Using Mixed-Method Design and Network Analysis to Measure Development of Interagency Collaboration

Abstract

In recent years, there has been increasing attention to the importance of interagency collaboration for improving community well-being, environmental and public health, and educational outcomes. This article uses a mixed-methods approach including network analysis to examine the changes in interagency collaboration in one site funded by the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative (SS/HS). Results of the evaluation demonstrated that although intraproject collaboration peaked in the middle of the grant and began to decline during the last year, interagency collaborations continued to grow during the last year of the grant. These results illustrate how network data can easily be collected and used to assess the development of interagency relationships.

The Effect of the Position of Educational Organizations within the Social Network on Their Collaboration Levels

“…Social network researches are used in inter-organizational relationships as well besides being used in the evaluation of interpersonal relationships. The studies which have been conducted so far show that data which can be used to evaluate the development of inter-organizations collaboration can easily be collected over the networks [21]. According to Kadushin, Lindholm, Ryan, Brodsky & Saxe [48] network analysis can provide unique information on the structure of the connections between organizations and thus, can be used during the process of forming collaboration and coordination.…”

“…According to Kadushin, Lindholm, Ryan, Brodsky & Saxe [48] network analysis can provide unique information on the structure of the connections between organizations and thus, can be used during the process of forming collaboration and coordination. According to Cross et al [21], network analysis can reveal the structures of collaboration and can compare them with effective structures. This approach can be used as a method to fill the gap created by the existing methodologies, with the purpose of analyzing the structure of active relationships of collaboration and to reveal the degree of primary relationships of collaboration.…”

“…In particular in the age that we live in, a strong tendency towards inter-organizations relationships is observed ( [1], [21]). The reasons which impel organizations to collaborate can briefly be listed as lowering the cost of acquiring information, providing the opportunity to benefit from other resources and specialties and experiences, sharing risks and costs, increasing the chance of developing new products and services, protecting and strengthening the prestige and images of organizations, providing access to external markets, providing speed, flexibility and the chance of learning in a corporate level and decreasing the number of people leaving their organizations by increasing the morale of employees ( [4], [7], [27], [66], [74]).…”

Fostering Institutional Change in Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Social Network Analysis Approach

“…By contrast, a network where all the nodes have an equal degree centrality score is considered non-hierarchical; all teams play an equal role in transferring communication and knowledge across the network. 35 …”

“…A nonhierarchical network is associated with the following characteristics: a) decision making is shared among cohort members; b) activities are orchestrated as a group; and c) little conflict and informal communication. According to previous research, this network structure is best for facilitating common understanding, a clearinghouse for information, and a base of support 35 . Figure 1 Social network analysis also allows us to calculate overall metrics-such as Graph Density and Geodesic Distance-that describe the network as an entity.…”