Final Q1: Facebook Networks

Vanderbilt was ranked in the top 20 of the Princeton Review’s list of universities where “different types of students don’t interact frequently and easily”. They surveyed nearly 350 students to find out how connected/integrated the Vanderbilt student body is.  While surveys are great, some sociologists are beginning to turn to a different resource to learn about racial (and other kinds of) networks on college campuses . . . Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook.  As the second largest social network on the web, it is very useful as a tool to look at patterns of social affiliation between college students. For this test question, I want you to compare two “groups” of Facebook profiles to see which of them is most integrated and then create an argument for why that group is more integrated than the other.

1. Pick one of these three Facebook editions and then pick two groups within that edition.  Obviously, you can only pick Democrat or Republican in the Politics edition.

The Ethnic Organization Edition

AASA (Asian American Student Association)

VAHS(Vanderbilt Association of Hispanic Students)

Vanderbilt Hillel

Organization Of Black Graduate & Professional Students

The Politics Edition

College Democrats  

College Republicans  

The Vandy Residence Hall Edition

Hank Ingram House (Commons) 

Mayfield Learning Lodge 

Branscomb Hall

McGill Hall

2. Click on the link to go to each group’s Facebook page.  If the link doesn't work, use the "SEARCH" function in Facebook and then find the "group" in the "Vanderbilt" network.

3. For each group, scroll down to the “Members” section of the webpage.  Those EIGHT students will be your sample.   IMPORTANT: Make a note of the URL (vanderbilt.facebook.com/profile.php?id=##) of your eight students as reloading the page changes who those students are.  If people don't have pictures, click "See all" and pick the next student who does.

4. Go to the profile of each of the eight students and then “See All” of their VANDERBILT FRIENDS.  Create a chart for each of your eight cases that lists their name, their ethnicity (your best guess), their profile id, and then tabulate the number of White/Anglo, African-American/Black, Latino/Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander (including East Asian Indian), and Native American “friends” each of your eight cases has.  Include a sixth Unknown category for those “friends” whose race you’re unsure of.  In parentheses next to the number in each box, put the percentage of each student’s total number of friends that fit that racial group.  For example, if Bob has a total of 150 friends and 15 of them are Native American, the Native American box in your chart should read: 15 (10%).

5. Add up the totals for all eight of your cases and report what percentage of each of your groups' friends are in each of the six ethnic groups.  Also give the racial breakdown of the group of eight itself in percentages (e.g., a club/group/dorm where 5 of the 8 students are white is 63% white).

6. Compare the two groups’ degrees of integration across each race category.  Is one group more likely to be “friends” with Asian students than the other? with White students?

7. Using everything at your disposal (particularly the concepts, issues, and theories raised in this course’s readings, discussions, and lectures), answer these two questions as comprehensively as possible:

• - Is the Princeton Review right?  If you were to combine the two groups and assume they were a representative sample of Vanderbilt’s campus, would an outsider argue that our campus isn’t integrated?  If they were to look at only one of these groups by themselves, would they argue that our campus isn’t integrated?  Is the campus more integrated for some student “groups” than others?  Are there some race categories that are less likely to be “friends” with other race categories than others (either as evidenced by who their friends are or who counts them as a friend)?

• - Given your knowledge of racial dynamics (with the ethnic orgs edition), political dynamics (with the political edition), or residential norms/stereotypes on our campus (with the dorms edition), what 3 explanations might you be able to offer for why one of your groups is more integrated (even if slightly) than the other?