Review of the supervisor
for thesis of the fourth-year undergraduate student "The Dynamics of Social and Cultural Relations of the Social Movement "For New Socialism": The Mixed Method in the Network Analysis" by Daniel Igorevich Kovalev
The graduate qualification work "Dynamics of social and cultural relations of social movement "For New Socialism": mixed method in network analysis" by Daniel Igorevich Kovalev is a fundamental contribution of the student to the development of mixed method approach in network analysis. The presented for protection Master's thesis contains deep elaboration of theoretical models and their adaptation for the requests of theoretical framework formation for substantiation of the possibility of using the mixed method in network analysis. The student independently studied and worked out the theories of social and cultural networks co-evolution by H. White and J. Mohr. H. White and J. Mohr, the received conclusions are entered in a context of problems of the general methodology of the network analysis. The theoretical framework to justify the possibility of using a mixed method in network analysis is based on three theoretical perspectives, the first of which is mentioned above, the second is the sociological neo-institutionalism of P. DiMaggio, N. Fligstein and D. McAdam, the third is the field theory of P. Bourdieu. The critical analysis of the chosen concepts concerning possibility of their application in the network analysis is carried out. The theoretical part of the work is summarized by the conclusion that the program of mixed methods arose due to the theoretical constructions of such cultural network theorists as H. White, E. Mische, J. Fuhse, N. Crossley.
The presented work has not only well-developed theoretical and methodological grounds, but also a strong applied part. The mixed method in network analysis developed by the student was used to analyze the dynamics of social and cultural relations of social movement Platoshkin N.N. "For New Socialism" (SMNS). The quantitative methods of socio-semantic analysis, correspondence analysis and qualitative method of multimodal discourse analysis were used to study the selected movement. To conduct the applied part of the study, the student wrote a code for parsing VKontakte social network groups in R, which is presented in the appendix to the thesis. Each step in writing the application part is accompanied by the corresponding appendix, containing either a network map or codes for working with R, or calculations of network analysis metrics. The visualizations are performed at a high professional level using ORA software, independently studied by Kovalev D.I. The student built ego-networks of SMNS for the period 2018-2023 based on the data obtained by parsing the social network VKontakte. The total number of applications is 19. In the third paragraph of the second chapter the student works on the justification and prospects of using the mixed method in network analysis.
Thus, the graduate qualification work is a completed independent scientific research, performed at a high professional level both in the field of theory and in the field of practical application of the chosen approach, representing a serious contribution to the development of network analysis methodology. Based on the above, I ask that this work be allowed to be defended with a high positive assessment, and that D. Kovalev be recommended for admission to the Master's program at St. Petersburg State University.
PhD of Social Sciences, Associate Professor at the Political Governance Department of SPbSU O.A. Ignatyeva