Social Network Analysis: Key Terms
- Attribute – a characteristic or property of a person, group, organization, etc.
- Betweenness – the node(s) in a network in which the shortest connections to all other nodes pass through them.
- Bonder – members in a network that if removed would fragment the entire network more than any other member.
- Bridge – a node that connects/links two different groups together in a network.
- Centrality- indicates which actors are most engaged and which are peripheral
- Community- a group of people who share a common interest
- Cluster – a group of nodes in a network that are more densely connected to each other than to other nodes in the network.
- Density – the number of actually-occurring relations or ties as a proportion of the number of theoretically-possible relations or ties.
- Distance-calculates the average number of steps for any network actor to reach another actor
- Ego-alter approach- a data collection approach; the network expands a set number of times
- In-degree (prominence) – nodes that are identified/named the most by others in a network.
- Inclusiveness – the percentage of nodes that are connected to other nodes in the network. The more nodes are isolated (no connection to any other nodes in a network) the lower the inclusiveness.
- Node – represents a person, group, and/or organization in a network.
- Core- a highly interrelated group of nodes at the center of a network; typically hold the network together.
- Periphery- a group of nodes that are at the edge of the network and therefore less connected than those nodes located in the core.
- Out-degree (influential) – nodes that report many interactions with other nodes.
- Tie/Links – represents the connections between nodes in a network.
- Reciprocity- measures the extent to which relationships reported by one actor are confirmed by the other actor.
- Snowball Approach- a data collection approach; the network expands until all actors are identified