Σύγκριση μεθόδων

	Structural Balance Theory	Blockmodeling	Homophily Analysis
Πεδίο	Sociology	Sociology	Sociology
Οικογένεια	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Έτος προέλευσης	1946 (Heider); 1956 (Cartwright & Harary)	1976	1954 (concept); 2001 (synthesis)
Δημιουργός	Fritz Heider; formalized by Dorwin Cartwright & Frank Harary	Harrison White, Scott Boorman & Ronald Breiger	Lazarsfeld & Merton (concept); McPherson, Smith-Lovin & Cook (synthesis)
Τύπος	Theory and graph-theoretic test for tension in signed relationships	Network partitioning into positions and a reduced role structure	Measurement of similarity-based tie formation
Θεμελιώδης πηγή	Cartwright, D., & Harary, F. (1956). Structural balance: a generalization of Heider's theory. Psychological Review, 63(5), 277–293.	White, H. C., Boorman, S. A., & Breiger, R. L. (1976). Social structure from multiple networks. I. Blockmodels of roles and positions. American Journal of Sociology, 81(4), 730–780.	McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444.
Εναλλακτικές ονομασίες	balance theory, Heider balance, signed network balance, structural balance analysis	block modeling, blockmodel analysis, generalized blockmodeling, CONCOR	homophily measurement, assortative mixing analysis, birds-of-a-feather analysis, tie-similarity analysis
Συναφείς	5	4	4
Σύνοψη	Structural balance theory analyzes networks whose ties carry a sign — positive for liking, alliance, or trust, negative for hostility or distrust — and asks which configurations are psychologically and socially stable. Originating in Fritz Heider's cognitive balance principle and given a graph-theoretic form by Dorwin Cartwright and Frank Harary in 1956, it predicts that signed networks evolve toward states free of the tension produced by inconsistent triads such as 'the friend of my enemy'.	Blockmodeling is a family of methods that simplify a social network by partitioning its actors into positions — groups of actors who are equivalent in their pattern of ties — and summarizing the relations between positions as a compact image, or reduced role structure. Introduced by Harrison White, Scott Boorman, and Ronald Breiger in 1976, it shifts attention from individuals to the structural roles they occupy.	Homophily analysis quantifies the tendency of similar individuals to form ties — the principle that 'birds of a feather flock together'. It compares the rate at which people connect with others who share an attribute (race, gender, age, education, attitudes) against what would be expected by chance, distinguishing the homophily that arises merely from group sizes from the genuine, behavior-driven preference for similar others.