Knowledge Matters™

I've just finished reading Methodological Pitfalls in Social Network Analysis by Nicholas Marschall. The central theme is that current methods produce questionable results, which is precisely why I read the book.

Running to 86 pages the book is an easy one-sitting read. For what it is it's also expensive. The book is a translation from German so in some places the English is - well unusual. Looking beyond this small problem, it appears to be a student or scientist research justification, or perhaps a short synopsis of a PhD, which means the style is very academic, but it is interesting!

Marschall quite rightly says data collection approaches colour results, and are full of implicit assumptions. He comes to the conclusion that size reduction and transformation processes, which are quite common in published studies, can significantly change the results of an analysis. ...

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This isn't a blog-post about explosives, although that might be interesting; rather it is a plug for the blogs of two people whose work I admire. It's no secret I am interested in network analysis and both these blogs have almost exclusive network analysis themes. The TNT bit stands for "The Network Thinker ", which is the blog of Dr Valdis Krebs - I wish I could be as creative with names. Connectedness is the blog of Dr Bruce Hoppe.

I particularly like Connectedness because of its exclusive network analysis theme. I just wish Bruce would blog a bit more. He's had a few interesting posts of late. Take a look at this post on centrality . Bruce correctly identifies centrality is important in every network; and lets be honest it's the property we are most fascinated with! I would caveat Bruce's observation by saying be careful with what type of centrality you are talking about. For example, in-degree centrality is about popularity and out-degree centrality is about activity - two very different things I suggest!

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From time to time I run a half-day seminar called “Introducing Network Analysis as a Research Technique ”, followed by a practical workshop that builds on the mornings activities and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw .

Here are the seminar slides . The seminar is aimed at new researchers. Typically the seminar occurs in the morning and is organised into three sessions.

Here are the workshop slides . The workshop is aimed at absolute beginners, and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw . It builds on the seminar, although attendance at the seminar is not a prerequisite.

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On Friday the 4th of July 2008 I am once again running a half-day seminar called “Introducing Network Analysis as a Research Technique ”. This time the seminar will be followed in the afternoon by a practical workshop that builds on the mornings activities and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw .

The seminar and workshop are part of Canberra University’s Inter-University Research Workshop Program , and are aimed at new researchers. The workshop is also of use to anyone interested in network analysis, but is aimed at absolute beginners. Both the seminar and workshop are offered free of charge to research students and researchers from all institutions, but priority access will be given to students and staff from participating universities. Costs may apply to other participants. If you are interested and you are in Canberra on Friday the 4th of July 2008 you can register here . Further details about the seminar and workshop are below. ...

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I purchased this book on the recommendation of a colleague. Unusually for me it has taken many months to read, and I have found it a hard slog - I simply could not maintain my interest. The content is dense and at times challenging.

The authors bring together several theories to come up with an integrative framework to research communication networks. By combining several approaches they seek to move from descriptive and exploratory techniques to inferential and confirmatory models - this was the attraction of the book for me; unfortunately in the end I wasn't completely convinced. That said I do agree that networks should be examined on multiple levels and that a multi-theoretical approach has considerable merit.

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Sometime ago I posted some commentary about this study by Doctor Nicholas Christakis and Doctor James Fowler, who used network analysis to aid understanding of obesity. Their results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was an interesting study because it looked at 12,067 subjects over a 32-year period. Some of the results were truly frightening - if you have a close friend who is obese the chance of you becoming obese increases by 57%! But I digress. This time, Doctors Christakis and Fowler have used social network analysis techniques to aid understanding of the collective dynamics of smoking.

Again it is a very interesting study. Given the population is 12,067 subjects over a 32-year period it appears to be the same group used in the obesity study. A couple of findings were really interesting.

• First, smoker-clusters extend to three degrees of separation.
• Second, the size of the smoker-clusters remained the same across time, suggesting that whole groups of people quit at the same time.
• Third, smokers are found in the periphery of the total social network, suggesting smokers are increasingly being marginalized by their peers, family and co-workers. ...

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I am running a half-day seminar followed by a half-day workshop on Friday the 4th of July 2008, called “Introducing Network Analysis as a Research Technique ”. The seminar is part of Canberra University’s Inter-University Research Workshop Program , and is aimed at new researchers, but is of use to anyone interested in network analysis. This link has testimonials and ratings by previous participants.

The seminar and workshop are offered free of charge to research students and researchers from all institutions, but priority access will be given to students and staff from participating universities. Costs may apply to other participants. If you are interested and you are in Canberra on Friday the 4th of July 2008 you can register here .

The seminar is organised into three sessions. ...

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On Thursday the 12th of June Patrick Byrne and I will be once again present "Understanding the Complexity of Program Management ". This time the presentation is to the Sydney Chapter of the Project Management Institute. The presentation shows how HolisTech® Pty Ltd's Project Knowledge Model and Knowledge Matters™ Business Network Analysis™ (BNA™) techniques can be used as a diagnostic methodology to inform project and program managers. Using real data the presentation shows how the method can be used to understand the alignment of outcomes, achieve requirements consistency, and understand the "stakeholder weave".

To give you a flavour of the presentation content have a look at the following blog-posts: ...

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It’s been six days since I last blogged – partly because I’ve had writer’s block, and partly because I have been considering the political correctness of some of my thoughts and ideas. Those who know me well know that I am inclined to speak my mind, and have heard my fat tax idea. Obesity is a modern plague and mostly is preventable. Like smoking obesity costs our society billions of dollars in health services that could and should be spent elsewhere. I fail to see why those of us who don’t smoke and are not obese should subsidise those who are simply fat because they are lazy. These people should pay an extra premium on their health insurance, and I believe airlines should have special seating for them. Just like baggage if they can’t fit through a frame they should have to sit in a special area and pay an additional fare. Why should I pay for a seat that I effectively have to share with a stranger who oozes into my seat and makes the journey unpleasant?

Nowadays the notion of a fat tax is politically incorrect. As evidence I present the Canadian Transportation Agency’s “One person one fare policy ”. This policy says that:

“airlines may not charge more than one fare to persons with disabilities who are required by the airlines' domestic tariffs to be accompanied by an attendant for their personal care or safety on flights, or who require additional seating for themselves for air travel, including those disabled by obesity”.

Remind me not to travel on Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz or WestJet in the near future! My problem with this policy is the message it sends. ...

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I bought “Social Network Analysis in Program Evaluation ” edited by Mary Durland and Kimberly Fredericks about two years ago. At the time it cost me about $90, but I note the cost is now $27 which is far more realistic. When the book arrived in the mail I was disappointed, partly because it wasn’t quite what I expected, and partly because it’s a little thin A6 publication comprising just 101 pages. All that said it is a book I often refer to, and carry around because of its size.

The book is interesting from a practitioner’s point of view because it applies, or tries to apply, network analysis techniques to program evaluation. In this sense the book is unique. The first three chapters provide a background to social network analysis, and introduce key concepts like dyads, cliques, centrality, and balance. These explanations are accurate and succinct. The discussion in Chapter One on how network analysis techniques might be used in program evaluation is particularly interesting. ...

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