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International “Winter Course,” Personal Networks: Theory, Methods and Applications in Barcelona (2 ECTS*)
Academic Code: 2287/14
When: February 3-7, 2025
Where: Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain: From Monday to Friday: “Torre Vila-Puig“, Vil·la universitària).
Lecturers (this list may change): Christopher McCarty (University of Florida), Bernie Hogan (University of Oxford), Jürgen Lerner (University of Konstanz), Miranda Lubbers (Autonomous University of Barcelona), José Luis Molina (Autonomous University of Barcelona), Raffaele Vacca (University of Milan), Michał Bojanowski (Autonomous University of Barcelona and Kozminski University), Gabriel Hâncean, and Isidro Maya-Jariego (Universidad de Sevilla).
Registration deadline: January-30, 2025.
Enrollment deadline: February-3, 2025.
Description:
The aim of this course is to enable graduate students and researchers in the social sciences to create personal network research designs and to analyze personal network data. The course is a mix of lectures and computer sessions. On the first morning, we will discuss the basic definitions and central concepts in personal network research and we will briefly relate personal networks (sometimes called egocentric networks) with various theoretical streams in the social sciences. This will give students an understanding of the different requirements that researchers may pose to their designs or instruments. We will then introduce the basic steps of measurement of personal networks. The second morning is focused on delineating the networks. Students will be introduced to the variety of name generators and alternative approaches used in the social sciences, which will be compared with respect to contents, the characteristics of the measured networks and ties, the reliability and validity of the measures, and respondent burden. Next, we will discuss the statistical analysis of personal networks with R. The participants will have ample opportunity to discuss their own research projects using personal networks. After discussing current applications of egocentric approaches in social cohesion and health prevention, participants will also learn how to visualize networks with visone and how to compute statistical analysis of networks of relational hyper-events (RHEM). The last morning will be devoted to the new version of Network Canvas, a computer program that was specifically developed for the computer-assisted collection, visualization and analysis of extended personal networks, with both quantitative and qualitative aspects.
This course is intended for PhD students and researchers interested in designing their own personal network studies. We expect them to have a basic understanding of general social science methodology (e.g., questionnaire construction, concepts of validity and reliability) and to participate in class discussions. We ask participants to submit in advance a summary of their research aims and learning objectives for the course (max. 1 page), to help us understand their interests and focus their attention to specific readings. Students are strongly encouraged to do the suggested readings before taking the course. The sessions will be conducted in English. At the end of each session participants are asked to complete a task and send it to the lecturers. The participants who complete the scheduled tasks can obtain an official recognition of credits (*).
Learning objectives:
By the end of the course, participants should understand:
- For what aims personal network analysis has been used.
- How to compare and critique different methods for measuring personal networks.
- How to develop a research design for testing personal network effects.
- How to collect personal network data.
- How to visualize personal network data.
- How to analyze personal network data with R.
- How to model contact diaries.
More information: gr.egoredes@uab.cat
Program:
| Monday, February 3th | Tuesday, February 4th | Wednesday, February 5th | Thursday, February 6th | Friday, February 7th | |
| 10:00- 14:00 | Welcome and introduction to the course Introduction to personal network analysis (Miranda Lubbers – José Luis Molina) Research questions and models for Personal Network Research (Miranda Lubbers) | Name generators and name interpreters: Contents, reliability and validity, characteristics of measured networks (Miranda Lubbers) Analysis of egocentrically-sampled network data with Exponential-family Random Graph Models (Michał Bojanowski) | Personal network analysis with R: Compositional and structural measures (Raffaele Vacca) Network Canvas – data analysis (Bernie Hogan) | Personal network analysis with R: Multilevel modeling (Raffaele Vacca) | Personal networks and health interventions: a city lab in Romania (Marian-Gabriel Hâncean) Course summary and discussion |
| 14:00-16:00 | Lunch | Lunch | Group lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
| 16:00-18:30 | When using personal networks? (Christopher McCarty) | Network Canvas – data collection (Bernie Hogan) | Touristic visit | Dynamic network analysis of contact diaries (Juergen Lerner) |
During the morning sessions, there will be a coffee break of 30 minutes.
Fees: 650€, to be paid to the Postgraduate School by web.
How to apply: Registration is a three-step process. In you are interested in participating in the summer course, please send your vitae and a brief description of your research questions or interests (max. 1 page) to gr.egoredes@uab.es. Once accepted in the course, you can register via an online form (Admission > Online application without NIU). Start filling the form in the field “nationality”. The course number is as follow: Estudi = 2287; Edició = 14. Support for registration is available at ep.uau@uab.cat. Finally you can proceed withe the enrollment process here entering your NIU and password.
Accommodation: Accommodation can be found at the university campus, where you can either book an apartment or a room in the Hotel Campus (reservas@hotelexecampus.com). In case you wish to rent an apartment (“Vil·la 2”), please fill in this form and contact with Ania.Torrell ad uab.cat . There are other hotels close to the campus but they are not connected with public transport. We therefore strongly recommend to either book an accommodation on the campus itself, or in Barcelona city or Sabadell (two stops away from the UAB, see for example the student residence of Sabadell https://www.resest.com).
The best way for getting to the UAB from the center of Barcelona is by train with the “Ferrocarils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, FGC“, lines S2 and S55. There is a train station for the University called “Universitat Autònoma”. From Catalunya Square (at the Centre of Barcelona) the trip takes about 30 minutes. From the station to “Facultat de Lletres” the walk takes about 15 minutes. For getting to the “Vila” (where the accomodation facilities are) it is better to leave the train at the station “Bellaterra” (the stop just before “Universitat Autonoma”), and then walk for 5-10 minutes. You can purchase a T-Casual (1 zone) ticket (approximately 11.35€), which allows you to take 10 trips, sufficient to get to the UAB the five days of the course. This ticket allows the combination of train, metro or bus within one hour and a half after starting the trip.
There is another connection by the national railway company Renfe to the station named “Cerdanyola-Universitat”, but it is a bit far from the Campus, so we strongly recommend you to take the FGC line instead.
How to get to the Airport from Catalonia Square (“Plaça Catalunya”): Take the “Aerobus” shuttle, which you will find in front of El Corte Ingles (a big mall). You will note that there are two separate queues – one for the Aerobus (A1) to Terminal 1 (T1) and one for the Aerobus (A2) to Terminal 2 (T2). The trip takes about 40′.
It is also possible to get the Airport by Metro. Select “airport” fare at the ticket vending machine (4,5€ aproximately ), and take the green Line 3 until “Zona universitària” station where is possible to get the Line 9 until de airport. The trip from Catalonia Square takes about 60′.
Barcelona: Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, has a rich cultural heritage and a relaxed atmosphere. We recommend you to add a few days to your stay, to stroll through the Gothic Quarter with its labyrinth of narrow streets and beautiful squares and churches, to admire some of the highlights of the Modernist architecture (Parc Güell, Sagrada Familia, Palau de la Música, la Pedrera…), to take a dive in the Mediterranean sea or eat fish with your hands in one of the many seaside restaurants, to take a day trip to the natural park of Montserrat, to taste Spanish “jamón” and other delicacies, perhaps even visit Camp Nou, the home of FC Barcelona, and of course to enjoy Barcelona´s vibrant night life. You can check the tourist information about Barcelona to see the cultural agenda, tips for places to go, shop, eat and sleep.
Climate: The average day temperature is about 7-13 degrees Celsius in February. The chance of rain are relatively low in this month.
Lunch and dinner time: Please note that lunch and dinner tend to be taken later than in other European countries. Most restaurants open from 1pm to 4pm for lunch, and from 8pm until 11pm for dinner. Do as the locals do and take a little “almuerzo” to survive until lunch and a “merienda” to survive until dinner time. Shops in the city center have long opening hours, usually from 10am to at least 8 or 8.30pm.
A detailed guide with practical information about Barcelona city, accommodation, transport, and the UAB campus can be downloaded here (amendment: the T-Casual 1-zone ticket supersedes the former 2-zones ticket).
(*) This document is issued after request by the participants at the end of the course at the Postgraduate School, it has an extra cost of about 80€ and it takes about 10 days to be issued. All participants will receive an official letter of attendance by the organizers.
Earlier editions of the summer (or winter) school:
Edition’24 [htm]
Edition ’23 [htm]
Edition ’22 [htm]
Edition ’19 [htm]
Edition ’17 [htm]
Edition ’15 [htm]
Edition ’13 [htm]
Edition ’12 [htm]
Edition ’11 [htm]
Edition ’10 [htm]
Edition ’09 [htm]
Edition ’08 [htm]
Edition ’07 [