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***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.sfu.ca/~insna/ ***** On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 04:07, Emilie Marquois wrote: > Hello Socnetters, > > As I read more about the social networks analysis, a few questions arise > about the characteristics of a relation in a social network (type, > content, nature, etc.). > > I would really appreciate if you could help me to best understand what are > the characteristics of a relation in a social network, and which ones are > generally given in studies. > > Many thanks, > > Regards, > > Emilie Marquois > I'm sure others here can give you a more detailed answer, but for me the key attribute is whether the relation is binary or valued. A binary measure is 1/0 (on/off), so for example the act of being related to someone (father/mother/etc) is binary; you either are or are not related. When you start talking about valued relations however, you are simply introducing a continuum instead of a binary measure. You could do this with family relations which would get you near<--->distant relations mapped on a valued continuum. To some degree, how you choose to measure relations is something you not only need to decide up front, but also need to be very clear about WHY you make the decision you do. my 2 cents ;-) -Paul ----------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] http://www.panarchy.com ----------------------------------------------- The Universe is made up of stories, not atoms. ----------------------------------------------- _____________________________________________________________________ SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social network researchers (http://www.sfu.ca/~insna/). To unsubscribe, send an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.