Identifying Gender Specific Interaction Pattern: A Social Network Approach

Abstract

The objective of analysis is to identify gender specific interaction patterns in primary school children. The social network approach is taken for the purpose. Dyadic relationships formed as a result of face-to-face interaction between two children was analyzed quantitatively in the boundary of social network research. The strength of dyads was a key consideration to measure various temporal interaction behavior patterns such as dyadic churn rate, persistence rate, retention rate, new dyads. The analysis conducted was also a motivation to determine differentiating patterns w.r.t students’ mobility and social collaboration ability with students of same and other gender. The variations in degree centrality measures for each node was also suggestive of the preference for gender and grade specific ties. The outcome of analysis was also fundamental in the phenomenon of social contagion and information diffusion.