Social network analysis and school. A systematic mapping of the research field

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Abstract

Rational: The analysis of social networks is used from the beginning in educational institutions - especially school classes - and is increasingly becoming the focus of research and practice. Despite the increased interest and application of the method, there are only a few sources that provide an overview of it (e.g. Robins, 2015). Researchers must independently identify relevant previous studies and methods. This carries the risk that they will miss high-quality studies or inadvertently duplicate studies already carried out. This systematic mapping the field aims to close this gap by providing an overview of the field and its research questions, sample characteristics and methods of educational research using social network analysis. This review provides a systematic overview of studies that use social network analysis to conduct research on school classes. It bundles the pedagogical topics and thus clearly shows which topics are most studied or less studied. Methods: Using a selected Boolean search strategy, empirical, English-language studies whose research context is social classroom networks ("k-12 context") were searched for in the "Web of Science" database. Quantitative studies published in (peer-reviewed) journals between 2009 and 2019 were considered. The resulting studies were divided into three parts and screened by three independent persons for fit by title and abstract. All studies included thereafter are analysed using scientometric and bibliographic evaluation procedures. Results: First variables obtained by the systematic review are categorized according to Watling Neal (June, 2019) and presented as:Who? Who will be examined (e.g. whole class, children with special needs education, teacher networks)?What? Which topic areas arise (e.g. social capital, participation etc.)?discussion:The results will be discussed against the background of the relationship between research practice/relevance and school practice/relevance. Furthermore, the results will be put into relation with methodological and digital achievements. References: Watling Neal, J. (2019). A systematic review of network data collection in developmental psychology. Presented at The International Sunbelt Social Network Conference of The International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA), Montreal.Robins, G. (2015). Doing social network research. Network-based research design for social scientists. London: SAGE.

Speakers from the University of Münster

Marticke, Sophie

Professorship for methods of empirical educational research (Prof. van Ophuysen)