Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26172345›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of animal ecology2015

Constructing, conducting and interpreting animal social network analysis.

Damien R Farine, Hal Whitehead

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of animal ecology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 277 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
277citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

277 citing papers in PubMed.

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217 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Damien R FarineDepartment of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK.
Hal WhiteheadDepartment of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 4J1.

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/L006081/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

1. Animal social networks are descriptions of social structure which, aside from their intrinsic interest for understanding sociality, can have significant bearing across many fields of biology. 2. Network analysis provides a flexible toolbox for testing a broad range of hypotheses, and for describing the social system of species or populations in a quantitative and comparable manner. However, it requires careful consideration of underlying assumptions, in particular differentiating real from observed networks and controlling for inherent biases that are common in social data. 3. We provide a practical guide for using this framework to analyse animal social systems and test hypotheses. First, we discuss key considerations when defining nodes and edges, and when designing methods for collecting data. We discuss different approaches for inferring social networks from these data and displaying them. We then provide an overview of methods for quantifying properties of nodes and networks, as well as for testing hypotheses concerning network structure and network processes. Finally, we provide information about assessing the power and accuracy of an observed network. 4. Alongside this manuscript, we provide appendices containing background information on common programming routines and worked examples of how to perform network analysis using the r programming language. 5. We conclude by discussing some of the major current challenges in social network analysis and interesting future directions. In particular, we highlight the under-exploited potential of experimental manipulations on social networks to address research questions.

Indexed as

Social BehaviorAnimalsEcologyEthologyModels, BiologicalSoftwarefission-fusion dynamicsgroup livingmethodssocial behavioursocial dynamicssocial network analysissocial organisation

Identifiers

PMID26172345
PMCPMC4973823

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.