Since the publication of Herbert Spencer's "Principles of
Sociology "in 1875, the use of social structure as a defining
concept has produced a large body of creative speculations,
insights, and intuitions about social life. However, writers in
this tradition do not always provide the sorts of formal definitons
and propositions that are the building blocks of modern social
research. In its broad-ranging examination of the kind of data that
form the basis for the systematic study of social structure,
"Research Methods in Social Network Analysis "marks a significant
methodological advance in network studies.
As used in this volume, "social structure "refers to a bundle of
intuitive natural language ideas and concepts about patterning in
social relationships among people. In contrast, "social networks
"is used to refer to a collection of precise analytic and
methodological concepts and procedures that facilitate the
collection of data and the systematic study of such patterning.
Accordingly, the book's five sections are arranged to address
analytical problems in a series of logically ordered stages or
processes.
The major contributors define the fundamental modes by which
social structural phenomena are to be represented; how boundaries
to a social structure are set; how the relations of a network are
measured in terms of structure and content; the ways in which the
relational structure of a network affects system actors; and how
actors within a social network are clustered into cliques or
groups. The chapters in the last section build on solutions to
problems proposed in the previous sections. This highly unified
approach to research design combined with a representative
diversity of viewpoints makes "Research Methods in Social Network
Analysis "a state-of-the-art volume.
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