Date
2012-06
Dewey
Sociologie économique
Sujet
Modèles mathématiques; Réseaux sociaux
Conference name
Multilevel Social Networks Symposium
Conference date
06-2012
Conference city
Manchester
Conference country
Royaume-Uni
Author
Pattison, Philippa
Robins, Garry
Wang, Peng
Lazega, Emmanuel
Type
Communication / Conférence
Abstract (EN)
Exponential random graph models (ERGMs) treat the network structure as
endogenous and a topic of research interest (Frank and Strauss; Wasserman
and Pattison, 1996; Snijders et al., 2006; Robins et al., 2007). The overall
network structure is seen as a collective result of various local network
processes. The local network processes are represented by graph
configurations within which all presented ties are assumed to be conditionally
dependent reflecting hypotheses that empirical network ties do not form by
random, but that they self organize into various patterns reflecting underlying
social processes.
For multilevel networks where ties of different types or nature are defined on
nodes within and across levels, ERGMs are capable of capturing the
interdependencies among the micro-, macro- and meso-level networks, and
provide richer and more detailed descriptions of the multilevel network structure.
Depending on the context and the research question, the definition of the levels in a multilevel network can be determined by either the different nature of the
nodes or the classifications of nodes by their attributes.
We propose ERGMs for multilevel network structure, and illustrate the
properties of the models using simulations. The models are then applied to a
couple of empirical data sets to illustrate firstly, how multilevel ERGMs may be
used to test network heterogeneity in a gender and friendship network context;
secondly the importance of the multilevel effects in both goodness of fit and
model selection using the collaboration network among French cancer research
elites (Lazega, et al., 2006, 2008). We see the models and examples presented
as the first steps in a full elaboration of an ERGM approach to multilevel network
analysis.