Social Networks

Please find a sample syllabus here

Course Description

The idea of social network became commonplace with the introduction of social networking websites and platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and LinkedIn. These websites take social networking as a way of accessing people and resources seriously and implementing it to our daily lives. Yet, scholars of Social Network Analysis (SNA) has been thinking intellectually about social networks for a very long time. For sociologists, social networks have a wider meaning: face-to-face relationships, online relationships, economic relationships, organizational associations, exchanges among people and institutions are different kinds of social networks, to name a few, and sociologists develops various kinds of tools to analyze these networks and their implications on social structures as well as social action. This class introduces basic concepts, theories, and a variety of the techniques to study and analyze networks in the social sciences. Students have hands-on learning experience of these methods through R programming (no prior knowledge of R language is required).

Selected Student Comments

• Very interesting course and a nice introduction to coding via R and RStudio programs. The professor was very engaging and quick to respond to students and help in any way that she could.

• I like how the professor created video tutorials in order to complete some of the assignments, it helped clear up any confusion.

• It was very organized and just the right amount of work.

• It was clear that the instructor was passionate about the course. Her passion for teaching was emulated by quick email responses, immediate assistance with difficult tasks, and adapting to students requests and expectations.