| ModMath {netdata} | R Documentation |
This network concerns the diffusion of a new mathematics
method in the 1950s. This innovation was instigated by top
mathematicians and sponsored by the National Science Foundation of
the USA as well as the U.S. Department of Education. The diffusion
process was successful since the new method was adopted in a
relatively short period by most schools. The example traces the
diffusion of the modern math method among school systems which
combine elementary and secondary programs in Allegheny County
(Pennsylvania, USA). All school superintendents who were at least
two years in office were interviewed. They are the gatekeepers to
educational innovation because they are in the position to make
the final decision. The researchers obtained data from 61 out of 68
superintendents, 51 of whom had adopted by 1963 (84%). Among other
things, the superintendents were asked to indicate their friendship
ties with other superintendents in the county with the following
question: Among the chief school administrators in Allegheny County,
who are your three best friends? The researcher analyzed the friendship
choices among the 38 interviewed superintendents who adopted the method
and were in position at least one year before the first adoption,
so they could have adopted earlier. Unfortunately, the researcher
did not include the friendship choices by superintendents who did not
receive any choices themselves; they are treated as isolates. In the
original network, some friendship choices are reciprocated and others
are not (ModMath\_directed.net) but we will use the symmetrized
network (ModMath.net). A line in this network indicates that
at least one superintendent chooses the other as his friend. The year
of adoption by a superintendent's school is coded in the partition
ModMath_adoption.clu: 1958 is class (time) one, 1959 is class
(time) two, etc. The first adopter (v1) is a superintendent with many
contacts outside Allegheny County but few friends within the county. He
is a 'cosmopolite' and cosmopolites usually are early adopters but
they are often too innovative to be influential in a local network.
data(ModMath)
Use data(package="netdata") to get a full list of networks.
If the source of the data set does not specified otherwise, this data set is protected by the Creative Commons License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/.
When publishing results obtained using this data set the original authors should be cited. In addition this package should be cited as:
Mark S. Handcock, David Hunter, Carter T. Butts, Steven M. Goodreau,
and Martina Morris. 2003
statnet: An R package for the Statistical Modeling of Social Networks
http://www.csde.washington.edu/statnet
and the source should be cited as:
{Vladimir Batagelj and Andrej Mrvar (2006):} Pajek datasets
http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/data/.
http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/data/esna/modMath.htm
See link above.
network, sna