A Qualitative Study of Secondary School Teachers’ Perception of Social Network Analysis Metrics in the Context of Alcohol Consumption among Adolescents
10 p.Adolescence is a transitional period during which a number of changes occur. Social
relationships established during this period influence adolescent behaviour and affect academic
performance or alcohol consumption habits, among other issues. Teachers are very important actors
in observing and guiding the evolution of their students, and should therefore have the appropriate
knowledge and tools to gain insight into the complex social relationships that exist in their classes.
The use of social network analysis (SNA) techniques may be helpful in order to study and monitor the
evolution of these social networks. This study tries to understand how teachers perceive SNA metrics
from an intuitive point of view. Using this information, useful tools could be created that allow
teachers to use SNA techniques to improve their understanding of student relationships. A number of
interviews with different teachers were held in secondary schools in Spain, allowing SNA concepts to
be related to the everyday terms used by the teachers to characterize their students. Results from the
study have an impact on questionnaire design for gathering data from students in order to perform
an SNA analysis and on the design of software applications that can help teachers to understand the
results of this analysis.S
