A Relational Event Approach to Modeling Behavioral Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper introduces relational event modeling within the R/statnet platform, focusing on methods for analyzing dynamic interaction data involving multiple actors over time.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of relational event models with piecewise constant hazards and practical guidance on estimation and interpretation using the relevent package.

Findings

Effective modeling of dynamic relational data

Practical application examples with relevent package

Enhanced understanding of behavioral interaction patterns

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the analysis of relational event data (i.e., actions, interactions, or other events involving multiple actors that occur over time) within the R/statnet platform. We begin by reviewing the basics of relational event modeling, with an emphasis on models with piecewise constant hazards. We then discuss estimation for dyadic and more general relational event models using the relevent package, with an emphasis on hands-on applications of the methods and interpretation of results. Statnet is a collection of packages for the R statistical computing system that supports the representation, manipulation, visualization, modeling, simulation, and analysis of relational data. Statnet packages are contributed by a team of volunteer developers, and are made freely available under the GNU Public License. These packages are written for the R statistical computing environment, and can be used with any computing platform that supports R (including Windows, Linux, and Mac)."