Galesburg drug study

Post date: Dec 02, 2011 4:5:57 PM

Overview

Network Dataset

The dataset name is Galesburg, and includes the following:

• • Galesburg.net: 17 vertices (physicians), 35 edges (blue - friendship, red - discussion tie), no arcs, no loops, no line values.

  • Galesburg_adoptiontime.clu: classification of the (17) physicians according to their adoption time, i.e., the number of months since the introduction of the new drug and the time at which the physician first prescribed the drug.

  • Galesburg.paj: Pajek project file containing both files.

Background

In a famous study, known as the Columbia University Drug Study, the diffusion of a new drug (gammanym) was investigated. The researchers collected data on the first subscription of this drug by physicians in several communities. In addition, they investigated friendship ties and discussion links between the physicians, asking them to name three doctors whom they considered to be personal friends and to nominate three doctors with whom they would choose to discuss medical matters.

The file Galesburg.net contains a network of friendship (blue) and discussion ties (red) between 17 physicians who adopted the new drug in Galesburg (Illinois) in the 1950s. The partition Galesburg_adoptiontime.clu specifies the number of months since the introduction of the new drug at which the physician first prescribed the drug. This is considered to be their adoption time.

References

• • J.S. Coleman, E. Katz and H. Menzel, Medical Innovation. A Diffusion Study (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966). D. Knoke and R.S. Burt, 'Prominence', in R.S. Burt and M.J. Minor (Eds.), Applied Network Analysis. A Methodological Introduction (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1983, 195-222).

  • W. de Nooy, A. Mrvar, & V. Batagelj, Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), Chapter 8.

History

• • Original author: James S. Coleman (1926-1995), Elihu Katz (1926, Professor of Communication and Director of The Annenberg Scholars Program, ekatz@asc.upenn.edu), and Herbert Menzel (1921-). The data were taken from Knoke & Burt (1983), who used the archives of the original authors.

  • Data compiled into Pajek data files by W. de Nooy, 2001.