Social Network Analysis of Student Activism at UW-Stout
Mentor 1
Dr. Nels Paulson
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
24-4-2015 2:30 PM
End Date
24-4-2015 3:45 PM
Description
University of Wisconsin-Stout is a polytechnic university with a focus on applied learning. This differs from the more common liberal arts learning structures seen at other institutions. Although, UW-Stout has an active student body that participants in campus student organizations. In this study, the social justice clubs were put into the foreground to assess the culture of student activism on UW-Stout’s campus. The perspective in which the culture was analyze was through a social networking lens. This enable the researcher to map the social ties between the social justice organizations and the effect those relationships have on the overall structure of student activism on campus. Data collection was done through online Qualtrics surveys. Data representation was done through quantitative statistical methods, such as correlation and descriptive statistics, and sociograms creation. The results of this study show that student leadership is an important piece to the overall structure of activism on UW-Stout campus. There was significant positive correlation seen between the leaders of the social justice organizations and their connectedness with other activist on campus. This shows how important leadership is to the functionality of student activism.
Social Network Analysis of Student Activism at UW-Stout
Union Wisconsin Room
University of Wisconsin-Stout is a polytechnic university with a focus on applied learning. This differs from the more common liberal arts learning structures seen at other institutions. Although, UW-Stout has an active student body that participants in campus student organizations. In this study, the social justice clubs were put into the foreground to assess the culture of student activism on UW-Stout’s campus. The perspective in which the culture was analyze was through a social networking lens. This enable the researcher to map the social ties between the social justice organizations and the effect those relationships have on the overall structure of student activism on campus. Data collection was done through online Qualtrics surveys. Data representation was done through quantitative statistical methods, such as correlation and descriptive statistics, and sociograms creation. The results of this study show that student leadership is an important piece to the overall structure of activism on UW-Stout campus. There was significant positive correlation seen between the leaders of the social justice organizations and their connectedness with other activist on campus. This shows how important leadership is to the functionality of student activism.
