SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS - A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR COUNSELING RESEARCH

Social network analysis (SNA) is a set of procedures that use indices of relatedness among individuals to produce representations of social structures and positions inherent in dyads or groups. This approach di ffers from traditional research strategies in that the focus is on dev eloping an understanding of the ongoing transactions and the implicati ons of transactional patterns between individuals, groups, or other so cial units. Although the primary emphasis in SNA is on the social cont ext, network analysts also include traditional individual-differences variables as potential explanatory factors. SNA methods provide the me ans to derive a more complete view of a given social environment. A gr oup-psychotherapy example is used to provide an overview of SNA, intro ducing the concepts, notation, and statistical methods used by the cur rent generation of network researchers. Methodological issues are disc ussed, applications are reviewed, and resources are recommended for th ose wishing to learn more about SNA.