scholarly journals The Continued Relevance of Ego Network Data

2020 ◽  
pp. 169-187
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Network Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Basic Features ◽  
Full Network

Ego network data have a long history in the social sciences, acting as a bridge between traditional statistical techniques and network analysis. Ego network data provide personal network information, as the data are based on a sample of individuals. This chapter details the basic features of such data, describing the advantages, disadvantages, and potential applications of using ego network data. Ego network data remain a popular choice, despite the growing availability of full network data sources. This is in large part because ego network data are easy to collect but still provide a surprisingly large amount of network information. Ego network data are also quite flexible, with past work using the same basic data structure for widely different purposes. Given the ease of collection and the flexibility of use, there is every reason to believe that ego network data will continue to be a useful option for network scholars.

scholarly journals The Continued Relevance of Ego Network Data

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Global Network ◽  
Social Boundaries ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Network Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Basic Features ◽  
Future Work

Ego network data have a long history in the social sciences, acting as a bridge between traditional statistical techniques and network analysis. Ego network data provide personal network information, as the data are based on a sample of individuals. This chapter details the basic features of such data, describing the advantages, disadvantages and potential applications of using ego network data. Ego network data remain a popular choice, despite the growing availability of full networks from automated sources (such as cell phone records). This is in large part because ego network data are easy to collect but still provide a surprisingly large amount of network information. Ego network data are also quite flexible, with past work using the same basic data structure for widely different purposes: from measuring social support and social boundaries; to inferring global network features from a sample; to acting as a corrective for other sampling techniques (such as respondent-driven sampling). Ego network data are thus easy to collect and useful for a wide variety of substantive and methodological problems. Given the ease of collection and the flexibility of use, there is every reason to believe that ego network data will continue to be a useful option for network scholars. I end the chapter by discussing possible avenues for future work.

Testing Social Science Network Theories with Online Network Data: An Evaluation of External Validity

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 502-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES BISBEE ◽  
JENNIFER M. LARSON
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
External Validity ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Experimental Setting ◽  
Network Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Online Sources

To answer questions about the origins and outcomes of collective action, political scientists increasingly turn to datasets with social network information culled from online sources. However, a fundamental question of external validity remains untested: are the relationships measured between a person and her online peers informative of the kind of offline, “real-world” relationships to which network theories typically speak? This article offers the first direct comparison of the nature and consequences of online and offline social ties, using data collected via a novel network elicitation technique in an experimental setting. We document strong, robust similarity between online and offline relationships. This parity is not driven by sharedidentityof online and offline ties, but a shared nature of relationships in both domains. Our results affirm that online social tie data offer great promise for testing long-standing theories in the social sciences about the role of social networks.

Measuring personal networks with surveys

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Kogovšek ◽  
Valentina Hlebec
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Measurement Method ◽  
Personal Networks ◽  
Event Generator ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Financial Time ◽  
Respondent Burden ◽  
The Social ◽  
Basic Approaches

Like in other fields of inquiry in the social sciences, in social network research the most frequently used measurement method is the survey. Compared with other measurement objects such as networks of opinions, attitudes or values, measurement is more complex and thus often more challenging. Measurement typically occurs in two main phases. First, network units are measured (generated). Second, the relationships among the units and other unit characteristics (e.g. demographic properties) are determined, while some specific questions arise as to whether whole or egocentric (personal) networks are to be measured. In this paper, we limit ourselves to measuring personal networks, especially when compared with different methods for generating networks. There are five basic approaches to generating a personal network: name generator, role generator, event generator, positional generator, and contextual generator. Each is associated with particular research goals, costs (financial, time, respondent burden), advantages, and limitations. Moreover, the complexity and specifics of generating networks mean one must consider the characteristics of data collection modes (e.g. face-to-face, telephone, web). In this sense, we will present the advantages and limits of various methods of generating personal networks, evaluate them critically and comparatively, and illustrate them with often used examples.

Using an Interactive Computer System to Teach Statistical Methods in Education

1982 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward P. Caffarella
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Computer System ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Educational Statistics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Statistics Course ◽  
Analysis Package ◽  
The University

The introductory graduate level educational statistics course at the University of Maine at Orono is taught using an interactive computer system. The students enter the course with no skills in educational statistics nor any skills in the utilization of computers. By the end of the course, the students are proficient in basic statistical techniques used in educational research and in the use of the computer to calculate the statistics. The major computer packages utilized include MSUSTAT Interactive Statistical Analysis Package and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

An Undergraduate Nanotechnology Course for Classes of Multi-discipline students in Taiwan

2006 ◽  
Vol 931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chu Shiang Chen ◽  
Song Shiang Lin
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Smart Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Nano Science

ABSTRACTWe reported on our experiences with teaching several semesters of undergraduate nanotechnology courses at both the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) and National Dong Hwa University (NDHU) in Taiwan. Students who were enrolled in our classes at NTHU represented many different disciplines, but mainly in the physical sciences, engineering and life sciences. In contrast, students who were enrolled in our classes at NDHU dominated in the social sciences and arts. There were some interesting differences in addition to the similarities in their attitude toward the nanotechnology. Since this course is aimed at introducing the nanotechnology to students trained in different disciplines, we emphasized the fundamentals, current status, potential applications, and possible consequences of nanotechnology. This course also explored the close ties between nano-science and engineering (NS/E) and our daily life. Furthermore, this course elaborated on the interrelationships of NS/E with other subjects, particularly the biomimetics, smart systems, and biotechnology.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of Non-Random Measurement Error on Inference: A Sensitivity Analysis Approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Gallop ◽  
Simon Weschle
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Measurement Error ◽  
Statistical Model ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Random Measurement Error ◽  
Random Measurement ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

Many commonly used data sources in the social sciences suffer from non-random measurement error, understood as mis-measurement of a variable that is systematically related to another variable. We argue that studies relying on potentially suspect data should take the threat this poses to inference seriously and address it routinely in a principled manner. In this article, we aid researchers in this task by introducing a sensitivity analysis approach to non-random measurement error. The method can be used for any type of data or statistical model, is simple to execute, and straightforward to communicate. This makes it possible for researchers to routinely report the robustness of their inference to the presence of non-random measurement error. We demonstrate the sensitivity analysis approach by applying it to two recent studies.

scholarly journals Personal Documents as Data Sources for Social Sciences. A Review of History of Uses, Ethical, Methodological and Epistemological Considerations

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozana Cucu-Oancea
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ultimate Purpose

Abstract This article envisages critically present the use of the personal documents, looking from a historical perspective at how it was practiced in different paradigms in the humanistic-social sciences. The exposé also considers the methodological and the ethical implications of using the method, underlining, in this respect, the aspects related to the preservation and reuse of the materials of this kind. By putting into balance the trumps and downsides of the personal documents method, the article highlights, in fact, the importance of using the personal documents method in studying a wide range of specific problems of the humanistic-social sciences. The ultimate purpose of the article is, therefore, that of prompting the social scientists to look more carefully and more trustingly at the alternative of choosing the personal documents method, as a potential powerful tool for sociological research, providing them, at the same time, with possible directions in discerning between the favourable and unfavourable situations for using it.

How liminality enhances conviviality through multilingual co-creations: Young refugees in the Netherlands

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212093293
Author(s):  
Moos Pozzo ◽  
Halleh Ghorashi
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Native People ◽  
Network Member ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Breeding Ground ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
Diverse Context

This article explores the multilingual creativity of young refugees in the Netherlands and the social contexts and situations in which it develops. Because these young refugees form an under-researched group, the authors build on different discipline-based studies on (young migrants’) multilingualism, super-diversity, conviviality, liminality and networks. The authors start with the collection of personal network data including languages used with each network member. These data show that participants use and combine the Dutch language with the majority of non-native people in their networks. To explain this, the network data are connected with participants’ ‘network stories’. In these stories, participants refer to the asylum seeker centres, where they began their lives in the Netherlands, as the breeding ground for their multilingual creations with the Dutch language. The authors show how, in the liminal and super-diverse context of these centres, young refugees’ multilingual practices and innovations enhanced conviviality and connectedness. The authors also delineate how ‘oldcomer’ and ‘newcomer’ participants’ distinct multilingual innovations relate to their different present networks. In both groups, however, these innovations are a source of belonging among the non-natives in their networks.

scholarly journals Appraisal of Climatic Conditions for Potential Solar Energy Applications in Nawabshah and Quetta Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3711-3714 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Q. Jakhrani ◽  
A. R. Jatoi ◽  
M. M. Jakhrani ◽  
A. N. Laghari ◽  
S. A. Kamboh
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Average Data ◽  
Energy Applications ◽  
Monthly Average ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Applications

This study was conducted to appraise climatic conditions for potential applications of solar energy units in Nawabshah and Quetta cities. For that, twenty two annual monthly average data of insolation on horizontal surface, at various slopes on titled surface, air temperature, earth skin temperature was acquired and evaluated through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. It is discovered from the study that Quetta is a more promising place for installation of solar energy applications as compared to Nawabshah as it receives more solar radiations and less air temperature.

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