Compare methods

	Network Autocorrelation Model	Stochastic Actor-Oriented Model
Field	Sociology	Sociology
Family	Regression model	Machine learning
Year of origin	1980 (spatial/network models); 2002 (weight matrix)	2001
Originator	Patrick Doreian; Roger Leenders (weight-matrix synthesis)	Tom A. B. Snijders
Type	Regression with an autoregressive term on a network weight matrix	Continuous-time model for longitudinal network and behavior dynamics
Seminal source	Leenders, R. Th. A. J. (2002). Modeling social influence through network autocorrelation: Constructing the weight matrix. Social Networks, 24(1), 21–47.	Snijders, T. A. B. (2001). The statistical evaluation of social network dynamics. Sociological Methodology, 31(1), 361–395.
Aliases	network effects model, social influence model, network disturbances model, autoregressive network model	SAOM, actor-based model, stochastic actor-based model, SIENA model
Related	4	4
Summary	The network autocorrelation model adapts spatial-econometric regression to social networks to estimate peer influence: it explains an actor's outcome — an attitude, behavior, or performance — as a function of their own covariates plus a weighted average of their network partners' outcomes. The autocorrelation parameter ρ captures the strength of social influence, and the network weight matrix W encodes who influences whom and how strongly.	The stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM), implemented in the SIENA software, is a framework for analyzing the dynamics of social networks observed at two or more time points. It treats observed network panels as snapshots of an unobserved continuous-time process in which actors, at stochastically timed moments, evaluate their local network and decide whether to create, maintain, or drop a tie so as to improve their position according to an objective function.