Integrating Social Network Analysis with Asset-Based Higher Education Research

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Critical, Inclusive, and Socially Just Perspectives on Higher Education

Abstract

In recent years, a growing number of QuantCrit researchers have examined the resources Students of Color mobilize to meet their college goals. While social connections have been shown to be a crucial student strength—particularly for those denied equal access to formal educational institutions—studies using asset-based approaches have largely ignored the value of specific, quantitative relational data. Using the Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework, this paper integrates asset-based theories in higher education with social network analysis, presenting a case study that maps Latine college student egocentric networks and tests associations between network characteristics and the CCW students possess. Results offer direction for future asset-based research as well as an approach for using social network data in QuantCrit more generally.

Authors

• Nidia Bañuelos, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Kyoungjin Jang-Tucci, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Ross J. Benbow, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Paris D. Wicker, University at Buffalo - SUNY