Table 1 Social network terms[13–17]
From: Who are the key players in a new translational research network?
Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Actor | Member of a network. |
Broker | A go-between or bridge, linking two other actors that are not themselves linked. |
Central actor | The actor who is nominated most often or who interacts with the most others in their network. |
Indegree | The number of ties directed to a focal actor. E.g. if 5 people nominate Mary as a collaborative partner, Mary’s indegree is 5. |
Network | A group of people having some form of interaction between them. |
Node | Actors in a sociogram are depicted as nodes connected by ties. |
Outdegree | The number of ties that an individual actor directs to other actors. E.g. if Mary nominates 3 people as her collaborative partners, Mary’s out degree is 3. |
Sociogram | Graphical representation of the relationships between actors in a network. |
Tie | Relationship between two actors depicted as a line in a sociogram. Ties must be clearly defined, as different relationships will give different patterns of ties (e.g. “who are your friends?” and “who do you report to?”). |