SNA Research News

Read the relationships behind the results.

A reviewed collection of journal and conference articles that use social network analysis as a substantive data analysis approach.

All article types Journal article Conference paper

33 articles

Page 3 / 6

Photograph of STEM students working at interdisciplinary lab tables, with blank course cards and repeated co-enrollment ties above them

Journal article2023Open access

Journal article 31

Classroom connections in STEM through repeated course co-enrollment networks

Laura R. Ramsey, Wanchunzi Yu, Thomas Kling, Audrey Kling

Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice

Two cohorts of 169 STEM students each were connected when they shared an exact biology, computer science, or mathematics course section during their first two years. Repeated co-enrollment occurred more often than 10,000 random section simulations and network features predicted grades and graduation after covariate adjustment.

STEM retentionCo-enrollmentAdministrative networks

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Photograph of students crossing a university quad at sunset, with anonymous dotted movement paths protected by a translucent shield

Journal article2023Open access

Journal article 30

Inferring daily college peer networks from campus behavioral data

Yuan Zhou, Xiao Meng, Jiayin Wang, Xu Mo, Sa Jiang, Chengjun Dai, Mengting Liu

Sustainability

Behavioral records for 4,738 undergraduates entering in 2018 were used to infer daily peer networks from co-occurring attendance, dining, residence, and bathing activity. Communities shifted from residence-centered to classmate-centered patterns, while peer achievement and scholarship status were associated.

Behavioral tracesCampus networksPeer achievement

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Split photograph of medical students studying together on campus and separately online, with dense and sparse network overlays

Journal article2023Open access

Journal article 29

Online collaborative learning changed medical students' social networks without lowering grades

Yan Zhou, Xiaoming Xu, Johanna Schönrock-Adema, Jasperina Brouwer, Nicolaas A. Bos, Agnes D. Diemers

Frontiers in Medicine

The study compared 102 pre-pandemic and 167 pandemic-era medical students across five out-of-class networks: study support, collaboration, friendship, information sharing, and learning from others. Networks were generally smaller during online collaborative learning, but academic performance did not decline.

Online collaborationMedical educationCOVID-19

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Side-by-side photograph of an outdoor student discussion circle and an indoor class, with contrasting peer-network overlays

Journal article2023Open access

Journal article 28

Education outside the classroom and the evolution of peer interaction networks

Jan Ellinger, Filip Mess, Joachim Bachner, Jakob von Au, Christoph Mall

Frontiers in Psychology

One class using regular education outside the classroom with 24 students was compared with a 26-student class. Longitudinal interaction, relatedness, and friendship networks were examined with stochastic actor-oriented and exponential random graph models; changes were inconsistent and strong gender homophily remained.

Outdoor educationSAOMPeer networks

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Photograph of medical students studying and socializing in a campus commons, with several colored relationship layers crossing groups

Journal article2023Open access

Journal article 27

Learning communities and nationality homophily in informal medical student networks

Yan Zhou, Nicolaas Bos, Agnes Diemers, Jasperina Brouwer

Medical Education Online

Sixty-nine first-year and 51 second-year medical students reported 2,890 relationships across five informal networks: study support, collaboration, friendship, information sharing, and learning from others. Learning-community membership and nationality homophily structured several networks, raising questions about international-student integration.

Medical educationHomophilyMultiplex networks

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Directed STEM friendship network clustered by learning-community participation

Journal article2022Open access

Journal article 04

STEM learning communities promote friendships but risk academic segmentation

Wesley Jeffrey, David R. Schaefer, Di Xu, Peter McPartlan, Sabrina Solanki

Scientific Reports

A quasi-experimental study found that a STEM learning community expanded participants' friendship networks while also concentrating more of their friendships inside the program, revealing integration and segmentation at the same time.

STEM educationFriendship networksERGM

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