Recruitment of Healthcare Staff to Social Network Studies

Social network analysis (SNA) is a term that describes a set of methodologies to understand and depict social relations or ties. SNA is different from other research methods in several ways that have important ethical implications, as well as specific considerations for study design. Recruitment of participants and attrition during the study, where there are several data collection time points, pose significant challenges. Furthermore, there are implications of non-participation in studies, whereby gaps in network maps may result in an inaccurate representation of how a network is working and this, in turn, means the results may be of lesser value in terms of informing policy and practice. Given the widely noted challenge of recruiting healthcare staff to research, this paper adopts a case study approach to discussing considerations for researchers, as well as offering recommendations and insights from our own research and from the published literature about how to tackle these issues. This paper examines data sourcing, decision-making about defining the network for data collection, and ethical considerations and their implications for the recruitment of healthcare staff to social network studies. We use a case study example exploring leadership in a hospital group network to illustrate techniques and challenges in the recruitment of healthcare staff

Attrition · Data collection · Data science · Health care · Knowledge management · Political science · Public relations · Set (abstract data type · Social media · Social network (sociolinguistics · Social network analysis · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Computer Science · Healthcare Systems and Technology · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Psychology

• Harnessing localised multi-actor institutional water, energy and food nexus financing to achieve just transitions in South Africa

  Open Access•Thulani Ningi, Saul Ngarava et al.•Sustainable Futures•2025

  Incluir item

• Social network research in health care settings

  Open Access•Chiara Pomare, Janet C Long et al.•Social Networks•2022

  Incluir item

• Social Networks and Health

  T W Valente•Social networks and health•2010

  Incluir item

• Exponential Random Graph Models for Social Networks

  Open Access•Garry Robbins, Dean Lusher et al.•Exponential Random Graph Models…•2012

  Incluir item

• The challenge of complexity in health care

  Open Access•Paul E Plsek, Trisha Greenhalgh•BMJ•2001

  Incluir item

• Effects of missing data in social networks

  Open Access•Gueorgi Kossinets•Social Networks•2005

  Incluir item

• Tastes, ties, and time

  Open Access•K Lewis, J Kaufman et al.•Social Networks•2008

  Incluir item

• Missing data in networks

  Open Access•G Robins, P Pattison et al.•Social Networks•2004

  Incluir item

• On the robustness of centrality measures under conditions of imperfect data

  Open Access•P Borgatti, Stephen P Borgatti et al.•Social Networks•2006

  Incluir item

• The stability of centrality measures when networks are sampled

  Open Access•Elizabeth Costenbader, T W Valente•Social Networks•2003

  Incluir item

• How to do (or not to do) … a social network analysis in health systems research

  Open Access•Karl Blanchet, Philip James•Health Policy and Planning•2012

  Incluir item

• Social Network Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Explore Health Systems

  Open Access•Aoife De Brún, Eilish Mcauliffe•International Journal of…•2018

  Incluir item

• Effectiveness of Respondent-Driven Sampling for Recruiting Drug Users in New York City

  Open Access•Abu Abdul-Quader, Abu S Abdul‐Quader et al.•Journal of Urban Health•2006

  Incluir item

• Respondent-Driven Sampling II

  Douglas D Heckathorn•Social Problems•2002

  Incluir item

• Respondent-Driven Sampling

  Douglas D Heckathorn•Social Problems•1997

  Incluir item