Please join us for the upcoming presentation of the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center Research Series.
Date / Time: Thursday, February 7, 2019 12:30-1:30
Where: University of Maryland School of Social Work, Conference Room 3E04. (525 West Redwood Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201)
Title: Using Social Network Methods to Inform MLDS Center Research: An Example with Student Mobility
Presenters
Dr. Tracy Sweet, Investigator, MLDS Center and Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College of Education
Tessa Johnson, Graduate Assistant, Synthetic Data Project and PhD student, University of Maryland, College of Education
Abstract: A social network consists of a group of individuals (or entities) and the relationships (or connections) among them. Examples of social networks outside of Facebook and Twitter include friendship ties among a group of students in a classroom, co-authorship, or other types of collaborative networks, and childcare sharing networks. Due to the structure of these data, social networks have unique methods for analysis. We will present an introduction to social network analysis, a brief introduction to social network models, and discuss how quantitative methods used for network analysis can be used in MLDS research. As an example, we use network methods to explore student mobility across schools within several counties in the state of Maryland.
RSVP: Sean Duvall via email: sean.duvall@maryland.gov (space is limited)
About the Presenters
Dr. Tracy Sweet is an Investigator with the MLDS Center and an Assistant Professor in the Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation Program at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on developing new statistical methodology for social networks. In particular, she aims to build new social network models to accommodate the types of multilevel network data common in education and the social sciences.
Tessa Johnson is a Project Coordinator with the Synthetic Data Project and is a doctoral student in the Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation program in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on modeling population heterogeneity and other complex structures in longitudinal and multilevel data. She received her master's in educational research from Georgia State University.