Organisational Networks in Healthcare: Theory and Analysis

About this course

Additional course information

• Practical applications

  This course teaches skills in R and RStudio, concerning the packages xUcinet and iGraph for analysis and visualization of organizational networks in healthcare.

  Moreover, this course teaches how to use the results from social network analysis in R and put it to use to assess the functioning of an (inter)organizational social network.

  These analytic skills can be crucial for students considering a career in academia, for bachelor’s or master’s students wanting to apply social network analysis and visualization using R in their research or for professionals who want to understand the functioning of their own networks better.

• Hour division

  Monday

  • Plenary lecture (1.5hr)
  • Practical: R introduction & import network data & form work groups (1 hr)
  • Practical: work groups start group assignment, make a plan (1 hr)
  • Plenary: case description (1 hr)

  Tuesday

  • Plenary lecture  (1.5 hr)
  • Practical: group work (1.5 hr)
  • Group work support (1 hr)
  • Excursion (5 - 6 hrs)

  Wednesday

  • Plenary lecture  (1.5 hr)
  • Practical: network analysis in R/xUcinet (1 hr)
  • Group work support  (1 hr)

  Thursday

  • Plenary lecture (1.5 hr)
  • Practical: group work on assignments (1.5 hr)
  • Group work support  (1 hr)
  • Plenary lecture  (1.5 hr)

  Friday

  • Presentations by students per group (2.5 - 3 hrs)
  • Plenary: Feedback and suggestions for assignments (1 hr)

• Forms of tuition and assessment

  Forms of tuition

  This course will be taught through plenary lectures (10 hrs); workgroups (10 hrs) an excursion (6 hrs) group work and support meetings (4 hrs).

  Assessment

  The course will be assessed with a group assignment, where you will develop a research proposal based on organizational and network theory, and research design.

• Preliminary syllabus

  Here you will be able to download the preliminary syllabus for the summer 2024 course.

  ^{*Note that it is preliminary and that it still might be subject to change.}

• Learning objectives

  By the end of this course, students will be able to: 

  - Understand current theories (and their history) on strategy in networks;

  - Design a social science research approach to collect (e.g. observation, interviews or surveys), analyze and report data on healthcare networks;

  - Assess bottlenecks in the functioning of a network, related to its network structure, based on reflection with scientific theories;

  - Apply organizational theory on networks and collaboration in a healthcare context.

• About the course coordinator

  Galina van der Weert is assistant professor at VU Amsterdam in the fields of organizational networks, healthcare and social network analysis. She has a master’s degree in both Public Administration and Organizational Psychology from the Radboud University Nijmegen. She finished her dissertation ‘Imperfect Integration: Governing Collaboration Through Networks in Healthcare, in 2023. Her research interests include interorganizational networks in healthcare; modes of governance; network archetypes; and social networks. Currently she is involved in research projects concerning the organization of integrated care arrangements and in bachelor- and master level courses at VU Amsterdam's Talma institute.

  Tijs van den Broek is assistant professor at VU Amsterdam in the fields of social network theory & analysis, social media, corporate social responsibility, and social movements. He has a master's degree in both Industrial Engineering & Management and Psychology (cum laude) from the University of Twente, and defended his dissertation 'When Slacktivism Matters' cum laude at the same university. His research interests are social network analysis, online forms of organizing (e.g. slacktivism), online polarization, social evaluation of organizations (e.g. legitimacy and authenticity), corporate social responsibility & activism, and governance of data collaborations.