Creating baseline WNA questions
I often jot down questions that I have before doing any kind of analysis. This sets the context of what I am looking for and sets up a framework for me to pursue those answers.
In doing any kind of WNA, I am interested in finding answers to each of these questions:
- How big is the network?
- How complex is the network?
- What does the network visually look like?
- What are the most important nodes in the network?
- Are there islands, or just one big continent?
- What communities can be found in the network?
- What bridges exist in the network?
- What do the layers of the network reveal?
These questions give me a start that I can use as a task list for running through network analysis. This allows me to have a disciplined approach when doing network analysis, and not just chase my own curiosity. Networks are noisy and chaotic, and this scaffolding gives me something to use to stay focused.
Revised SNA questions
In...