Introduction to Network Analysis

This course introduces students to the skills and concepts at the core of a dynamic and rapidly developing interdisciplinary field. Network analytic tools focus on the relationships between nodes (e.g., individuals, groups, organizations, countries, etc.). We analyze these relationships to uncover or predict a variety of important factors (e.g., the potential or importance of various actors, organizational vulnerabilities, potential subgroups, the need for redundancy, social and economic ties, growth within a network, …). Although the security field has received the greatest amount of recent attention (covert or terrorist networks), these tools can offer valuable insight into a variety of disciplines. The combination of – often stunning – visual analytic techniques with more quantitative measures accounts for much of the increasing worldwide popularity of this field.

Course Objectives

At the end of the semester, students will be able to:

Explain and apply a number of the concepts that underpin network analysis

Apply concepts such as centrality, brokerage, equivalence and diffusion to network data

Critically evaluate structures and substructures within a network

Perform a variety of approaches to clustering and cohesion to networks

Analyze networks using a variety of software packages