4.A.v Stochastic Actor-Oriented Model (SAOM/SIENA) Methods

💻 Data Packages

Manual for RSiena

💻 Link: https://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~snijders/siena/RSiena_Manual.pdf

Ruth M. Ripley, Tom A.B. Snijders, Zsófia Boda, András Vörös

The RSiena Manual is a comprehensive guide to the RSiena R package, which implements stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOMs) for analyzing the evolution of longitudinal social networks and the co-evolution of networks and individual behaviors. It provides both conceptual explanations and practical instruction on installing the software, preparing network data, specifying and estimating models, interpreting results, and applying advanced methods for dynamic social network analysis.

submitted by Graham Ambrose

🌐 Web Resources

Stochastic Actor Oriented Models (SAOMs)

🌐 Link: https://schochastics.github.io/R4SNA/inferential/saom.html

Termeh Shafie and David Schoch

“Unlike cross-sectional models that treat the network as a single outcome, SAOMs treat the network as a continuous-time stochastic process driven by individual actor decisions. In this framework, changes to the network occur one tie at a time, reflecting micro-level decisions made by actors based on preferences, opportunities, and constraints. SAOMs are particularly well-suited for panel data, i.e., multiple observations of the same network over time where both tie structures and actor attributes may co-evolve.”

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