CIRSS Seminar: Ly Dinh

Abstract: This thesis presents substantive insights into the application of several network analysis theories and applications to the (1) social, (2) organizational, and (3) crisis response settings. For the context of social interactions, I expand structural balance evaluation to signed and directed networks, and apply this approach to examine 12 social networks. For the context of organizational communication, I demonstrate the application of multilevel modeling for egocentric networks to examine factors associated with the formation of interdisciplinary ties in a scientific organization. In addition, I leverage an extended version of structural balance evaluation for signed and directed networks to examine the sources of tension present in three organizational networks. Third, I provide a case study of response dynamics during the 2010 Haiti earthquake by examining collaboration networks prescribed by national guidelines for response, and interaction networks of the actual collaborations that took place during the earthquake response. Altogether, this work contributes to the growing literature on the theories and applications of network analysis to real-world social networks. In particular, the study designs and findings developed in this thesis can provide a framework for network-based studies from many domains of interest, that includes components of network theories and methods that can help explain the social mechanisms involved in tie formation.

Ly Dinh is a fifth year PhD student advised by Professor Jana Diesner. Ly’s research topics focus on how research methods such as network analysis, social simulation models, and text mining can be used to advance our understanding of various social and organizational systems. Her current projects place network science at the core to understand and explain a number of social and organizational phenomena ranging from egocentric networks to interagency emergency response networks.

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Questions? Contact Janet Eke