Jump to ContentJump to Main Navigation

Online

99,00 € / $149.00*

* Prices subject to change. Shipping costs will be added if applicable.
Publication Date:
February 2012
ISSN:
2151-7509
DOI:
10.1515/2151-7509.1050

See all formats and pricing

Online
Individual Subscription Online only
Euro [D] 99.00
RRP for USA, Canada, Mexico
US$ 149.00 *
Print
Individual Subscription Online only
Euro [D] 292.00
RRP for USA, Canada, Mexico
US$ 394.00 *
Print + Online
Individual Subscription Online only
Euro [D] 351.00
RRP for USA, Canada, Mexico
US$ 473.00 *
*Prices subject to change. Shipping costs will be added if applicable.

Ed. by Banks, David / McCaffrey, Daniel / Morton, Sally / Rolph, John

2 Issues per year

Why and When "Flawed" Social Network Analyses Still Yield Valid Tests of no Contagion

Tyler J. VanderWeele / Elizabeth L. Ogburn / Eric J. Tchetgen Tchetgen

1Harvard University

1Harvard University

1Harvard University

Citation Information: Statistics, Politics, and Policy. Volume 3, Issue 1, Pages –, ISSN (Online) 2151-7509, DOI: 10.1515/2151-7509.1050, February 2012

Publication History:
Published Online:
2012-02-04

Lyons (2011) offered several critiques of the social network analyses of Christakis and Fowler, including issues of confounding, model inconsistency, and statistical dependence in networks. Here we show that in some settings, social network analyses of the type employed by Christakis and Fowler will still yield valid tests of the null of no social contagion, even though estimates and confidence intervals may not be valid. In particular, we show that if the alter's state is lagged by an additional period, then under the null of no contagion, the problems of model inconsistency and statistical dependence effectively disappear which allow for testing for contagion. Our results clarify the setting in which even "flawed" social network analyses are still useful for assessing social contagion and social influence.

Keywords: confounding; contagion; dependence; social influence; social networks

Comments (0)

Please log in or register to comment.