Sampson Monastery

Post date: Nov 26, 2011 5:24:19 PM

Overview

The Sampson Monastery dataset consists of social relations among a set of 18 monk-novitiates preparing to enter a monastery. The data include a variety of relations, such as liking, dislike, influence and so on. There are three separate matrices for liking, representing liking relations at three points in time. (Regrettably, the data were collected retrospectively so they are not truly longitudinal.)

Network Dataset

The dataset name is SAMPSON, and includes the following ten 18x18 matrices:

• • SAMPLK1 non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPLK2 non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPLK3 non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPDLK non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPES non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPDES non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPIN non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPNIN non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPPR non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

  • SAMPNPR non-symmetric, valued (rankings of top 3 choices)

The labels on the data have the abbreviated names followed by the codings used by Breiger and Boorman in all their work.

Background

Samuel F. Sampson recorded the social interactions among a group of monks while resident as an experimenter on vision, and collected numerous sociometric rankings. Some novices had attended the minor seminary of 'Cloisterville' before they came to the monastery. During his stay, a political "crisis in the cloister" resulted in the expulsion of four monks (Nos. 2, 3, 17, and 18) and the voluntary departure of several others - most immediately, Nos. 1, 7, 14, 15, and 16. (In the end, only 5, 6, 9, and 11 remained). All the numbers used refer to the Breiger et al numbering and are not row or column labels. Hence in the end Bonaventure, Berthold, Ambrose and Louis all remained.

Most of the present data are retrospective, collected after the breakup occurred. They concern a period during which a new cohort entered the monastery near the end of the study but before the major conflict began. The exceptions are "liking" data gathered at three times: SAMPLK1 to SAMPLK3 - that reflect changes in group sentiment over time (SAMPLK3 was collected in the same wave as the data described below). Information about the senior monks was not included.

Four relations are coded, with separate matrices for positive and negative ties on the relation. Each member ranked only his top three choices on that tie. The relations are esteem (SAMPES) and disesteem (SAMPDES), liking (SAMPLK) and disliking (SAMPDLK), positive influence (SAMPIN) and negative influence (SAMPNIN), praise (SAMPPR) and blame (SAMPNPR). In all rankings 3 indicates the highest or first choice and 1 the last choice. (Some subjects offered tied ranks for their top four choices).

Based on his observations and analyses, Sampson divided the novices into four groups: Young Turks, Loyal Opposition, Outcasts, and an interstitial group. The Loyal Opposition consists of the novices who entered the monastery first. The Young Turks arrived later, in a period of change. They questioned practices in the monastery, which the members of the Loyal Opposition defended. Some novices did not take sides in this debate, so they are labeled 'interstitial'. The Outcasts are novices who were not accepted in the group.

References

• • Sampson, Samuel Frank. A NOVITIATE IN A PERIOD OF CHANGE: AN EXPERIMENTAL AND CASE STUDY OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS Diss.Cornell University, 1968. 6905775. {This is the original source for the data.}

  • Breiger R., Boorman S. and Arabie P. (1975). An algorithm for clustering relational data with applications to social network analysis and comparison with multidimensional scaling. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 12, 328-383. {This article uses the Sampson data to illustrate the CONCOR algorithm}