Extraction Distractions: A Comparison of Social Network Model Construction Methods

This study investigates the suitability of automated extraction to generate datasets for social network analysis (SNA) by constructing social networks through Pre Conflict. org's Dyna Link tool and the traditional manual snowball approach. Comparisons between the two techniques are accomplished via analytic results derived from commonly applied SNA centrality measures. Results indicate that automated extraction can incorporate a substantial amount of extraneous actors and relationships into the social network model necessitating an analyst review of the acquired data.