Examining the Personal Social Support Systems of K–12 Students Through Participatory Ego-Net Analysis

• In Event: 31.082 - Escúchame! Listen to Me! Exploring Underserved Students' Voice Through Innovative and Participatory Research Designs

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to explore the personal social support systems of students with IEPs and their peers. In doing so, we have implemented ego-net analysis and collected data from 21 elementary and middle school students through a participatory visual mapping technique across three schools in Southern California. Ego-net analysis in education research presents an innovative set of tools to explore under-served students’ voice through examining the relational structure of their personal social support systems inside and outside of school.
Aspects of social capital theory underpin this work. Particularly, we examine the social support systems of students as a function of their social capital. According to Scott (2013), social networks are a particular form of social capital that individuals/students can employ to enhance their advantages or opportunities. A notion of social capital is that social relationships provide access to resources that can be exchanged, borrowed and leveraged to facilitate achieving goals (Moolenaar, et al., 2012). One important function of social relationships may be the provision of social capital in terms of social support. Social support is a multidimensional concept (Dumont, & Provost, 1999), but in the context of this study we focus on two main dimensions, namely socio-emotional support (e.g. friendships) and informational/academic support (e.g. advice and sharing of information).
The mode of inquiry used was ego-net analysis. An ego-net is the network which is formed around an actor, in our case a student. As it is a network, it involves other actors or ‘alters’ with whom the student or ‘ego’ forms relational ties. A relational tie may reflect a ‘connection’ between individuals through which ‘resources’ may flow (Lin, 2002), such as social support which may include friendship or family ties, informational ties and other.
In collecting the ego-net data from 21 students, we employed a participatory visual mapping technique. This is an engaging method for youth, as it provides opportunities to draw their network and then talk about it in the form of a follow-up interview (Crossley, et al., 2015). Student participants were asked to create their ego-network by writing and/or drawing their alters within three concentric circles. This is advantageous as they can provide insights into the quality of ties, by asking students to place contacts within the three different rings, with those closest to them at the center.
We have calculated three ego-net measures; tie central tendency, tie dispersion, and alter central tendency (Halgin, & Borgatti, 2012; Crossley et al. 2015). Additionally, we employed grounded theory to analyze the interviews with students. Our initial results show that students with IEPs are more likely to have a smaller network size (degree) which may inhibit access to social support, such as socio-emotional and academic support.
To our knowledge this type of research design is rarely used in examining students’ social support, particularly those with IEPs. This approach goes beyond the traditional classroom/school level analysis and includes the social relationships students have beyond school, which provides a more complete and holistic view of a child’s social world.

Authors

• Christoforos Mamas, University of California - San Diego

• Giovanna Hartmann Schaelli, University of Zurich

• Lambri Trisokka, Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture

• Alan J. Daly, University of California - San Diego