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COM268

Social Network Analysis

Task Sheet: Research Essay

Weight: 70%

Form: Individual Assessment

Required Length: 1700-1800 words (excluding references)

Submission Deadline: May 8^th, 23:59

Submission Format: Microsoft Word *.docx file

Submission Mode: Learning Mall Online

The goal of this assignment is to investigate one of the topics of the module in greater depth. You are not allowed to cooperate with other students on the research essay (including with your assignment group mates). The research essay must address a research question that broadly falls within the scope of one of the topics covered in the module. Based on this topic, you can either come up with your own research question (please write me an email to make sure that this research question is appropriate), or address one of the following research questions:

1. Are we really separated by (at most) six degrees of separation?

2. Why do humans form social relations? What benefits do they have?

3. What factors influence reciprocity? Why are some social relations reciprocal, and others not?

4. On which dimensions (age, gender, ethnicity etc.) do people exhibit homophily, and what are the factors that influence homophily? Why is homophily stronger on some dimensions in some societies, and weaker in others?

5. Is there a limit to how many social relations humans can have? What are the limiting factors?

6. Why is there a ‘rich-get-richer effect’ of degree centrality in many social networks?

7. What is the evidence for structural balance mechanisms shaping online and offline social networks?

8. How do the various centrality metrics differ in what they tell us about nodes in a network?

9. How can centrality metrics be used to identify critical actors in criminal or terrorist organizations?

10. How can people access social capital through their social networks, and how do these strategies differ depending on the type of social capital?

11. Which network properties contribute to the creative output of nodes and the network as a whole?

12. How do information, ideas, attitudes, norms, and behaviours spread in social networks? Do they spread differently?

13. What factors limit the spread of information, ideas, attitudes, norms, and behaviours in social networks?

14. What are the implications of Complex Contagion theory regarding the influence of high-degree nodes (Key Opinion Leaders)? How does this compare to simple contagion?

15. How can sentiment be quantified based on social media text data?

16. How can texts be categorized into different topics?

17. What can the usage of function words tell us about the author of a text?

You need to find relevant scholarly literature addressing this question, identify different theories/perspectives within the literature, and summarize the empirical evidence in favour of and/or contradicting these theories or perspectives. Your literature review should go beyond what we discussed in class! You should also contextualize your research paper by relating it to your personal experience, experiences made by people you know, or relevant news stories (preferably from reputed media). Finally, based on the literature discussed, you need to draw a logical conclusion with regard to the research question.

Deadline and Submission: The research essay has to be uploaded on Learning Mall Online NO LATER THAN on May 8^th, 23:59. Earlier submissions are welcome. The research essay must be uploaded as Microsoft Word *.docx file format only! You should name the file as follows: COM268_SNA_YourStudentID.docx

Literature: The research essay has to incorporate an appropriate number of academic references. Please only cite sources that contribute to the topic of the essay, and whose content you then discuss; don’t try to inflate your citation count with unrelated references. For every topic discussed in the module, you can find a folder linked on Learning Mall Online, containing relevant literature on this topic, which you can use as a starting point for further literature research. For example, you can do this by following up on the literature cited in the sources on LMO, or by searching for relevant keywords on Google Scholar or XJTLU Library Search.

Research Essay Structure: The research essay should have the following contents:

§ State the topic and research question(s) of the proposed research project, and explain why it is relevant (for science, for society, or for you personally).

§ Discuss the main theories and perspectives you found in the literature. Explain how they relate to your research question. Are there different / contradicting viewpoints in the literature?

§ Explain what reasons researchers give to support their theories / perspectives, what empirical evidence there is, and to what extent the different theories/ perspectives are supported or contradicted by this evidence.

§ Contextualize the topic of your research essay by discussing how it relates to your personal experience, to experiences of people you know, or reports and stories that you found in the media.

§ Sum up the main points and state your conclusion regarding the research question. If you believe the evidence is inconclusive and the question cannot be answered in a definitive way, please state this. You also have the option to formulate your own ideas regarding the question or suggest future directions for research.

§ Report the count of all words in the document body (excluding title page and references).

§ List the references in alphabetical order and APA citation style (see the style guide on Learning Mall Online).

Writing Style: Please write in a concise, simple and clear style. Try to avoid overly long and complex sentences. Do not inflate the length of your research essay with empty and redundant statements. Make sure the reader can follow the argument structure. For example, if a sentence follows logically from what you wrote before, indicate this by using phrases like “therefore”, “for this reason” etc.; if a sentence contradicts what was said before, you can use phrases like “on the other hand”, “other researchers claim that” etc. Structure your essay with sections and subsections, for example “Introduction”, “Conclusions”, etc.

Formal Requirements: You do not need a cover page – simply start with the research question. The research essay must be in English. Use the APA citation style throughout your essay. Direct quotations must be clearly indicated by the use of inverted commas and must include the source. Plagiarism and other violations of academic integrity will be penalised according to XJTLU guidelines. There are no requirements with regard to font, font size, line spacing etc.

Marking Criteria: The research essay weighs 70% of your total module grade. I will grade the quality of the literature review (50% of the research paper grade), the quality of your argument structure and critical analysis (40%), as well as language quality, writing style, and references (10%).

The marking descriptors are defined as follows:

Literature Review:

§ 0-10%: Very little relevant literature is discussed; relevant theories and perspectives are not extracted from the literature; there is no critical comparison of different theories; empirical evidence is not discussed sufficiently; structural variables and frameworks have not been identified.

§ 11-20%: Little relevant literature is discussed; relevant theories and perspectives are only partially extracted from the literature; there is little critical comparison of different theories; empirical evidence is only discussed superficially; structural variables and frameworks have not been identified sufficiently.

§ 21-30%: Sufficient relevant literature is discussed; relevant theories and perspectives are extracted from the literature; there is some critical comparison of different theories; sufficient empirical evidence is discussed; structural variables and frameworks have been identified.

§ 31-40%: Relevant literature is discussed in depth; relevant theories and perspectives are extracted comprehensively from the literature; there is a critical comparison of different theories; empirical evidence is discussed in detail; structural variables and frameworks have been identified in depth.

§ 41-50%: A large amount of relevant literature is discussed in great depth; highly relevant theories and perspectives are extracted comprehensively from the literature; there is an excellent critical comparison of different theories; empirical evidence is discussed in great depth; structural variables and frameworks have been identified in great depth.

Argument Structure and Critical Analysis:

§ 0-8%: There is little or no logical argument structure and coherence; no illustrative example or contextualization is given; no logical conclusion is drawn from the evidence; there is no critical and analytical treatment of the topic.

§ 9-16%: There is only a rough logical argument structure and coherence; illustrative examples or contextualization are given but are not relevant; the conclusion is not logical; there is little critical and analytical treatment of the topic.

§ 17-24%: There is logical argument structure and coherence; relevant illustrative examples or contextualization are given; a logical conclusion is drawn from the evidence; there is some critical and analytical treatment of the topic.

§ 25-32%: There is a clear logical argument structure and coherence; relevant and interesting illustrative examples are given; a convincing logical conclusion is drawn from the evidence; there is a critical and analytical treatment of the topic.

§ 33-40%: There is a clear and highly convincing logical argument structure and seamless coherence; engaging and highly relevant illustrative examples and contextualization is given; a convincing logical conclusion is drawn from the evidence, and own theoretical deliberations or proposals for future research are discussed; there an excellent critical and analytical treatment of the topic.

Language Quality, Writing Style and References:

§ 0-2%: The language quality is very bad; the style is convoluted and confusing; citations and referencing are almost always incorrect.

§ 3-4%: The language quality is bad; the style is sometimes convoluted and confusing; citations and referencing are frequently incorrect.

§ 5-6%: The language quality is sufficient; the style is mostly fluent and clear; citations and referencing are largely correct.

§ 7-8%: The language quality is good; the style is fluent and clear; citations and referencing are correct.

§ 9-10%: The language quality is excellent; the writing style is concise, expressive and elegant; citations and referencing are flawless.