Analyzing Sociocentric Data: The netwrite Function

# Analyzing Sociocentric Data: The `netwrite` Function

`ideanet` aims to simplify learning and performing network analysis in R, which is currently arduous and time-consuming because necessary tools span multiple packages. Each package has its own data formats and syntax, leading to difficulties in choosing the right function as well as potential conflicts between packages. Packages often assume data order and default settings, which may not be readily apparent to new users, leading to unrecognized data processing errors. `ideanet` resolves these challenges by integrating them into a cohesive set of functions that enable seamless, high-quality network measurements from initial data, making it more accessible for researchers.

This package, as part of the broader IDEANet project, is supported by the National Science Foundation as part of the Human Networks and Data Science - Infrastructure program (BCS-2024271 and BCS-2140024).

## Sociocentric Data Processing and Analysis

Global, or sociocentric, networks capture a full census of actors (typically referred to as nodes or vertices) and the relationships between them (typically referred to as ties or edges) in a given context of interest (such as a classroom, hospital, city, etc.). Users applying `ideanet` to sociocentric data can use the `netwrite` function to generate an extensive common set of measures and summaries of their networks, which may be stored in a variety of data structures.

Network data are generally represented as two linked datasets: the edgelist capturing relations and the nodelist capturing attributes of each node. In an edgelist each row represents an edge of a particular type connecting one node, i, to another node, j, both of whom are represented by a unique ID number. In a directed network, one column represents the sender of a tie while another represents the receiver. If the network is undirected, ties between nodes have no direction, and these columns merely represent the two nodes at the ends of a tie. Edgelists can also contain additional columns representing edge attributes, such as the relational type, strength or duration.

Edgelists are often accompanied by a nodelist containing attribute information about nodes. In a nodelist, each row represents a node in the network and each column is a node attribute. One of the columns is an ID that matches the unique ID number in the edgelist. If your network contains isolates – nodes with no relations – a nodelist is needed to retain information about them, as they cannot be represented in the edgelist.

To familiarize ourselves with `netwrite` and other functions for sociocentric data, we’ll work with a nodelist and an edgelist representing a simulated network of friendships in an American high school (“Faux Mesa High”) borrowed from the package. Friendship ties between nodes (students) are stored in the `fauxmesa_edges` data frame, while attributes of individual nodes are contained in `fauxmesa_nodes` (both of which are native to `ideanet`):

    library(ideanet)

    fauxmesa_edges <- fauxmesa_edges
    fauxmesa_nodes <- fauxmesa_nodes

Let’s look over these two data frames:

    dplyr::glimpse(fauxmesa_edges)
    #> Rows: 203
    #> Columns: 2
    #> $ from <dbl> 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 5, 8, 8, 8, 9,…
    #> $ to   <dbl> 25, 52, 58, 70, 87, 92, 96, 100, 110, 127, 151, 161, 174, 52, 100…

This edgelist represents 203 directed connections between students. Looking at our nodelist, we see that we have information about grade level, race/ethnicity, and sex for 205 students.

    dplyr::glimpse(fauxmesa_nodes)
    #> Rows: 205
    #> Columns: 4
    #> $ id    <dbl> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 1…
    #> $ grade <dbl> 7, 7, 11, 8, 10, 10, 8, 11, 9, 9, 9, 11, 9, 11, 8, 10, 10, 7, 10…
    #> $ race  <chr> "Hisp", "Hisp", "NatAm", "Hisp", "White", "Hisp", "NatAm", "NatA…
    #> $ sex   <chr> "F", "F", "M", "M", "F", "F", "M", "M", "M", "F", "M", "F", "M",…

The `netwrite` function will generate a comprehensive set of node and system-level measures for a network. `netwrite` asks users to specify several arguments pertaining to node-level input data, edge-level input data, and function outputs. To familiarize ourselves with this function, we list these arguments below, organized by category.

Edge-Level Arguments

- `data_type`: Specifies the data format of the input data. This argument accepts three different values – `"edgelist"`, `"adjacency_list"`, and `"adjacency_matrix"` – each of which correspond to popular formats for storing relational data (we’ll cover adjacency matrices later in this vignette).
- `i_elements`: A vector of “ego” ids. For directed networks, this argument specifies which nodes serve as the source of directed edges.
- `j_elements`: A vector of “alter” ids. For directed networks, this argument specifies which nodes serve as the target or destination of directed edges.
- `weights`: Vector of edge weights, typically used to signify the strength of edges between nodes. If not specified, `netwrite` will assume that all edges are unweighted and assign them an equal values of `1`. Note that `netwrite` requires that all edge weights be greater than zero.
- `weight_type`: If `weights` is specified, this argument determines how `netwrite` should interpret edge weight values. Possible arguments are: `"frequency"`, indicating the higher values represent stronger ties, and `"distance"`, indicating that higher values represent weaker ties.
- `missing_code`: A single numeric value indicating a missing tie – in cases where the edge information contains both missing and existing ties. Missing codes often appear in edgelists for which there is not a corresponding nodelist; here missing codes are used to include nodes that are network isolates.
- `directed`: Specify if the edges should be interpreted as directed or undirected. Expects a `TRUE` or `FALSE` logical.
- `type`: When working with multiple relation types, a numeric or character vector indicating the types of relationships represented in the edgelist.

Node-Level Arguments

- `nodelist`: If available, one can specify this argument as either a vector of unique node identifiers or a data frame containing a full nodelist (if not specified, `node_id` will be generated from the edgelist).
- `node_id`: If a data frame is given for the `nodelist` argument, this argument should be set to a single character value indicating the name of the column in the nodelist containing unique node identifiers.

Output Arguments

- `output`: `netwrite` produces a set of outputs pertaining to different aspects of network analysis. While `netwrite` produces all possible outputs by default, users may want only a subset to minimize clutter. The `output` argument takes a character vector specifying which outputs should be created. Possible arguments are: `"graph"`, `"largest_bi_component"`, `"largest_component"`, `"node_measure_plot"`, `"nodelist"`, `"edgelist"`, `"system_level_measures"`, and `"system_measure_plot"`.
- `net_name`: A character value indicating the name that exported `igraph` objects should be given.
- `message`: Silences messages and warnings. Expects `TRUE` or `FALSE` logical.
- `shiny`: A logical value indicating whether `netwrite` is being used in conjunction with . `shiny` should also be set to `TRUE` when using `ideanet` in an R Markdown file that users expect to knit into a document.

Now let’s use `netwrite` to get a better understanding of this school’s friendship network:

    nw_fauxmesa <- netwrite(data_type = "edgelist",
                            nodelist = fauxmesa_nodes,
                            node_id = "id",
                            i_elements = fauxmesa_edges$from,
                            j_elements = fauxmesa_edges$to,
                            directed = TRUE,
                            net_name = "faux_mesa",
                            shiny = TRUE)
    #> Warning in bonacich_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), message =
    #> message): (Bonacich power centrality) Isolates detected in network. Isolates
    #> will be removed from network when calculating power centrality measure, and
    #> will be assigned NA values in final output.
    #> Warning in bonacich_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), message = message): (Bonacich power centrality)  Network consists of 2+ unconnected components. Bonacich power centrality scores will be calculated for nodes based on their position within their respective weak components, provided components contain at least 5 nodes. Nodes in components consisting of fewer than five nodes will be assigned NA values in final output.
    #> Warning in bonacich_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), message = message): (Bonacich power centrality) Adjacency matrix for this component is singular. Network will be treated as undirected in order to calculate measures.
    #> Warning in bonacich_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), bpct = -0.75, :
    #> (Bonacich power centrality) Isolates detected in network. Isolates will be
    #> removed from network when calculating power centrality measure, and will be
    #> assigned NA values in final output.
    #> Warning in bonacich_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), bpct = -0.75, : (Bonacich power centrality)  Network consists of 2+ unconnected components. Bonacich power centrality scores will be calculated for nodes based on their position within their respective weak components, provided components contain at least 5 nodes. Nodes in components consisting of fewer than five nodes will be assigned NA values in final output.
    #> Warning in bonacich_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), bpct = -0.75, : (Bonacich power centrality) Adjacency matrix for this component is singular. Network will be treated as undirected in order to calculate measures.
    #> Warning in eigen_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), message = message): (Eigenvector centrality) Isolates detected in network. Isolates will be removed from network when calculating eigenvector centrality measure, and will be assigned NA values in final output.
    #> Warning in eigen_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), message = message): (Eigenvector centrality) Adjacency matrix for network is singular. Network will be treated as undirected in order to calculate measures
    #> Warning in eigen_igraph(g, directed = as.logical(directed), message = message): (Eigenvector centrality) Adjacency matrix for this component is singular. Network will be treated as undirected in order to calculate measures.
    #> Warning in eigen_centralization(g, directed = TRUE): Eigenvector centralization
    #> calculated only for largest weak component.
    #> Warning in eigenvector_centrality_impl(graph = graph, directed = directed, : At
    #> vendor/cigraph/src/centrality/eigenvector.c:337 : Graph is directed and
    #> acyclic; returning eigenvector centralities of 1 in sink vertices, and 0
    #> everywhere else.
    #> Warning in eigenvector_centrality_impl(graph = graph, directed = directed, : At
    #> vendor/cigraph/src/centrality/eigenvector.c:337 : Graph is directed and
    #> acyclic; returning eigenvector centralities of 1 in sink vertices, and 0
    #> everywhere else.
    #> Warning in eigenvector_centrality_impl(graph = graph, directed = directed, : At
    #> vendor/cigraph/src/centrality/eigenvector.c:337 : Graph is directed and
    #> acyclic; returning eigenvector centralities of 1 in sink vertices, and 0
    #> everywhere else.
    #> Warning in eigenvector_centrality_impl(graph = graph, directed = directed, : At
    #> vendor/cigraph/src/centrality/eigenvector.c:337 : Graph is directed and
    #> acyclic; returning eigenvector centralities of 1 in sink vertices, and 0
    #> everywhere else.
    #> Warning in k_cohesion(graph = g): Graph will be treated as undirected for
    #> calculation of k-core cohesion measure.

Many network measures only apply to networks with particular structures. For example, eigenvector based methods cannot apply to isolates and many measures assume a network with one large connected component. In cases (as here), where the network does not conform to those expectations, we have made choices that seem reasonable to us (such as assigning `NA` values or running the measure separately by connected component) and send a warning to the output. Users should take care to inspect these warnings to see if they apply to measures they intend to use in analysis and that they agree with our choices. Here we see that certain centrality measures have been adjusted to account for the presence of singular matrices, multiple components, and isolated nodes.

Upon completion, `netwrite` stores its outputs in a single list object. In the following section, we’ll examine each of the outputs within this list and what they contain.

## Interpreting `netwrite` Output

### System-Level Measures

`netwrite` outputs multiple measures aimed at characterizing the network’s global structure. One can view a select set of these measures in a summary visualization stored in the `system_measure_plot` object:

    nw_fauxmesa$system_measure_plot

A more comprehensive set of measures is available in traditional table form via the `system_level_measures` object:

    head(nw_fauxmesa$system_level_measures)

measure_labels | measure_descriptions | measures
--- | --- | ---
Type of Graph | Type of graph (either directed or undirected) | Directed
Weighted | Whether or not edges in the graph have weights | No
Number of Nodes | The number of nodes in the graph | 205
Number of Ties | The number of ties in the graph | 203
Number of Tie Types | The number of types of tie in the graph (if multi-relational) | NA
Number of isolates | The number of nodes in the network without any ties to other nodes | 57

### `igraph` Object(s)

`igraph` is one of the standard network analysis packages in R. `netwrite` creates an `igraph` object that contains all of the original data from the input nodelist and edgelist, plus edge-level and node-level metrics computed on the network by `netwrite`. This `igraph` object allows for traditional network manipulation, such as plotting. The `igraph` object will bear the name users specify in `netwrite`’s `net_name` argument (here `faux_mesa`); otherwise it will be stored as an object named `network`.

    nw_fauxmesa$faux_mesa
    #> IGRAPH 4d17128 DNW- 205 203 --
    #> + attr: name (v/c), attr (v/c), in_original_nodelist (v/l), grade
    #> | (v/n), race (v/c), sex (v/c), id (v/n), original_id (v/c),
    #> | weak_membership (v/n), in_largest_weak (v/l), strong_membership
    #> | (v/n), in_largest_strong (v/l), total_degree (v/n), weighted_degree
    #> | (v/n), norm_weighted_degree (v/n), in_degree (v/n), out_degree (v/n),
    #> | weighted_indegree (v/n), norm_weighted_indegree (v/n),
    #> | weighted_outdegree (v/n), norm_weighted_outdegree (v/n), closeness_in
    #> | (v/n), closeness_out (v/n), closeness_undirected (v/n), betweenness
    #> | (v/n), bonpow (v/n), bonpow_negative (v/n), eigen_centrality (v/n),
    #> | burt_constraint (v/n), burt_hierarchy (v/n), effective_size (v/n),
    #> | proportion_reachable_in (v/n), proportion_reachable_out (v/n),
    #> | proportion_reachable_all (v/n), in_largest_bicomponent (v/l), weight
    #> | (e/n)
    #> + edges from 4d17128 (vertex names):

Note that this `igraph` object has various measures embedded in it as node- and edge- attributes. Having these measures already contained in the `igraph` object ensures that node attributes are properly linked to the network object, which allows us to use them when customizing network visualizations. Here we plot our network with nodes colored by student grade level, which appeared in our original nodelist:

    plot(nw_fauxmesa$faux_mesa,
         vertex.label = NA,
         vertex.size = 4,
         edge.arrow.size = 0.2,
         vertex.color = igraph::V(nw_fauxmesa$faux_mesa)$grade)

In addition to the full network, researchers may be interested in the shape of major sub-components. `netwrite` outputs two additional graph objects: the largest component in the network, and the largest bi-component of the network.

    plot(nw_fauxmesa$largest_component, vertex.label = NA, vertex.size = 2, edge.arrow.size = 0.2,
         main = "Largest Component")

    plot(nw_fauxmesa$largest_bi_component, vertex.label = NA, vertex.size = 2, edge.arrow.size = 0.2,
         main = "Largest Bicomponent")

In some cases, networks may have 2+ largest components of equal size. When this occurs, `netwrite` will store each of the largest components as a list so that users may access them all.

### Edgelist

`netwrite` outputs an edgelist dataframe of the same length as the input edgelist. This edgelist object contains unique dyad-level ids, simplified ego and alter ids (`i_id` and `j_id`, respectively), and the original id values and weights as they initially appeared in `edges` (uniformly set to 1 if no weights are defined).

    head(nw_fauxmesa$edgelist)

Obs_ID | i_elements | i_id | j_elements | j_id | weight
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
1 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 24 | 1
2 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 51 | 1
3 | 1 | 0 | 58 | 57 | 1
4 | 1 | 0 | 70 | 69 | 1
5 | 1 | 0 | 87 | 86 | 1
6 | 1 | 0 | 92 | 91 | 1

You may notice that `i_id` and `j_id` are zero-indexed. This is done to maximize compatibility with the `igraph` package.

### Node-Level Measures

Finally, `netwrite` returns several popular node-level measures as a dataframe of values and plots their distributions. These are accessed via the `node_measures` and `node_measure_plot` objects, respectively. The metrics set are restricted to those applicable to the type of graph (weighted/unweighted, directed/undirected).

    head(nw_fauxmesa$node_measures)

id | original_id | in_original_nodelist | grade | race | sex | weak_membership | in_largest_weak | strong_membership | in_largest_strong | total_degree | weighted_degree | norm_weighted_degree | in_degree | out_degree | weighted_indegree | norm_weighted_indegree | weighted_outdegree | norm_weighted_outdegree | closeness_in | closeness_out | closeness_undirected | betweenness | bonpow | bonpow_negative | eigen_centrality | burt_constraint | burt_hierarchy | effective_size | proportion_reachable_in | proportion_reachable_out | proportion_reachable_all | in_largest_bicomponent
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
0 | 1 | TRUE | 7 | Hisp | F | 1 | TRUE | 171 | FALSE | 13 | 13 | 0.0320197 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.0640394 | 0 | 0.1090686 | 0.1871090 | 0 | 4.0304155 | 4.0056154 | 1.0000000 | 0.1404649 | 0.0409976 | 12.15385 | 0 | 0.1666667 | 0.5833333 | TRUE
1 | 2 | TRUE | 7 | Hisp | F | 1 | TRUE | 170 | FALSE | 4 | 4 | 0.0098522 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0197044 | 0 | 0.0326797 | 0.1319121 | 0 | 0.9964984 | 1.1631636 | 0.2033687 | 0.3203125 | 0.0175216 | 3.75000 | 0 | 0.0490196 | 0.5833333 | TRUE
2 | 3 | TRUE | 11 | NatAm | M | 12 | FALSE | 169 | FALSE | 0 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0.0000000 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 1.0000000 | NA | 0.00000 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0.0000000 | NA
3 | 4 | TRUE | 8 | Hisp | M | 13 | FALSE | 168 | FALSE | 0 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0.0000000 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 1.0000000 | NA | 0.00000 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0.0000000 | NA
4 | 5 | TRUE | 10 | White | F | 1 | TRUE | 166 | FALSE | 1 | 1 | 0.0024631 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0049261 | 0 | 0.0049020 | 0.0766593 | 0 | 0.1288139 | 0.2664125 | 0.0000096 | 1.0000000 | 1.0000000 | 1.00000 | 0 | 0.0049020 | 0.5833333 | NA
5 | 6 | TRUE | 10 | Hisp | F | 14 | FALSE | 165 | FALSE | 0 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0.0000000 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 1.0000000 | NA | 0.00000 | 0 | 0.0000000 | 0.0000000 | NA

On first glance, one sees that the `node_measures` dataframe contains simplified node identifiers matching those appearing in `edgelist`. One also sees that `node_measures` contains all original node-level attributes as they appeared in our original nodelist. Depending on how it was initially named, a nodelist’s original column of node identifiers may be renamed to `original_id`.

    nw_fauxmesa$node_measure_plot

`netwrite` makes it simple to compute complex structural metrics on existing relational data. The output of `netwrite` is designed to facilitate the discovery process by providing key visualizations that help support exploratory analysis.

## Adjacency Matrices

In addition to edgelists, `netwrite` supports processing and analysis of network data stored as an adjacency matrix. An adjacency matrix is a square matrix in which each row and each column corresponds to an individual node in the network. The value of a given cell in this matrix, [i, j], indicates the existence of a tie from node i to node j. Here we provide a quick example of how to use `netwrite` on an adjacency matrix. The matrix below represents a network of 9 nodes, the ties between which form all possible triads and motifs that can appear in a directed network.

    triad
    #>       V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9
    #>  [1,]  0  1  1  1  0  1  0  1  0
    #>  [2,]  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  0
    #>  [3,]  1  0  0  1  0  0  0  1  0
    #>  [4,]  1  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0
    #>  [5,]  1  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0
    #>  [6,]  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
    #>  [7,]  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
    #>  [8,]  1  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0
    #>  [9,]  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0

Now we pass this matrix into `netwrite`.

    nw_triad <- netwrite(data_type = "adjacency_matrix",
                         adjacency_matrix = triad,
                         directed = TRUE,
                         net_name = "triad_igraph",
                         shiny = TRUE)

To show that we’ve successfully processed this matrix, let’s plot the `igraph` object produced by `netwrite`:

    plot(nw_triad$triad_igraph,
         edge.arrow.size = 0.2,
         vertex.label = NA)

## Multirelational Networks

In some networks, edges may represent one of several different types of relationships between nodes. These multirelational (or multiplex) networks often demand more detailed processing and analysis— users may want to subset these networks by each edge type and calculate measures based on each subset. `netwrite` handles such processing and analysis in a streamlined manner while making minimal additional user demands. The function only requires that a multirelational network’s edgelist is stored in a long format in which each dyad-relationship type combination is given its own row.

To show how `netwrite` works with multirelational networks, we’ll work with an edgelist of relationships between prominent families in Renaissance-era Florence. Here edges between nodes can represent marriages or business transactions between families:

    head(florentine_edges)

source | target | weight | type
--- | --- | --- | ---
0 | 8 | 1 | marriage
1 | 5 | 1 | marriage
1 | 6 | 1 | marriage
1 | 8 | 1 | marriage
2 | 4 | 1 | marriage
2 | 8 | 1 | marriage
2 | 4 | 1 | business
2 | 5 | 1 | business
2 | 8 | 1 | business
2 | 10 | 1 | business

To treat this network as multirelational, we only need to specify which column in this edgelist indicates the type of each edge in the network. We do this using the `type` argument:

    nw_flor <- netwrite(nodelist = florentine_nodes,
                        node_id = "id",
                        i_elements = florentine_edges$source,
                        j_elements = florentine_edges$target,
                        type = florentine_edges$type,
                        directed = FALSE,
                        net_name = "florentine")
    #> Processing network for edge type marriage
    #> Processing network for edge type business
    #> Processing aggregate network of all edge types

When given a multi-relational network, `netwrite` will return the outputs described previously in slightly different ways. First, we can see that the `edgelist` object is now a list containing an edgelist subset by each type of tie. Additionally, this list contains a complete edgelist for the `summary_graph` containing all ties.

    head(nw_flor$edgelist$business)

Obs_ID | i_elements | i_id | j_elements | j_id | weight
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1
2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1
3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 1
4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 1
5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 1
6 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1

    head(nw_flor$edgelist$summary_graph)

| Obs_ID | i_elements | i_id | j_elements | j_id | weight | type
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 1 | marriage
2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | marriage
3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 1 | marriage
4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 1 | marriage
5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | marriage
7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | business

`node_measures` remains a single data frame, but now includes each node-level metric calculated for each individual relation type as well as the overall graph. We see here that `netwrite` has calculated 3 different values for `total_degree`. However, `node_measures_plot` is now a list containing summary visualizations for each relation type as well as the overall `summary_graph`.

id | total_degree | marriage_total_degree | business_total_degree
--- | --- | --- | ---
0 | 1 | 1 | 0
1 | 3 | 3 | 0
2 | 4 | 2 | 4
3 | 4 | 3 | 3
4 | 4 | 3 | 3
5 | 3 | 1 | 2

Similarly, `system_level_measures` remains a single data frame, while `system_measure_plot` has become a list containing multiple visualizations. Note that `system_level_measures` now contains additional column detailing measure values for each individual relation type.

    head(nw_flor$system_level_measures)

measure_labels | description | summary_graph | marriage | business
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Type of Graph | Type of graph (either directed or undirected) | Undirected | Undirected | Undirected
Weighted | Whether or not edges in the graph have weights | No | No | No
Number of Nodes | The number of nodes in the graph | 16 | 16 | 16
Number of Ties | The number of ties in the graph | 35 | 20 | 15
Number of Tie Types | The number of types of tie in the graph (if multi-relational) | 2 | NA | NA
Number of isolates | The number of nodes in the network without any ties to other nodes | 1 | 1 | 5

`netwrite` also produces both an `igraph` object of the overall network, as it does with networks with a single relation type, as well as a list of `igraph` objects for each subset of the network. Here we access the `igraph_list` object to compare business and marriage relationships between families side-by-side:

    # Create a consistent layout for both plots
    flor_layout <- igraph::layout.fruchterman.reingold(nw_flor$igraph_list$marriage)
    plot(nw_flor$igraph_list$marriage, vertex.label = NA, vertex.size = 4, edge.arrow.size = 0.2,
         vertex.color = "gray", main = "Marriage Network", layout = flor_layout)

    plot(nw_flor$igraph_list$business, vertex.label = NA, vertex.size = 4, edge.arrow.size = 0.2,
         vertex.color = "red", main = "Business Network", layout = flor_layout)

## Community Detection

When analyzing a network, users are often interested in whether nodes cluster together to form distinct subgroups or communities. Many methods exist for identifying discernible communities in a network, and one might want to know how different methods perform the same task. `ideanet`’s `comm_detect` function leverages several community detection algorithms found in the `igraph` package, as well as a couple of others, to find and compare inferred communities across these methods. Where relevant, each method is only run at default values here so, for instance, the `edge_betweenness` method will warn that mamberships “will be selected based on the highest modularity score” from the dendrogram generated by the method. Similarly `cluster_leiden` is run here at the default resolution parameter for modularity and at a resolution equal to the average weighted density of the network for the constant Potts model.

Using `comm_detect` is simple: you only needs to pass an `igraph` object produced by `netwrite` into the function. Let’s quickly apply several community detection methods to the Florentine families network we just processed.

    flor_communities <- comm_detect(nw_flor$florentine)
    #> Warning in comm_detect(nw_flor$florentine): Calling cluster_edge_betweenness with reciprocal weights, which may affect selected membership vector incorrectly.
    #> Warning in igraph::cluster_edge_betweenness(g_undir, weights =
    #> igraph::E(g_undir)$r_weight, : At
    #> vendor/cigraph/src/community/edge_betweenness.c:504 : Membership vector will be
    #> selected based on the highest modularity score.

The `comm_detect` function returns a list of three data frames, and will automatically generate a set of visualizations showing each node’s community membership as determined by each community detection method. Within the list produced, the `summaries` data frame details the number of communities detected by each method, as well as the modularity score associated with each method. This offers one way of comparing community detection methods— higher modularity scores (within a single network) typically indicate more effective partitioning of the network (though there are many scores that one can use).

    flor_communities$summaries

method | num_communities | modularity
--- | --- | ---
edge_betweenness | 3 | 0.3183673
fast_greedy | 5 | 0.3367347
infomap | 2 | 0.0000000
label_prop | 3 | 0.3281633
leading_eigen | 4 | 0.3314286
leiden_mod | 5 | 0.3367347
leiden_cpm | 5 | 0.3008163
spinglass | 5 | 0.3367347
walktrap | 3 | 0.3281633
cp | 6 | 0.2693878
sbm | 4 | -0.0702041

A second data frame in the list, `score_comparison`, allows for further comparison of community detection methods. `score_comparison` contains a matrix of adjusted Rand values indicating the level of similarity between two methods in how they assigned nodes to communities. This matrix tells us, for example, that the Fast-Greedy and Leading Eigenvector methods were identical in their community assignment:

    flor_communities$score_comparison

| edge_betweenness | fast_greedy | infomap | label_prop | leiden_mod | leiden_cpm | walktrap | leading_eigen | spinglass | sbm | cp
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
edge_betweenness | NA | 0.5520995 | 0.1794872 | 0.7600686 | 0.5520995 | 0.6901580 | 0.7600686 | 0.6366939 | 0.5520995 | 0.3474427 | 0.3986846
fast_greedy | 0.5520995 | NA | 0.0724638 | 0.4155251 | 1.0000000 | 0.6106870 | 0.4155251 | 0.6836158 | 1.0000000 | 0.1717172 | 0.2190889
infomap | 0.1794872 | 0.0724638 | NA | 0.1910112 | 0.0724638 | 0.0987654 | 0.1910112 | 0.1028037 | 0.0724638 | -0.0748299 | 0.0655271
label_prop | 0.7600686 | 0.4155251 | 0.1910112 | NA | 0.4155251 | 0.4444444 | 1.0000000 | 0.6782842 | 0.4155251 | 0.5636998 | 0.4857668
leiden_mod | 0.5520995 | 1.0000000 | 0.0724638 | 0.4155251 | NA | 0.6106870 | 0.4155251 | 0.6836158 | 1.0000000 | 0.1717172 | 0.2190889
leiden_cpm | 0.6901580 | 0.6106870 | 0.0987654 | 0.4444444 | 0.6106870 | NA | 0.4444444 | 0.7257384 | 0.6106870 | 0.0697674 | 0.5553822
walktrap | 0.7600686 | 0.4155251 | 0.1910112 | 1.0000000 | 0.4155251 | 0.4444444 | NA | 0.6782842 | 0.4155251 | 0.5636998 | 0.4857668
leading_eigen | 0.6366939 | 0.6836158 | 0.1028037 | 0.6782842 | 0.6836158 | 0.7257384 | 0.6782842 | NA | 0.6836158 | 0.2870906 | 0.6309112
spinglass | 0.5520995 | 1.0000000 | 0.0724638 | 0.4155251 | 1.0000000 | 0.6106870 | 0.4155251 | 0.6836158 | NA | 0.1717172 | 0.2190889
sbm | 0.3474427 | 0.1717172 | -0.0748299 | 0.5636998 | 0.1717172 | 0.0697674 | 0.5636998 | 0.2870906 | 0.1717172 | NA | 0.1206544
cp | 0.3986846 | 0.2190889 | 0.0655271 | 0.4857668 | 0.2190889 | 0.5553822 | 0.4857668 | 0.6309112 | 0.2190889 | 0.1206544 | NA

`memberships`, the final data frame in the list, shows each node’s community membership according to each of the methods used.

    flor_communities$memberships

id | component | edge_betweenness_membership | fast_greedy_membership | infomap_membership | label_prop_membership | leiden_mod_membership | leiden_cpm_membership | walktrap_membership | leading_eigen_membership | spinglass_membership | sbm_membership | cp_cluster
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5
1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4
2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4
3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1
4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1
5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4

`memberships` is designed to be easily merged with the `node_measures` data frame produced by `netwrite`, should users be inclined to combine the two.

    node_info <- nw_flor$node_measures %>%
      dplyr::left_join(flor_communities$memberships, by = "id")