Quadratic Assignment Procedure
The quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) is a permutation-based method for testing the association between two relational matrices measured on the same set of actors — for example, whether who advises whom is correlated with who is friends with whom. Because the dyads in a network are not independent, ordinary correlation and regression give invalid p-values; QAP fixes this by comparing the observed matrix correlation to a reference distribution generated by randomly relabeling the nodes of one matrix many times.
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Sources
- Krackhardt, D. (1988). Predicting with networks: Nonparametric multiple regression analysis of dyadic data. Social Networks, 10(4), 359–381. DOI: 10.1016/0378-8733(88)90004-4 ↗
- Hubert, L., & Schultz, J. (1976). Quadratic assignment as a general data analysis strategy. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 29(2), 190–241. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8317.1976.tb00714.x ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) for Network Correlation. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/sociology/quadratic-assignment-procedure
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Dyadic AnalysisSociology↔ compare
- MRQAP Network RegressionSociology↔ compare
- Network Autocorrelation ModelSociology↔ compare
- Social Network AnalysisNetwork analysis↔ compare