Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides a range of models particularly well suited for mapping bonds between participants in online communities and thus reveal prominent members or subgroups. This can yield valuable insights for selecting a theoretical sample of participants or participant interactions in qualitative studies of communities. This chapter describes a procedure for collecting data from Usenet newsgroups, deriving the social network created by participant interaction, and importing this relational data into SNA software, where various cohesion models can be applied. The technique is exemplified by performing a longitudinal core periphery analysis of a specific newsgroup, which identified core members and provided clear evidence of a stable online community. Discussions dominated by core members are identified next, to guide theoretical sampling of text-based interactions in an ongoing ethnography of the community.
A Cross-Cultural Study on the Interaction of Participants in the Online Community Using Social Network Analysis
