1-week LINKS Center workshop

Post date: Apr 08, 2017 2:10:6 PM

The LINKS Center at the University of Kentucky is offering its annual 1-week summer workshop on social network analysis again this June 12-16, 2017 on the University of Kentucky campus. Registration opens March 31st and closes May 15th. To sign up, visit www.linksworkshop.org. Students pay half-price.

This is our workshop’s 10th anniversary and we are celebrating by packing it with a number of new offerings, including Ron Burt on networks and organizations, Brea Perry on egocentric network analysis, and a host of new mini-modules.

The workshop features LINKS Center resident faculty Steve Borgatti, Dan Brass, Joe Ferrare, Eric Gladstone, Dan Halgin, Joe Labianca, Ajay Mehra, Andy Pilny and Scott Soltis, as well as guest instructors Filip Agneessens, Ron Burt, Rich DeJordy, Jeff Johnson, David Krackhardt, Brea Perry, Eric Quintane and Tom Valente. In addition, all of the sessions are assisted by a cadre of students and recent graduates in order to ensure that participants are able to obtain personalized attention. We encourage participants to bring their own data and work with our 20+ instructors and TAs to analyze the data.

The workshop features five major, concurrent tracks for the first four days, followed by three choices of area-specific sessions (education, health, organizations) on the final day. At the end of each day, we also offer multiple 1.5 hour short modules on specialized topics, as well as a data lab for analyzing your own data. Finally, we offer a number of 45-minute 1-on-1 consultations with LINKS Center faculty to discuss your research.

MAJOR TRACKS (4 days each; Monday-Thursday)

Introduction to Social Network Analysis. Led by Dan Halgin and Dan Brass (U. of Kentucky). Includes a theoretical and empirical overview of the field, followed by a comprehensive survey of the concepts and methods of social network analysis, including data collection, data management, centrality, social capital, cohesion, and hypothesis testing. In addition, participants participate in lab sessions to learn how to use network analysis software, including UCINET and NetDraw.

Introduction to Analyzing Social Network Data. Led by Rich DeJordy (Northeastern) with special guest David Krackhardt (Carnegie Mellon). A more software- and data-oriented version of Introduction to SNA that covers most of the same concepts as Intro but focuses more on using the software and devotes a bit more time to interpreting the equations & formulas that define many network concepts. Includes lab sessions in which participants work through analysis exercises using the UCINET and NetDraw software. In this session, participants are encouraged to use their own data in the exercises.

Intermediate Network Analysis. Led by Steve Borgatti (U. of Kentucky). For people interested in both a deeper and broader look at network concepts and methods. Topics include advanced centrality methods, measuring network change, analyzing negative ties, working with multiple relations, and integrating node attributes with network measures. This module also introduces participants to UCINET's command-line and batch processing capabilities.

Egocentric Network Analysis. Led by Brea Perry (Indiana U). An in-depth tutorial on collecting and analyzing personal networks. The course begins with an introduction to the foundational concepts of egocentric SNA, and moves on to research design considerations and data collection techniques. The rest of the course explains how to use standard statistical software to analyze egocentric network data.

Stochastic Network Models. Led by Filip Agneessens (U. of Surrey). This course provides an introduction to exponential random graph models (ERGMs) and stochastic actor-based models for network dynamics (as implemented in rSIENA). The course will focus on hands-on use of MPNet and rSiena and on the interpretation of output. An introduction to the R analysis language (needed for RSiena) will also be provided during the workshop.

AREA-SPECIFIC TRACKS (1 day each; Friday)

Networks and Education. Led by Joe Ferrare (U. of Kentucky). Applying the social network perspective to education research and policy.

Networks and Health. Led by Tom Valente (USC). Social network theory and method in the context of understanding health-related behaviors, interventions and disease epidemiology.

Networks and Organizations. Led by Ron Burt (Chicago). The session covers the latest research on networks and organizations.

MINI-MODULES (1.5 hours each, Monday-Thursday after 4pm)

The mini-modules are short sessions on specialized topics. Some focus on research design topics, others on using specialized software, and still others on handling particular kinds of data. Past offerings have included: managing your IRB, managing your research site, using igraph and rSiena in R, handling archival data, working with cognitive social structure data, working with 2-mode data, analyzing negative ties, egocentric data analysis, scaling of 1- and 2-mode data, intro to ERGM, visualizing network data, dos and don’ts for publishing network research, network experiments, writing network simulations, and more.

In addition, each day we offer a data lab where people can bring their data and have someone experienced with the software help them with the analysis.

1-ON-1 CONSULTATIONS (45-minute slots available Tuesday-Friday)

We provide opportunities for participants to discuss their research in depth with Jeff Johnson, Joe Labianca, Ajay Mehra, and Scott Soltis.

Please note that the largest modules are capped at about 55 participants, so you might want to register soon after registration opens (March 31). Registration closes May 15. For more information, please visit the workshop website: https://sites.google.com/site/linkscenterworkshopsna/ or use the shorter www.linksworkshop.org.