Microcredential komex: Social Network Analysis

This course will provide students with an overview of theories and data in political science network research, extensive knowledge of descriptive network analysis, as well as short introductions to inferential and discourse network analysis. Please also watch the course teaser.

What Is This Course About?
This course will provide students with extensive knowledge of descriptive network analysis as well as short introductions to inferential and discourse network analysis. To do so, it will rely on a combination of lectures and guest-speaker collaborations that will provide an overview of theories and data in political science network research. This course will also provide an introduction to the softwares DNA and Visone. Basic knowledge of R software is required (those students without any prior knowledge are strongly encouraged to register for the introduction to R course at the komex school).

Learning Goals
By the end of this seminar you will:

• Know how to discuss your findings using network graphs in a compelling way.
• Be able to visualize networks using R and Visone.
• Be familiar with coding related to network analysis using R.
• Idenfify key concepts used in descriptive, inferential, and discourse network analysis.
• Be acquainted with theoretical and ontological assumptions behind the use of social network analysis.

Please also watch the outcome teaser.

Assignments for the Course

• Research design: paper proposal with an emphasis on the methodology section. The research question must be clear; the assignment must also include a very basic theoretical framework.
• Take-home coding exercises (not graded).

Recommended Readings for the Course

• Robins, G. (2015). Doing Social Network Research. Network-Based Research Design for Social Scientists. London: SAGE.
• Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Johson, J. C. (2018). Analyzing Social Networks. London: SAGE.
• Leifeld, P. (2017). Discourse Network Analysis: Policy Debates as Dynamic Networks. In: Victor, J. N., Lubell, M. N., & Montgomery, A. H. (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Political Networks (pp. 301-326). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Who Are Your Instructors?
Carlos Bravo-Laguna is an Azrieli International Postdoctoral Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a member of the coordinating team of the UACES Research Network European Studies in a Relational Universe (RELATE) and serves on the Steering Committee of the ECPR Standing Group on Political Networks. Since 2019, Carlos has been an instructor and helped coordinate the POLNET School of Social Network Analysis. Using desciptive, inferential, and discourse network analysis, Carlos has published papers at the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Integration, or International Studies Perspectives (among other journals).
Twitter handle: @cbravuna

Prof. Boris Holzer, Ph.D., is Professor of General Sociology and Macrosociology in the Department of History and Sociology at the University of Konstanz. His research interests include globalization studies and social theory, social networks and political sociology. Currently he is Principal Investigator of the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz as well as member of the Centre for Human | Data | Society and of the research initiative "Transforming Infrastructure".
Prof. Dr. Volker Schneider is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Konstanz, where he held from 1997 until October 2020 the "Chair of  Empirical Theory of the State" at the Department of "Politics and Public Administration". He has published extensively on political networks for decades and organized methodological summers and winter schools on this research approach for over 20 years.

Lukáš Lehotský has a keen interest in energy policy, specifically concerning the future of brown coal mining in the Czech Republic and neighboring regions, as well as strategies for coal phase-out policies and movements aimed at mobilizing against coal. His teaching primarily revolves around research methodologies, focusing on text analysis, network analysis, and R programming. He delivered lectures at various methods-oriented sessions. Additionally, he co-organized conference panels that spotlight networks derived from text data at international conferences such as ECPR GC.

Petr Ocelík is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies, Masaryk University, and a Researcher at the International Institute of Political Science, Masaryk University. Petr is a Chair of the ECPR Standing Group on Political Networks and has been an instructor as the POLNET School of Social Network Analysis. He uses network perspective to analyze policy processes with a focus on energy and climate subsystems. He published in journals such as Energy Research and Social Science, Energy Policy, Social Networks, Governance, Journal of Mixed Methods Research, Society & Natural Resources, Politics and Governance, and others.
Twitter handle: @PetrOcelik

Prof. Dr. Volker Schneider is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Konstanz, where he held from 1997 until October 2020 the "Chair of  Empirical Theory of the State" at the Department of "Politics and Public Administration". He has published extensively on political networks for decades and organized methodological summers and winter schools on this research approach for over 20 years.