composition • Networks are a major source of social capital mobilizable in themselves and from their contents • Networks are self-shaping and reflexive • Networks scale up to networks of networks

15. The Social Network Approach • Moving from a hierarchical society bound up in little boxes to a network – and networking – society • Multiple communities / work networks • Multiplicity of specialized relations • Management by networks • More alienation, more maneuverability • Loosely-coupled organizations / societies • Less centralized • The networked society

16. Changing Connectivity:Groups to Networks • Densely Knit > Sparsely-Knit • Impermeable (Bounded) > Permeable • Broadly-Based Solidarity > Specialized Multiple Foci

17. Networked Individualism • Moving from a society bound up in little boxes to a multiple network – and networking – society • Networks are a flexible means of social organization • Networks are a major source of social capital: mobilizable in themselves & from their contents • Networks link: • Persons • Within organizations • Between organizations and institutions

18. Little BoxesRamified Networks **** Each in its Place  Mobility of People and Goods **** • United Family  Serial Marriage, Mixed Custody • Shared Community  Multiple, Partial Personal Nets • Neighborhoods  Dispersed Networks • Voluntary Organizations  Informal Leisure • Face-to-Face Computer-Mediated Communication • Public Spaces  Private Spaces • Focused Work Unit  Networked Organizations • Job in a Company  Career in a Profession • Autarky  Outsourcing • Office, Factory  Airplane, Internet, Cellphone • Ascription  Achievement • Hierarchies  Matrix Management • Conglomerates  Virtual Organizations/Alliances • Cold War Blocs  Fluid, Transitory Alliances

19. Little Boxes Glocalization Networked Individualism Barry Wellman co-editor Social Structure: A Network ApproachJAI-Elsevier Press 1998

20. Ways of Looking at Networks • Whole Networks & Personal Networks • Focus on the System or on the Set of Individuals • Graphs & Matrices • We dream in graphs • We analyze in matrices

21. Whole Social Networks • Comprehensive Set of Role Relationships in an Entire Social System • Analyze Each Role Relationship – Can Combine • Composition: % Women; Heterogeneity; % Weak Ties • Structure: Pattern of Ties • Village, Organization, Kinship, Enclaves, World-System • Copernican Airplane View • Typical Methods: Cliques, Blocks, Centrality, Flows • Examples: (1)What is the Real Structure of an Organization? • (2) How Does Information Flow Through a Village?

22. Cumulative GlobeNet Intercitation Through 2000 Howard White & Barry Wellman, 2003 “Does Citation Reflect Social Structure”

23. Strongest Globenet Co-Citation, Intercitation Links Thru 2000

24. Duality of Persons & Groups • People Link Groups • Groups Link People • An Interpersonal Net is an Interorganizational Net • Ronald Breiger 1973

25. The Dualities of Persons and Groups -- Graphs

26. Dualities of Persons and Groups -- Matrices

27. Dualities of Persons and Groups: Event-Event Matrix

28. Neat Whole Network Methods • QAP • Regression of Matrices • Example: Co-Citation (Intellectual Tie) Predicts Better than Friendship (Social Tie) To Inter-Citation • Clustering: High Density; Tight Boundaries (“Groups”) • Block Modeling • Similar Role Relationships, Not Necessarily Clusters • Canada & Mexico in Same Block – US Dominated

29. Erickson, 1988: From a Matrix > . . .

30. . . . To a Block Model

31. Costs of Whole Network Analysis • Requires a Roster of Entire Population • Requires (Imposition of) a Social Boundary • This May Assume What You Want to Find • Hard to Handle Missing Data • Needs Special Analytic Packages • Becoming Easier to Use

32. Personal Social Networks • Ptolemaic Ego-Centered View • Good for Unbounded Networks • Often Uses Survey Research • Example: (1)Do Densely-Knit Networks Provide More Support? (structure) • (2) Do More Central People Get More Support? (network) • (2) Do Women Provide More Support? (composition) • (3) Do Face-to-Face Ties Provide More Support Than Internet Ties? (relational) • (4) Are People More Isolated Now? (ego)

33. Costs of Personal Network Studies • Concentrates on Strong Ties • Collecting Proper Data in Survey Takes Much Time • Ignores Ecological Juxtapositions • Hard to Aggregate from Personal Network to Whole Network • Easier to Decompose Whole Network • (Haythornthwaite & Wellman) • Often Relies on Respondents’ Reports

34. Social Network Analysis: More Flavors • Diffusion of Information (& Viruses) • Flows Through Systems • Organizational Analyses • “Real” Organization” • Knowledge Acquisition & Management • Inter-Organizational Analysis • Is There a Ruling Elite • Strategies, Deals • Networking: How People Network • As a Strategy • Unconscious Behavior • Are There Networking Personality Types?

35. SNA: Branching Out • Social Movements • World-Systems Analyses • Cognitive Networks • Citation Networks • Co-Citation • Inter-Citation • Applied Networks • Terrorist Networks • Corruption Networks

36. Multilevel Analysis:New Approach to an Old Problem • Switching and Combining Levels • Individual Agency, Dyadic Dancing, Network Facilitation & Emergent Properties • Consider Wider Range of Theories • Disentangles (& Avoids Nagging Confounding) • Tie Effects • Network Effects • Contingent (Cross-Level) Effects • Interactions • Addresses Emergent Properties • Fundamental Sociological Issue • Simmel vs. Homans

37. Multilevel Analysis – Tie Effects • Tie Strength: Stronger is More Supportive • Workmates: Provide More Everyday Support • (Multilevel Discovered This)

38. Multilevel Analysis– Network Effects • Network Size • Not Only More Support from Entire Network • More Probability of Support from Each Network Member • Mutual Ties (Reciprocity): • Those Who Have More Ties with Network Members Provide More Support • Cross-Level Effect Stronger (and Attenuates) Dyadic (Tie-Level) Effect It’s Contribution to the Network, Not the Alter

39. Multilevel Analysis:Cross-Level, Interaction Effects • Kinship • No longer a solidary system • Parent-(Adult) Child Interaction • More Support From Each When > 1 Parent-Child Tie • Single P-C Tie: 34% • 2+ P-C Ties, Probability of Support from Each: 54%

40. Multilevel Interactions-- Accessibility • 37% of Moderately Accessible Ties Provide Everyday Support • But If Overall Network Is Moderately Supportive, • 54% of All Network Members Provide Everyday Support • Women More Supportive In Nets with More Women

41. The Internet in Everyday Life • Computer Networks as Social Networks • Key Questions • Community On and Off line • Networked Life before the Internet • Netville: The Wired Suburb • Large Web Surveys: National Geographic • Work On and Off line • Towards Networked Individualism, or • The Retreat to Little Boxes

42. Social Affordances of New Forms of Computer-Mediated Connectivity • Bandwidth • Ubiquity – Anywhere, Anytime • Convergence – Any Media Accesses All • Portability – Especially Wireless • Globalized Connectivity • Personalization

43. Research Questions • Ties: Does the Internet support all types of ties? • Weak and Strong? • Instrumental and Socio-Emotional? • Online-Only or Using Internet & Other Media (F2F, Phone)? • Social Capital: Has the Internet increased,decreased, or multiplied contact – at work, in society? • Interpersonally – Locally • Interpersonally – Long Distance • Organizationally • GloCalization:Has the map of the world dissolved so much that distance does not matter? Has the Internet brought spatial and socialperipheries closer to the center?

44. Research Questions (cont’d) • Structure: Does the Internet facilitate working in loosely-couplednetworks rather than dense, tight groups? • Knowledge Management: How do people find and acquire usable knowledge in networked and virtual organizations

45. Guiding Research Principles • Substitute systematic data analysis for hype • Do field studies, not lab experiments • Combine statistical with observational info. • Study the use of each media in larger context • Work with other disciplines • Analyze Existing Uses • Develop New Uses

46. Studies of Community On and Off-Line • Pre-Internet Networked Communities • “Netville”: The Wired Suburb • National Geographic Web Survey • 1998, 2001 • Other Internet Community Studies • Barry Wellman,“The Network Community” • Introduction to Networks in the Global Village • Westview Press, 1999

47. Source: Dan Heap Parliamentary Campaign 1992 (NDP) Toronto in the Continental Division of Labor

48. Physical Place and Cyber Place • Door to Door, Place to Place, • Person to Person, Role to Role • Barry Wellman, “Changing Connectivity: A Future History of Y2.03K.” Sociological Research Online 4, 4, February 2000: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/4/wellman.html • Barry Wellman, “Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Networked Individualism.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 25(2001): June.

49. Door To Door • Old Workgroups/ Communities Based on Propinquity, Kinship • Pre-Industrial Villages, Wandering Bands • All Observe and Interact with All • Deal with Only One Group • Knowledge Comes Only From Within the Group – and Stays Within the Group

50. Place To Place (Phones, Networked PCs, Airplanes, Expressways, RR, Transit) Home, Office Important Contexts, • Not Intervening Space • Ramified & Sparsely Knit: Not Local Solidarities • Not neighborhood-based • Not densely-knit with a group feeling • Partial Membership in Multiple Workgroups/ Communities • Often Based on Shared Interest • Connectivity Beyond Neighborhood, Work Site • Household to Household / Work Group to Work Group • Domestication, Feminization of Community • Deal with Multiple Groups • Knowledge Comes From Internal & External Sources • “Glocalization”: Globally Connected, Locally Invested