Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences) (Paperback)

~ Wouter de Nooy (Author), Andrej Mrvar (Author), (Author) "Social network analysis focuses on ties among, for example, people, groups of people, organizations, and countries..." (more)
Key Phrases: structural prestige, traversal weights, proximity prestige, Petrus Gondola, John Bosco, San Juan Sur (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek, is an introduction to both network analysis in general and to the Pajek package in particular. It is an excellent book for the beginner: clearly written, well presented, comprehensive and engaging." -Nick Crossley, Sociology

Product Description

This is the first textbook on social network analysis integrating theory, applications, and professional software for performing network analysis (Pajek). Pajek software and datasets for all examples are freely available, so the reader can learn network analysis by doing it. In addition, each chapter offers case studies for practicing network analysis. The book will enable the reader to gain the knowledge, skills, and tools to apply social network analysis in all social sciences, ranging from anthropology and sociology to business administration and history.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 362 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; illustrated edition edition (January 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521602629
• ISBN-13: 978-0521602624
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #376,374 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plain-English guidance for excellent software, May 11, 2006

By	Sasha Goodman (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book comes so highly recommended because it lowers all the barriers for the student. The text is easily absorbed, the software is free, and the datasets are there. Many guides on Social Network Analysis (SNA) seem like they are written for someone who already knows how to do SNA. The original Pajek manual is one example (Pajek is pronounced pai-yak). This book is like the missing manual. It guides the novice carefully through the analysis process. The free software, Pajek, is one of the best Social Network programs currently. Although Pajek was initially just for visualizations of large networks, and it still only has a subset of the UCInet functions, the algorithms are fast and plentiful. The book and software should keep a student busy until they add more programmatic SNA tools to their toolkit (e.g. R-project sna).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pajek - A Must Read for Network Analysts, December 21, 2007

By	G. A. Durant-law "Graham Durant-Law" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

Pajek means spider in Slovenian. Pajek is also a software program for the analysis and visualisation of very large networks; networks with thousands if not millions of vertices. It is a program I use occasionally, however I prefer UCINET and NetMiner 3 , because I find these programs to be easier to use. It is precisely for this reason I bought and read "Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek" by Wouter de Nooy, Andrej Mrvar, and Vladimir Batagelj.

The book is an easy read and nicely complements the manual - in fact I think it could easily replace the manual.
I learnt that Pajek is actually quite a bite easier to use than I first thought. Having played around with Pajek after reading the book I found I could manipulate my datasets in new ways. That said I am not a convert to Pajek.

I did like the examples and the explanations that went with them. Even if I never use Pajek again the book is useful simply because the examples explain rather than describe many of the complexities and pitfalls of network analysis. Read in conjunction with other publications like Wassermann and Faust's "Social Network Analysis. Methods and Applications" the student of network analysis should gain a solid theoretical understanding of network analysis and be able to read network studies more critically. I also found the many exercises in the book most useful. They progressively built and reinforced understanding and competence in Pajek, as well as understanding of network ideas.

So all in all I would give the book a five-star rating - five stars for readability and five stars for the learning by doing approach. It has a place on the bookshelf of even serious student of network analysis.

Regards, Graham

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A really exellent textbook and manual, September 22, 2005

By	Magnus Johnson (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am dipping my toe into the world of networks analysis and this was the perfect way to learn about them and to learn how to use an excellent software package (which is free!) The book is well written and structured with examples to play with and excellent data sets to download from the web.