Social Network Analysis: Principles and Application in Low-Capacity Contexts (original) (raw)
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In the last decades, a growing scholarship has outlined the crucial role of social networks as a source of resilience. However, with regard to the Global South, the role of social networks for the resilience of rural communities remains an under-researched and underconceptualized issue, because research remains scattered between different strands and has rarely been integrated from a resilience perspective. To provide common ground for the exchange between disciplines and to identify steps towards a more comprehensive social network perspective on the resilience of rural communities in the Global South, we present a systematic review of contemporary case studies from three strands of research: (i) natural resource management, (ii) agricultural innovation, and (iii) social support. Although studies in each strand have their own particular strengths and weaknesses in addressing aspects of the resilience of rural communities in the Global South, they all share a static view of the outcomes of social networks, tend to emphasize structure over agency, and neglect spatial dimensions of social relations. To address these challenges, we propose a translocal social network perspective on resilience that views rural communities as being embedded in social networks that connect people and facilitate the flow of resources, information, and knowledge between places.
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 2013
This paper analyses roles of social and extension networks in adoption of resource-conserving practices among Ethiopian farmers. We gathered data from 297 randomly sampled households on their agricultural practices, social networks, access to the extension, and geographical location. After examining general determinants of practicing resource-conserving agriculture, we employ a two-stage regression with full-maximum likelihood correction for selection bias to establish the roles of general social networks and external professionals in acceptance of conservation techniques. In accordance with previous research, probit regression in the first stage shows that the access to extension increases with farmers’ wealth and the size of their personal networks; and decreases with the distance of their households from village centres. However, after accounting for this unequal access to extension, the second stage linear regression shows that regardless of education, wealth or geographical location, those whose religion and ethnicity match with their agent, report learning more about conservation from extension sources. Furthermore, farmers who are well socially-connected within the community tend to be less receptive to agents’ recommendations regarding resource-conservation. Dissemination policy of conservation agriculture should consider the ethnic and religious affinity between farmers and their extension agents. It also needs to pay more attention to socially and geographically isolated individuals.
While detailed data are available on people's travel behavior in industrialized countries, little is known about the spatial characteristics of activities of those living in vast infrastructure-poor areas in the developing world where walking is still the dominant form of transport. We have interviewed 297 randomly selected inhabitants of Tiyo District, Ethiopia, and by random name cues identified 4158 individuals who are a representative cross-section of everyone the informants knew and met. Consequently, we inquired about the distance to these individuals, frequency of contacting them, and the mode of contact. Half of the respondents' social contacts lived within 15-min walking distance and the interviewed inhabitants contacted 98% of all people that they knew only by walking and meeting face-to-face. After examining the determinants of the size, density, and geographical extent of the inhabitants' personal networks, we employed multilevel analysis to explore the relevance of physical and social distance as well as personal characteristics for frequency of interaction. We found that in addition to the strong impact of walking time (À), common organization membership (À), the same religious affiliation (+), kinship (+), and patience (À) also predict the frequency of meetings. From this we present comparisons of the variables' relative effects and conclude with practical implications.
EXPLORING DYNAMIC MECHANISMS OF LEARNING NETWORKS FOR RESOURCE CONSERVATION
The importance of networks for socio-ecological processes has been recognized in the literature; however, existing studies have not sufficiently addressed the dynamic nature of networks. Using data on the social learning networks of 265 farmers in Ethiopia for 2011 and 2012 and stochastic actor-oriented modeling, we explain the mechanisms of network evolution and soil conservation. The farmers’ preferences for information exchange within the same social groups support the creation of interactive, clustered, nonhierarchical structures within the evolving learning networks, which contributed to the diffusion of the practice of composting. The introduced methods can be applied to determine whether and how social networks can be used to facilitate environmental interventions in various contexts.
Network Science, 2014
Mobile phones are spreading to remote areas of the globe, leading to the question: “What is the potential of the new communication technologies for increasing individuals’ access to information and diffusion of attitudes and practices across rural areas of developing countries?” We have donated phones to 234 farmers selected by stratified random sampling in an agrarian region of Ethiopia and have tracked their main communication partners for six months. The panel data and qualitative interviews indicated that the phones were not typically used to expand the existing constrained social networks or to gain information from new sources but to call alters within the original networks and individuals introduced through the experiment. Stochastic actor-based network models clarified that although agricultural information-seeking and casual calling are intertwined, the mechanisms underlying the evolution of instrumental and expressive communication networks are distinct. Acquaintances living beyond comfortable walking distances and individuals whom others call became preferred for information-seeking calls. These tendencies enable faster information exchange within the original social network and support the creation of information hubs that might potentially facilitate more efficient information diffusion over long distances in the future. In contrast, the importance of geographical communities strongly prevails in casual phone conversations. Physically proximate community members who tend to be met frequently were preferred for sentiment-sharing calls. Preferential attachment was not evident for this type of communication. As a result, the network of these expressive calls was highly localized and fragmented, making it unlikely for personal feelings to diffuse across wide geographical areas through the new phone networks.
This study attempts to make inferences about the mechanisms that drive network change over time. It adopts simulation investigation for empirical network analysis to examine the patterns and evolution of relationships formed in the context of a massive open online course (MOOC) discussion forum. Four network effects-homophily, reciprocity, transitivity, and preferential attachment-were tested to explain the dynamic mechanisms of interaction in the MOOC forum. Understanding the network dynamics of relationships will allow us to explore how to develop a robust peer-supported learning environment and in turn improve the online learning experience in MOOCs.
Actors Network and Public Policy for Local e-Government: the case of the District of Évora
The paper present the results PhD research in Sociology around the issues of local e-government in Évora, Portugal. Information technology applied in local government is understood as an instrument of leverage greater efficiency and transparency in service to "clients" by local government (e-Administration) and enlargement of the mechanisms of participation (e-participation) of citizens in democracy through ICT (e-Democracy), including those relating to participation in decision-making. Through a social network analysis (ARS) as “method” background, we seek to understand how the formal and informal networks of key players may potentiate the emergence of public policies for the development of local e-government in the region. Data gathering was developed through a survey questionnaire administered to the Municipal Councils of the District of Évora (Alentejo - Portugal), in 2009, and treated with the program UCINET 6.0. The results enabled us to represent the formal and informal model of local actors network considered to have a major role in local-government, to identify patterns of interaction in the network and understand the dynamics of cooperation between them.
‘Who do you talk to about your teaching?’: networking activities among university teachers
As the higher education environment changes, there are calls for university teachers to change and enhance their teaching practices to match. Networking practices are known to be deeply implicated in studies of change and diffusion of innovation, yet academics' networking activities in relation to teaching have been little studied. This paper extends the current limited understanding, building on Roxå and Mårtensson's work and extending it from Sweden to the UK and USA. It is based on two separate studies, one from the Share Project led by the University of Kent, and one from Glasgow Caledonian University, exploring the composition of personal networks, and the characteristics of interactions in order to understand the networking practices which may support change of teaching practice. We conclude that academics' personal teaching networks are mainly discipline-specific and strongly localised. This contrasts with the research networks found by and may reduce innovation, although about half the respondents also had external contacts that might support creativity.