Network Analysis Guide

A skill for conducting social network analysis (SNA) in research contexts. Covers network data collection and representation, key structural metrics (centrality, density, clustering), community detection algorithms, ego network analysis, longitudinal network models, and visualization best practices using Python NetworkX, igraph, and Gephi.

Network Data Fundamentals

Representing Network Data

Networks consist of nodes (actors) and edges (relationships). The first decision in any SNA project is how to represent the data.

Network data formats:

Edge List (simplest):
  source, target, weight
  Alice, Bob, 3
  Alice, Carol, 1
  Bob, David, 5