International “Winter Course,” Personal Networks: Theory, Methods and Applications in Barcelona (2 ECTS*)
Academic Code: 2287/12
When: February 6-10, 2023
Where: Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain: From Monday to Friday: “Sala de Juntes” Faculty of Arts/Faculty of Psychology.(Facultat de Lletres).
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), Rafaelle Vacca (University of Milan), among others.
Registration deadline: January-30, 2023.
Enrollment deadline: February-6, 2023.
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. In this case we will allow a hybrid format, with participants following the course online which will have personalized support. 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. On the third, fourth and fifth morning, 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.
In the afternoons, the participants will have a hands-on session and a demo with two computer programs that were specifically developed for the computer-assisted collection, visualization and analysis of extended personal networks, with both quantitative and qualitative aspects: Egoweb and Network Canvas. They will also learn how to visualize networks with visone and how to produce clustered graphs that can visually summarize the characteristics of a set of personal networks.
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 (*).