7 deadly sins of social network analysis

(數(shù)據(jù)分析師必讀)7個社交網(wǎng)絡分析的致命坑

Social network analysis (SNA) is a method of analyzing and visualizing social structures, represented in a form of graphs. Although the method itself isn’t new, it has recently become popular,as new software is developed which makes SNA easy and cheap to carry out.However this method has some pitfalls, which may be problematic for analysts who aren’t familiar with it. Here I present a list of 7 mistakes, which keep reoccurring in the field of organizational psychology.

社交網(wǎng)絡分析(SNA)是一種對社交結構化數(shù)據(jù)進行分析和可視化并以圖表方式表示出來的技術侥涵。并且隨著一些新軟件的開發(fā)使得社交網(wǎng)絡的分析變得更為容易梳庆、成本更低。SNA盡管已經(jīng)不是新被提出懈凹，最近卻越來越流行了。不過話說回來悄谐，對于不是特別熟悉的數(shù)據(jù)分析師來說介评，社交化分析還是有些坑要填。這里我列出了一個列表爬舰，包含了7個在組織心理學領域經(jīng)常重犯的錯誤们陆。

1.Building a network using a single question

1、用一個簡單的問題建立一個網(wǎng)絡

If you ask your participants to name key sources of useful information, you might end up with everyone pointing immediately to the internal trainer. In order to grasp a complex psychological phenomenon like social relations or informal communication paths, you need to use more sophisticated tools.

如果你要求參與者對有用的信息進行關鍵來源標示情屹，你可能會發(fā)現(xiàn)到最后每個節(jié)點都指向內部的訓練人坪仇。為了能鳥覽一個復雜的心理學現(xiàn)象如社會關系、信息傳播路徑垃你，你可能需要使用一些更復雜的工具椅文。

I’ve already talked about this issue in one of my previous posts. If you want to measure psychological phenomena accurately, you need to get familiar with the field of psychometrics and learn methods used to test the accuracy and reliability of your measurement.

我已經(jīng)在我之前的帖子里面討論過這個問題，如果你想精確衡量這些心理學現(xiàn)象惜颇，熟悉相關這些心理學原理皆刺，學習用于衡量測量量準確性和可靠性的方法是很有必要的。

2.Asking the wrong question

2凌摄、提出錯誤的問題

A couple of years ago I was asked to conduct an SNA analysis in order to identify informal paths of knowledge transfer in a large organization. The client wanted to map the entire organization by asking employees about people, to which they turn for advice. This idea had one major flaw. You can of course ask this question in your sales team and see who is the source of useful knowledge concerning sales. You can also ask the same question in your marketing department and conduct a similar analysis there. However people working in these two departments will answer your question thinking about two different areas of knowledge. If you use this question to collect your data, the moment you draw a connection going outside the department, you can no longer make sense of your results. You can’t conclude that there is an informal path going from Mark from the sales department, through Susan in marketing, and ending on Laura in the accounting department. Based on such results, you can’t assume, that by supporting Mark you will help Laura in any way. As it often turns out in organizational research, the trick is to ask the right question, everything else are just technicalities.

我在前些年進行了一項SNA相關的分析：識別一個規(guī)模較大組織中羡蛾，知識傳播的隱式傳播路徑∠强鳎客戶希望對整個組織的雇員進行調研痴怨，他們遇到問題都通過什么方式獲得幫助煎殷。這個方案有一個主要的缺陷：你可以在你的銷售團隊對這個問題進行調研，然后看看銷售相關的知識是來源于誰腿箩；你也可以用同樣的策略應用到你的市場部門豪直，進行同樣的分析；然而同時在這兩個部門工作的同學而言珠移，他們會同時需要考慮這兩個領域的知識弓乙。如果你用這個方案來收集數(shù)據(jù)，當你開始描述部門外的情況的時候钧惧，結果并不再適用暇韧。無法斷定從來著銷售的Mark到市場部的Susan，最后到會計部的Laura有一條隱式的知識鏈浓瞪⌒覆＃基于上述邏輯，你并不能假設乾颁，支持Mark會對Laura有什么幫助涂乌。在組織研究的領域中，訣竅在于如何提出正確的問題道英岭，其他的方面都是術湾盒。

3.Ignoring missing nodes

3、忽略被遺失的節(jié)點

When you want to conduct a survey to collect opinions, having a response rate of 80%-90% is a very good result, which allows you to draw accurate conclusions. However, if you use a survey to collect data for SNA, losing a single person may severely lower the accuracy of your research, if this person happens to be a hub (a strongly connected node). Losing hubs is a big problem in SNA, so if you can’t map the entire network you should at least make sure that no key actor has been left out of the analysis.

當你想要統(tǒng)計一次調用的結果诅妹，用戶的回復率在80%-90%已經(jīng)很好了罚勾，這讓我們可以描畫一個準確的結論。然而吭狡，如果是用于SNA的調研數(shù)據(jù)尖殃，由于每一個節(jié)點都有可能是你個中心節(jié)點（一個強鏈接節(jié)點）丟失一些獨立的節(jié)點可能會嚴重降低一次研究的可信度。中心節(jié)點的丟失是一個大問題划煮，所以送丰，如果你無法保證能完整把整個網(wǎng)絡囊括，那至少保證沒有關鍵節(jié)點被排除在分析之外般此。

4.Showing social maps to everyone

4蚪战、向所有人展示社交脈絡

The market offers a number of online tools that make it possible for employees to construct and see the entire social net work of their organization. As an organizational standalone specialist whois an extreme introvert, with few social connections (or none) inside the company. Does it sound like a good idea to shine a spotlight at this guy in front of 500 other employees? On the other hand, making an SNA map publicly available is also dangerous for well-connected participants. Knowledge on who communicates with whom, where are the key paths of knowledge transfer, and where are the key players can easily be used to hurt your organization and your personnel.

市場上提供了一系列的在線工具使得員工可以統(tǒng)計和看到所在公司的社交網(wǎng)絡全貌成為一種可能。由于一個組織的專家們往往是相對比較內向的铐懊，在公司只有很少的社會關系(或者沒有)邀桑，你覺得把這樣子的員工公開在其他的500個員工面前聽起來像不像一個比較靠譜的做法？從另外一方面來說科乎，做一個公開的SNA藍圖對于那些頻繁被聯(lián)系的人來說也是不安全的壁畸。誰和誰交流了什么知識，知識傳播的關鍵路徑，知識傳播的關鍵人等這些信息很容易被用來傷害你的組織或者個人捏萍。

Programming an analytical tool is onething, but knowing how to use it responsibly is something completely different,and requires a different set of skills. Results of SNA (as any other researchresults) should be treated carefully, and reported along with a clearexplanation only to people, who can understand and use them appropriately.

知道程式化一個分析工具是一回事太抓，然而知道如何負責地使用又是一件完全不同的事。這些都包含了不同的技能集合令杈。SNA(或者相關的研究結果)都應該被謹慎的對待走敌，并且單獨給那些需要理解和使用這些數(shù)據(jù)的人清晰的解釋。

5.Delivering trivial conclusions

5逗噩、瑣碎的結論(譯者注：常識一般的結論)

If you want to identify informal paths of knowledge transfer, and after surveying and mapping 300 people you conclude that they tend to turn to their managers for advice, you should probably rethink the way you use your R&D budget. As silly as it may sound,“discovering”obvious facts with SNA happens quite often both in organizational and scientific research. For instance, you can find research that concludes, that people tend to group around charismatic individuals. SNA is a powerful tool, however it’s easy to focus too much on unusual measures and pretty graphics, and forget about the main goal, which is delivering useful recommendations.

如果你想要識別知識傳播的隱形路徑掉丽，并且在測量和映射300個人后，你得到結論：如果這些人傾向于向管理人員獲取建議异雁，那就需要重新考慮研發(fā)(譯者注：Research and Development)預算的分配捶障。這聽起來就很蠢，然而這樣顯而易見的“發(fā)現(xiàn)”在公司和科學研究機構對SNA的研究中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)纲刀。例如项炼，你發(fā)現(xiàn)人們會圍繞在有魅力的個人周圍。SNA是一個很有用的工具示绊，不過會很容易讓人聚焦于不尋常的思維方式锭部、漂亮的圖形展示上，而忘了使用工具的主要目標是提供有用的建議耻台。

6.Using SNA when a simpler method is available

6空免、簡單問題復雜化(一個簡單的方式可以實現(xiàn)的情況下還要使用SNA)

Asking people about their connections is quite invasive and tends to raise concerns among participants. While designing the research, it’s a good idea to consider if the same result can be achieved using different techniques. For example, you don’t need to draw a full social network to identify charismatic leaders. Similar results can be achieved using other techniques, like surveys or 360? assessments.Such techniques also tend to be more resistant to typical SNA-related problems,like the missing hub problem mentioned before.

通過詢問人們的關系是一個侵略性很強的方式，而且容易引起參與者的的警惕性盆耽。所以，再設計研究時扼菠，如果考慮使用不同的技術結合是一個更好的方案摄杂。例如，你并不是一定要繪制一個完整的社交網(wǎng)絡來識別很有魅力領袖循榆，使用其他技術(如知識傳播調研或者360度評估)也能獲得同樣的結果析恢。這些技術往往能更有效的抵抗SNA相關的典型問題，如之前我們提到的中心節(jié)點丟失的問題秧饮。

7.Using old results to solve new problems

7映挂、使用過時的結論解決新問題

As I mentioned before, removing one key node may change the network structure entirely. Therefore it’s crucial to keep in mind that SNA results (like all other research results for that matter) have a certain expiration date. Although establishing it precisely for SNA may be challenging, the data will eventually“go bad”, especially in organizations with high rotation.

入職前所述，刪除一個節(jié)點會導致整個網(wǎng)絡的結構盗尸。因此柑船，我們需要時刻記住有一個關鍵的節(jié)點(如其他的研究結果一樣)又會有一個保質期。由于數(shù)據(jù)最終會“變壞”泼各，尤其在高效運轉的組織中鞍时，建立一個SNA是件非常有挑戰(zhàn)的事。

To summarize, social network analysis is a powerful method, capable of delivering some really valuable insights. It has however some pitfalls, which are quite dangerous and at the same time unique to this method. Bearing them in mind during the early phases of the project can save a lot of time and nerves, and help to draw insightful conclusions from this interesting yet complex method.

總而言之，社交網(wǎng)絡分析對挖掘有價值的見解上逆巍，是一把利劍及塘，一種能力。然而他有些獨一無二的锐极，相當危險的陷阱笙僚。在項目的初期，帶著對這些問題的考慮灵再，可以節(jié)省大量的時間和精力肋层，并從這個有趣而復雜的方法中得出有見地的結論。

by Grzegorz Rajca

譯者：沐曌