- The document discusses using social network analysis (SNA) to analyze informal professional development of part-time language teachers on Twitter. SNA measures relationships and flows of information between users represented as nodes and links. - A pilot study analyzed over 475 tweets using the hashtag #mfltwitterati to identify patterns of engagement among 241 users. Freely available tools like NodeXL and Gephi enable importing Twitter data and visualizing networks. - The workshop demonstrated how to get started with NodeXL by importing up to 1,000 tweets from a hashtag to map the relationships between users in a Twitter network. Attendees reflected on how SNA could be useful for their own research.

1. Social Network Analysis with
NodeXL:
A practice-oriented, hands-on
research seminar
Martina Emke, 2nd year EdD doctoral researcher
Martina.Emke@open.ac.uk
Twitter: @MartinaEmke
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 1

2. Research background
• Increase in number of Part-time language teachers (PTLTs) across
educational sectors (Beaton & Gilbert, 2013)
• Increase in professional development (PD) demands (Locke, 2014)
• Limited access to organised, formal professional development for
PTLTs (Stickler & Emke, 2015)
• Time
• Money
• Informal online PD as a possibility to deal with these problems
• RQ: How does PTLTs’ informal professional development on Twitter work?
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 2

3. Twitter: How does it work?
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 3

4. Social Network Analysis (SNA)
• Social network analysis measures and maps relationships and flows
between connected information/knowledge entities. The nodes (or
vertices) in the network are people or ‘actors’ while the links (or
edges) show relationships or flows between the nodes.
• Most important types of tweet analyses
• Time series  looks at peaks or low points in tweets over a period of time
• Network analysis  looks at the structure of a network; measures the links
between nodes in a network and the position of nodes / group of nodes
• Content analysis  looks at the most frequently used words / word pairs,
themes, hashtags, URLs
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 4

5. Application Programming Interface (API)
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/was3210/department-for-work-and-pensions-slides
5

6. Pilot Study: SNA of #mfltwitterati
(475 tweets, incl. retweets )
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 6

7. Pilot Study: Patterns of engagement in
#mfltwitterati (241 users)
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8. Use of hashtags in #mfltwitterati
Martina Emke, WiP seminar. The Open University27/09/2016

9. NodeXL Basic, TAGS Explorer, Gephi
• Freely available tools that enable researchers to experiment with SNA and
data visualization
• NodeXL template: http://nodexl.codeplex.com/releases/view/117659
• Gephi: https://gephi.org/
• TAGS Explorer: https://tags.hawksey.info/get-tags/ (Martin Hawksey)
• Example: #LTHEchat of 14 Sep
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 9
http://hawksey.info/tagsexplorer/?key=1dIopPo
50TdFxGIVawc2j5QTdtPn_nwY4igD5CoKFEKc&sh
eet=Archive

10. NodeXL Basic vs NodeXL Pro
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016Source:
http://nodexlgraphgallery.org/Pages/Registration.aspx
10

11. Links for self-training
• Social Media Research Foundation: http://www.smrfoundation.org/
• NodeXL Graph Gallery: https://www.nodexlgraphgallery.org/Pages/Default.aspx
• YouTube Videos:
• Social Network Analyis - The Basics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT99WF1VEws
• Walkthrough: Using NodeXL to Visualize Twitter Networks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC-PgkhpsNc
• Importing Data into NodeXL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDEZBIXOz_c&index=4&list=PLPejkEqWQ2pdvf_FhhLWv
2s8rkUGce4vp
• FutureLearn: Social Media Analytics: Using Data to Understand Public
Conversations (Queensland University of Technology)
(https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/social-media-analytics (Start 14 Nov)
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 11

12. Reflect and share (10 min)
• Do you think SNA could be useful for your research?
• In the context of your research: What research question(s) could SNA
help answer?
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Source: https://pixabay.com/de/kaffee-tasse-schaum-cafe-515124/, CC0

13. Getting started with NodeXL
• Decide whose Twitter account you want to use for the
data import
• Download the NodeXL template and open it
• Decide on a Twitter network you want to investigate;
examples could be #mfltwitterati, #langchat #edchat
#edchatie
• Import the Twitter data (1,000 tweets max for this
workshop)
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 13

14. NodeXL: Importing Twitter data
• Open template and click on ‘Import’
• Enter hashtag and connect with API
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15. The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 15

16. Reflect and discuss (plenary)
• After trying out SNA: Where do you see the benefits
of SNA for your research area?
• What do you find challenging?
• What / who could help you overcome these
challenges?
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17. Thank you for your attention!
…. And if you would like to know more, please contact me on
@MartinaEmke
Martina.Emke@open.ac.uk
The Open University: Research Seminar on 28 September 2016 17