rds & sna

Lately, thanks to the Christmas holidays, I’ve had a lot of time to dig further into Social Network Analysis (SNA) methods and theories. I read primarily about Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) which I will use to draw a sample of the target population for my analysis of the professional translator’s (semi-)professional network. This method is used to to draw statistically valid samples of previously unreachable groups.
It “combines snowball sampling (…) with a mathematical model that weights the sample to compensate for the fact that the sample was collected in a non-random way.” (See respondentdrivensampling.org/)
Interestingly, the ISNSA student award 2009 was given to a researcher who concentrated on RDS: Krista J. Gile was honored for her paper “Respondent-Driven Sampling: An Assessment of Current Methodology”.