Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones
Interpersonal relationships are vital for our daily functioning and wellbeing. Social networks may form the primary means by which environmental influences determine individual traits. Several studies have shown the influence of social networks on decision-making, behaviors and wellbeing. Smartphone...
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doaj-db8f055199204d579def9542ee7347302020-11-25T00:09:21ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402015-11-011310.1016/j.heliyon.2015.e00037Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphonesTjeerd W. Boonstra0Mark E. Larsen1Helen Christensen2Black Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaBlack Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaBlack Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaInterpersonal relationships are vital for our daily functioning and wellbeing. Social networks may form the primary means by which environmental influences determine individual traits. Several studies have shown the influence of social networks on decision-making, behaviors and wellbeing. Smartphones have great potential for measuring social networks in a real world setting. Here we tested the feasibility of using people's own smartphones as a data collection platform for face-to-face interactions. We developed an application for iOS and Android to collect Bluetooth data and acquired one week of data from 14 participants in our organization. The Bluetooth scanning statistics were used to quantify the time-resolved connection strength between participants and define the weights of a dynamic social network. We used network metrics to quantify changes in network topology over time and non-negative matrix factorization to identify cliques or subgroups that reoccurred during the week. The scanning rate varied considerably between smartphones running Android and iOS and egocentric networks metrics were correlated with the scanning rate. The time courses of two identified subgroups matched with two meetings that took place that week. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using participants' own smartphones to map social network, whilst identifying current limitations of using generic smartphones. The bias introduced by variations in scanning rate and missing data is an important limitation that needs to be addressed in future studies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844015300566Data miningSocial sciences methodologyData networksMental health |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Tjeerd W. Boonstra Mark E. Larsen Helen Christensen |
spellingShingle |
Tjeerd W. Boonstra Mark E. Larsen Helen Christensen Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones Heliyon Data mining Social sciences methodology Data networks Mental health |
author_facet |
Tjeerd W. Boonstra Mark E. Larsen Helen Christensen |
author_sort |
Tjeerd W. Boonstra |
title |
Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones |
title_short |
Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones |
title_full |
Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones |
title_fullStr |
Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones |
title_sort |
mapping dynamic social networks in real life using participants' own smartphones |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Heliyon |
issn |
2405-8440 |
publishDate |
2015-11-01 |
description |
Interpersonal relationships are vital for our daily functioning and wellbeing. Social networks may form the primary means by which environmental influences determine individual traits. Several studies have shown the influence of social networks on decision-making, behaviors and wellbeing. Smartphones have great potential for measuring social networks in a real world setting. Here we tested the feasibility of using people's own smartphones as a data collection platform for face-to-face interactions. We developed an application for iOS and Android to collect Bluetooth data and acquired one week of data from 14 participants in our organization. The Bluetooth scanning statistics were used to quantify the time-resolved connection strength between participants and define the weights of a dynamic social network. We used network metrics to quantify changes in network topology over time and non-negative matrix factorization to identify cliques or subgroups that reoccurred during the week. The scanning rate varied considerably between smartphones running Android and iOS and egocentric networks metrics were correlated with the scanning rate. The time courses of two identified subgroups matched with two meetings that took place that week. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using participants' own smartphones to map social network, whilst identifying current limitations of using generic smartphones. The bias introduced by variations in scanning rate and missing data is an important limitation that needs to be addressed in future studies. |
topic |
Data mining Social sciences methodology Data networks Mental health |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844015300566 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT tjeerdwboonstra mappingdynamicsocialnetworksinreallifeusingparticipantsownsmartphones AT markelarsen mappingdynamicsocialnetworksinreallifeusingparticipantsownsmartphones AT helenchristensen mappingdynamicsocialnetworksinreallifeusingparticipantsownsmartphones |
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