In real life, the problem is not only in schools, but also outside of it. Can be felt in working environment also, and is can be seen in undergraduate and postgraduate education. Not because you are an adult, means that you are free of bullying in your life, it can happen anywhere. Thanks to different laws, the working place can be in a way protected from bullying. A real obstacle enters in education places, specially with young people, with children, where they are still in formation and education.
The problem is to identify it and work against it. Thanks to organizations like stopbullying.gov, this can be attacked and prevented in some way. A good example is the National 4-H Conference in April of 2014, where 34 4-H youth from across the country arrived at the US Department of Education (ED) to participate in it.
The first point would be to identify the correct information needed to start creating the Network of people. It can start very superficial, with simple questions needed to see each student with Whom relates to. This is very important, because here it can be analyze how has power in the network and can be potential Bullies.
They have really good ideas and alternatives to attack bullying in schools that can be implemented, including mandatory trainings to teachers and school administrators.
Of course this is important to educate the adults that can control the situation in the moment, but what else can be done if we had unlimited resources, time, and access to information? How could we use Social Network Analysis to address Bullying?
The reciprocity of the network can identify the followers and followed ones, identify who is an outsider and a potential person to be bullied.
Also questions according to communication frequency can help with the strong or weak interaction within each person/node in the network. This can help to spot the centrality of a particular node (Bully / Bullied) that can be important to protect or educate to diminish this important issue that affects not only here in the United States but also around the world.
The SNA cannot help eliminating bullies in the educational institutions, but can help to create a diagnostic of the problem in it and address it in the correct way to diminish it in our society. Only education about power can eliminate it, but SNA can help diagnose it to prevent it or make a solution.
Nicolas Losada
2 comments:
Interesting idea. Difficulty is in getting the info. As you say, start with "superficial" questions, as it's indeed tough to ask questions of children that imply that they've been bullied, etc. Also, you don't develop your choice of net measures and their meaning, for instance, reciprocity can identify reciprocal relations, but how does it identify potential persons to be bullied? And "centrality of a particular node" is vague--what kind of centrality? As I said, an interesting topic well worth developing.
Interesting application of SNA. I think you are getting at the idea that bullying does not happen in a vacuum-- it's played out within a larger group. When I read this, I thought of the movement toward bystander intervention (read more here: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf/2014/07/steve_duin_blog_bystander_inte.html)
I think what you may be getting at is that "isolates" may have a higher chance of being bullied?
It might also be useful in getting a better profile of the bully -- are they isolates themselves? Or do they have some "followers"?
I am having trouble understanding how this links to prevention-- but I definitely think that understanding where bullies fit within social networks might help provide insights for the best way to prevent some degree of bullying.
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