Network analysis glossary
Assortativity
Assortativity measures whether people tend to be tied to others like themselves. Degree assortativity, the usual form, asks whether well-connected people link to other well-connected people (positive) or to people with few ties (negative). It runs from -1 to 1.
Updated · Netgraf
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Degree assortativity | -0.476 |
| Reads as | Well connected people tie to quiet ones |
Newman degree assortativity, from -1 to 1. Computed live from the example map with the same code the Netgraf insights panel runs.
How it's calculated
r = correlation between the degrees at the two ends of every tie
Reading it
Mark Newman found in 2002 that social networks tend to be assortative, with popular people knowing each other, while technological and biological networks tend to be disassortative, with hubs linking to many small nodes. Small groups built around one or two leaders often come out strongly negative: in Zachary's karate club the two leaders are tied to many members who have few other ties.
In Netgraf
The Shape card in the Insights panel gives the coefficient and a sentence: "well connected people tie to each other", "well connected people tie to quiet ones", or "no pattern between the busy and the quiet".