Network analysis is increasingly used by social scientists to capture properties of relationships that other methods cannot. It is both a descriptive device and an inferential tool, and is often used alongside other methods. Unlike many other quantitative techniques, the heart of network analysis presumes that actors are interconnected, rather than independent observations.

In this workshop we will review the basic components of network analysis, and learn how to ‘do’ network analysis through a series of simple easy-to-understand examples. This will cover the specialized language that network analysis uses, how measurements work, and how data is structured for network analysis. This workshop will use the R statistical environment. No prior knowledge of R is required.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• understand some of the basics concepts and methods of network analysis
• be able to conduct your own simple network analysis
• access an array of material, including R scripts, to continue learning.