Tag: Relational Events

January 1, 2020November 4, 2024

Rethinking Social Networks in the Era of Computational Social Science

This paper reviews and discusses two revolutions in the science of social networks: In the first revolution, new telecommunications and sensor technologies allow researchers to collect data on interaction events with unprecedented volume and granularity. In the second revolution, innovations in statistical methods are uniquely fit to make sense of these streaming data, by explicitly modeling temporal interdependence of relational events. This paper interrogates the mapping between conventional social network theories and these new forms of streaming interaction data, developing empirical frontiers for the analysis of interaction event histories.

Kitts, James A. and Eric Quintane. “Rethinking Social Networks in the Era of Computational Social Science.” In Light, Ryan and James Moody (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Social Network Analysis. pp 71-97. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Tags Computational Social Science, Network Measurement, Relational Events, Social Interaction, Social Sentiments

January 1, 2017November 4, 2024

Investigating the Temporal Dynamics of Interorganizational Exchange: Patient Transfers Among Italian Hospitals

Previous research on interaction behavior among organizations has typically aggregated those behaviors over time as a network of organizational relationships. This paper instead studies structural-temporal patterns in organizational exchange. Applying this lens to a community of Italian hospitals during 2003–7, the authors observe two mechanisms of interorganizational reciprocation: organizational embedding and resource dependence, and show how these two mechanisms operate on distinct time horizons and operate differently in competitive and non-competitive contexts. Results shed light on the evolution of generalized exchange or status hierarchies at the population level.

Kitts, James A., Lomi, Alessandro, Mascia, Daniele, Pallotti, Francesca, and Eric Quintane. “Investigating the Temporal Dynamics of Interorganizational Exchange: Patient Transfers Among Italian Hospitals.” American Journal of Sociology. 123(3): 850-910, 2017.

Tags Network Modeling, Organizations, Relational Events, Social Exchange, Social Interaction

January 3, 2014November 4, 2024

Beyond Networks in Structural Theories of Exchange: Promises from Computational Social Science

Researchers employ four versions of the social network concept: A social network is seen as a set of socially constructed role relations (e.g., friends, business partners), a set of interpersonal sentiments (e.g., liking, trust), a pattern of behavioral social interaction (e.g., conversations, citations), or an opportunity structure for exchange. Researchers conventionally assume these conceptualizations are interchangeable as social ties, but important discrepancies appear, especially for non-ties. Investigating the interplay across the four definitions is timely because emerging tools of computational social science — wearable sensors, logs of telecommunication, online exchange, or other interaction — now allow us to observe the fine-grained dynamics of interaction over time. Cutting-edge lenses allow us to move beyond reified notions of social ties (and non-ties) and instead directly observe and analyze the dynamic and structural interdependencies of social interaction behavior.

Kitts, James A. “Beyond Networks in Structural Theories of Exchange: Promises from Computational Social Science” Advances in Group Processes. Vol 31, 2014.

Tags Computational Social Science, Network Measurement, Relational Events, Social Exchange, Social Interaction, Social Sentiments

January 2, 2008November 4, 2024

Towards the Automated Social Analysis of Situated Speech Data

We present an automated approach for studying fine-grained details of social interactions and relationships. Specifically, we analyze the conversational characteristics of a group of 24 individuals over a six-month period, explore the relationship between conversational dynamics and network position, and identify behavioral correlates of tie strengths within a network. The ability to study conversational dynamics and social networks over long time scales, and to investigate their interplay with rigor, objectivity, and transparency will complement the traditional methods for scientific inquiry into social dynamics.

Wyatt, Danny, Choudhury, Tanzeem, Bilmes, Jeff, and James A. Kitts. “Towards the Automated Social Analysis of Situated Speech Data“ Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, September 2008.

Tags Computational Social Science, Network Measurement, Relational Events, Social Interaction