Stability of Centrality Measures in Social Network Analyses to Identify Long-Lasting Leaders from an Indigenous Boarding School of Northern Mexico
Aim: To assess the stability of centrality measures used in social network analyses aimed at identifying long-lasting leaders from an indigenous boarding school. Methodology: Data was collected from children aged 6-14 years interviewed in 2005 and 2006. Children were asked to mention five peers to w...
| Autores: | , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2010 |
| País: | México |
| Recursos: | Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social |
| Repositorio: | Redalyc-IMSS |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:redalyc.org:31615577007 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=31615577007 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Estudios Culturales Leaders Tarahumara Reliability Schoolchildren Social Networks |
| Resumo: | Aim: To assess the stability of centrality measures used in social network analyses aimed at identifying long-lasting leaders from an indigenous boarding school. Methodology: Data was collected from children aged 6-14 years interviewed in 2005 and 2006. Children were asked to mention five peers to whom they communicated more. Analyses included computation of centrality scores and attribute-related density by sex and school grade with UCINET. Stability was assessed using kappa and correlation coefficients; leaders with scores in the fourth quartile were selected. Results: There were differences in density values by sex and grade in both years (p<0.01). Kappa coefficients were very low, but highest for closeness (0.15) and eigenvector (0.18); correlations ranged from 0.15 (betweeness) to 0.51 (closeness). The proportion of matching children with centrality scores in the fourth quartile between 2005 and 2006 was <12% in all centrality measures. Conclusion: Using centrality measures to identify stable leaders proved difficult in this indigenous school scenario; unless this approach is used on annual basis, the leaders selected in one year might not be the same in the next potentially limiting the impact of health promotion interventions based on this strategy. |
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