I have presented research on social network analysis to several forums including to organisational and educational psychology audiences. In these settings the audience varies substantially in their prior exposure to social networks analysis. Researchers new to social network analysis often then ask me where they should start in order to learn about the theories and methods of social network analysis. This post aims to provide some links to get such an interested researcher started.
Getting started:
- Read a couple of quick introductions on the web, such as: orgnet, Wayne Baker's article, Daniel Brass, Wikipedia .
- There's also some cute (perhaps too cute) introductions to social network analysis: e.g., How-Stuff-Works, In Plain English
- A few interesting pop culture references to social networks include: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, The Small World Experiment, Zombie Infection Simulation,
- To learn more it may be useful to do a course or work through a textbook. I have Wasserman and Faust as my basic reference. Several free online options also exist including Hanneman and Riddle, John Scott, and AnalyticTech.
- Read a few classic articles on social networks. Here's a list.
- Tom Snijder lists many useful resources on social network analysis.
- MelNet lists additional resources and is particularly relevant if you are at my university (University of Melbourne).
- INSNA provides lists of publications, conferences, and many other resources on social network analysis.
Software
- Social Network Analysis using R: Free and open source; this is the option that I use assuming the desired model exists in R. However, I started with UCINet, and I imagine that this may be a more attractive option for some people, particularly those lacking a programming, mathematical, or statistical background.
- A more comprehensive review of social network software
