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Application of social network analysis to communicable disease research. Sheila McCarthy, MSc PhD student Healthcare and Epi UBC Jan. 21, 2004. Social Network Analysis.
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Application of social network analysis to communicable disease research Sheila McCarthy, MSc PhD student Healthcare and Epi UBC Jan. 21, 2004
Social Network Analysis • SNA is a research perspective that focuses on relationships between and among social entities, and on the patterns and implications of these relationships (Wasserman and Faust, 1994) • Both theory and methods
Theory • Relational ties are primary • Attributes of actors are secondary • Actors and their actions are viewed as interdependent • Relational ties are channels for transfer • Different types of relations identify different networks even when imposed on identical people • The structure of relations among individuals and the location of individuals in the network have important consequences both for the individuals and for the system as a whole.
Methods • Distinct from the methods of traditional statistics and data analysis • Data are the function of two interdependent units • Must incorporate social context • i.e. analyze ties and the structure of ties • Software: Pajek, UCInet, Multinet, and more • Multiple levels of analysis: individual, small groups, whole network
Social Network Analysis • SNA is particularly attractive to epidemiologists interested in STIs, bloodborne infections, and TB because these diseases spread directly and indirectly through relational ties • SNA offers new approaches to research, but also to intervention and prevention strategies
Example 1 • Illustrates a sociogram (visual representation of a network) • Components, sub-groups, individuals • Network structures related to disease dynamics • Intervention, prevention
Example 1 from Rothenberg et al.Sociogram HIV/AIDS Colorado Springs, 1982-1999 325 nodes (actors) and their ties (relations, links)
Example 2 • Illustrates matrix algebra • Illustrates the use of social events (in epi, “epidemiologically-relevant places” • Intervention, prevention
Example 2 from Dynamic Social Network Modeling and Analysis:Workshop Summary and Papers (2003)http://books.nap.edu/books/0309089522/html/index.html
Example 2 from Dynamic Social Network Modeling and Analysis:Workshop Summary and Papers (2003)http://books.nap.edu/books/0309089522/html/index.html
Example 2 from Dynamic Social Network Modeling and Analysis:Workshop Summary and Papers (2003)http://books.nap.edu/books/0309089522/html/index.html
Example 2 from Dynamic Social Network Modeling and Analysis:Workshop Summary and Papers (2003)http://books.nap.edu/books/0309089522/html/index.html • Goals: • Study patterns of interactions • Concern with issues related to similarity/dissimilarity • Results: • Two more or less distinct groups • Positions – core/periphery – could also be determined
Conclusions • SNA can be used for • Research into disease dynamics • Intervention and prevention • Based on an assumption of importance of relationships among interacting units • Offers new methods of analysis
References Wasserman and Faust. 1994. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Breigner, Carley, and Pattison. 2003. Dynamic Social Network Modeling and Analysis. (http://books.nap.edu/books/0309089522/html/index.html)