Purpose: Agricultural extension services in poor countries often identify opinion leaders based on criteria such as wealth and social status. We explore the effectiveness of this top-down approach by analysing the role of so-called model and nodal farmers in the diffusion of malt barley in a highland community in Ethiopia. Research approach: We…

Social network analysis depends on how social ties to others are elicited during interviews, a process easily affected by respondent and interviewer behaviors. We investigate how the number of self-reported important social contacts varied within a single data collection round. Our data come from Health and Aging in Africa: a Longitudinal Study of…

This article introduces a number of methods that can be useful for examining the emergence of large-scale structures in collaboration networks. The study contributes to sociological research by investigating how clusters of research collaborators evolve and sometimes percolate in a collaboration network. Typically, we find that in our networks,…

Purpose: We assess farm technology adoption in an integrated analysis of social networks and innovation in plantain production in Ghana. The paper explores the strength of social networks in the agricultural innovation systems (AISs) and the effect of AISs on adoption of improved farm technology. Methodology/Approach: The paper uses social network…

The Force Concept Inventory was designed to poll the Newtonian conception of force. While there are many in-depth studies analyzing response data that look at the structure of the correct answers, we believe that the incorrect answers also carry revealing information about the students' worldview. The inventory was originally designed so that the…

An ego network is an individual's social network relationships with core members. In this study, the ego network parameters in online discussion spaces of high- and low-performing students were compared. The extent to which students' ego networks changed over the course were also analyzed. Participation in 7 weeks of online discussions were…

This paper aims to provide a fresh perspective on the predominantly negative discourse on schooling quality in low-income countries by focusing on the research questions: "How can one identify great schools and what makes them special?" Using a network-based perspective, I measure peer evaluations of quality in two districts in Nepal.…

This paper examines the extent to which school team members' professional relationships are affected by being part of a certain generational cohort. These professional relationships provide opportunities for intergenerational knowledge flows and can therefore be relevant for intergenerational learning. Nowadays these topics have gained more…

This study concerns peer selection and influence dynamics in early adolescents' friendships regarding academic achievement. Using longitudinal social network analysis (RSiena), both selection and influence processes were investigated for students' average grades and their cluster-specific grades (i.e., language, exact, and social cluster). Data…

This study investigated the social status (i.e., popularity, likeability, and friendships) of adolescents with an early onset of externalizing behavior (i.e., alcohol use, tobacco use, and antisocial behavior). Building on Moffitt's dual-taxonomy model, it was hypothesized that early onset adolescents were more popular, but not necessarily more…

Social network analysis (SNA), a method which can be used to explore networks in various contexts, has received increasing attention. Drawing on the development of European smoke-free policy, this paper explores how a mixed-method approach to SNA can be utilised to investigate a complex policy network. Textual data from public documents,…

This paper describes the implementation of a framework for the construction and utilization of social networks in ELearning. These social networks aim to enhance collaboration between all E-Learning participants (i.e. both traineeto-trainee and trainee-to-tutor communication are targeted). E-Learning systems that include a so-called "social…

Online mentoring provides an effective means of extracurricular gifted education for talented girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Comparative studies on the effectiveness of one-on-one versus group mentoring are lacking, however. The authors investigated this question in the context of a Germany-wide online mentoring…

This study aimed to analyze the student's behaviour in relation to their degree of commitment, participation, and contribution in a MOOC based on a social learning approach. Interaction data was collected on the learning platform and in social networks, both of which were used in the third edition of a social MOOC course. This data was then…

The purpose of the article is to develop a system programme "Health saving education" on the basis of creating a structural model and model of management and ensuring health and preventive activities and experimentally prove the effectiveness of its implementation in the educational process of the university. The solution of research…