Blockmodeling: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:16, 7 January 2023

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* combinations of all the links (ties), represented in a block as a single link between positions, while at the same time constructing one tie for each block. In a case, when there are no ties in a block, there will be no ties between the two positions that define the block.<ref>[[Patrick Doreian]], Positional Analysis and Blockmodeling. ''Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science''. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30440-3_412.</ref>

Computer programs can partition the objectsocial network according to pre-set conditions.<ref name="Exploratory">{{Cite book |last1=Nooy |first1=Wouter de |last2=Mrvar |first2=Andrej |last3=Batagelj |first3=Vladimir |title=Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek. Revised and Expanded Edition for Updated Software. Third Edition |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-108-47414-6}}</ref>{{rp|333}} When empirical blocks can be reasonably approximated in terms of ideal blocks, such blockmodels can be reduced to a '''blockimage''', which is a representation of the original network, capturing its underlying 'functional anatomy'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nordlund |first1=Carl |date=2019 |title=Direct blockmodeling of valued and binary networks: a dichotomization-free approach |url= |journal=Social Networks |volume= 61|issue= |pages= 128–143|doi=10.1016/j.socnet.2019.10.004|arxiv=1910.10484|s2cid=204838377 }}</ref> Thus, blockmodels can "permit the data to characterize their own structure", and at the same time not seek to manifest a preconceived structure imposed by the researcher.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arabie |first1=Phipps |last2=Boorman |first2=Scott A. |last3=Levitt |first3=Paul R. |date=1978 |title=Constructing Blockmodels: How and Why |url= |journal=Journal of Mathematical Psychology |volume=17 |issue= |pages=21–63 |doi=10.2307/270873|jstor=270873 }}</ref>

Blockmodels can be created indirectly or directly, based on the construction of the [[criterion function]]. Indirect construction refers to a function, based on "compatible (dis)similarity measure between paris of units", while the direct construction is "a function measuring the fit of real blocks induced by a given [[Cluster analysis|clustering]] to the corresponding ideal blocks with perfect relations within each cluster and between clusters according to the considered types of connections ([[Equivalence relation|equivalence]])".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Batagelj |first1=Vladimir |last2=Mrvar |first2=andrej |last3=Ferligoj |first3=Anuška |last4=Doreian |first4=Patrick |date=2004 |title=Generalized Blockmodeling with Pajek |url= https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:doc-IK51U9CM/895b643a-1b1d-468f-8970-096c9004202e/PDF|journal=Metodološki zvezki |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=455–467 |doi=}}</ref>