Week 3 - Edge Formation

Today’s Dad Joke

One astronaut says to another, “I can’t find any milk for my coffee”

The other astronaut replies, “In space no one can, here use cream”

Housekeeping

  • Turning in R homework
  • 3-2-1 Assignments and Discussion Questions
  • Readings
    • On Brightspace
    • How did reading these articles go?
    • Using AI to help
    • How to read academic articles
  • Tech use discussion

Flash presentations

  • 8 minutes of prep
  • 2-3 minutes of presentation
  • Tell us about one edge formation process
    • Social exchange theory
    • Foci of activity
    • Homophily
    • Reciprocity
    • Transitivity
    • Balance theory

Exercise

  • Draw your social network - people you consider friends
    • What edge formation process(es) best explain each relationship they have with you?
    • Are there any relationships that are not explained by these processes?
    • Does your social network exhibit homophily?

Exercise

  • Now draw the relationships between your friends
  • What would our theories suggest about which new relationships are likely to form?
  • What about which relationships are unlikely to form?

Edge formation review

  • What are some causes of homophily?
  • What are foci of activity?
  • How do ties dissolve?
    • What ties have you seen dissolve in your network? What type is most likely to dissolve?
  • What is “tie maintenance” and what forms does it take?

Discussion Questions

  • When is homophily beneficial?
  • What are strategies to increase diversity in networks?
  • Are there exceptions to balance theory and transitivity?

Homework review

  • Installing packages vs. loading libraries
  • .qmd files
  • Opening folders and trusting projects
  • R terminal vs. system terminal

Thursday

  • Keep working on R Labs