Network Analysis

Network analysis aims to explore and explain social structures and the interdependence of social phenomena. Networks can be understood as informative and define relationships between objects and phenomena. The focus of the analysis is usually an agent, such as people, organizations, events and other networked phenomena. The analysis does not aim to explore and explain the characteristics or quality of the phenomena but the network of relationships between researched phenomena. The relationship networks may be based, for example, on communication, kinship, ownership, and simultaneous participation in the same situation. Network analysis includes various analysis practices developed for the exploration of relationships. The analysis may focus on the centrality of the phenomenon in the network, the structure of the network, such as its density or intentness, or the connections of the networks to other networks. You can formulate models of the networks and use graphics to represent them, for which reason you should use various computer software programmes not only to perform the analysis but also the create the graphical representations.

Read more on network analysis from the links below:

Social Network. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Brandes, Ulrik ja Erlebach, Thomas. Introduction. Network Analysis. Methodological Foudations. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 3418/2005. (pdf)

Gretzel, Ulrike, 2001. Social Network Analysis: Introduction and Resources. Technology Studies in Education Research Portal.