Sociomapping is a method developed for processing and visualization of relational data (e.g. social network data). It is most commonly used for mapping the social structure within small teams (10-25 people). Sociomapping uses the landscape metaphor to display complex multi-dimensional data in a 3D

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

, where individual objects are localized in such way that their distance on the map corresponds to their distance in the underlying data. Thanks to its visual coding Sociomapping engages our evolved skills for

spatial orientation In geometry, the orientation, attitude, bearing, direction, or angular position of an object – such as a line, plane or rigid body – is part of the description of how it is placed in the space it occupies. More specifically, it refers to t ...

and

movement detection Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

, thus making the interpretation of complex data easy and accessible for everyone.

History

The sociomapping method was developed in 19931994 by R. Bahbouh as a tool that would facilitate understanding of data about social relations and help preventing conflicts within teams of military professionals. The first major application of sociomapping took place in 19941995 during the HUBES experiment (Human Behavior in Extended Spaceflight) – a 135-day-long simulation of a spaceflight with three crew members organized by

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

. Sociomapping was then regularly used in other spaceflight simulations (19951996: EKOPSY, 1999: Mars105, 20102012: Mars500). Since 2005, sociomapping has been extensively used in business environment to analyze relationships within senior management teams. In 2012, C. Höschl jr. developed Real Time Sociomapping^® software that enables instant visualization of the team dynamics and monitoring of the teams and social groups over time.

Basic principle

The basic principle of Sociomapping is transforming original data concerning a set of objects in such a way that the distance of each pair of objects on the map corresponds to the distance between the two objects in the underlying data. Transformation of the data is a matter of 1) choosing some metric that could be reasonably interpreted as distance, and 2) translating the multi-dimensional distance matrix into 2D coordinate system so that the correlation between map-distances and data-distances is maximized. The algorithm for data-transformation, developed by C. Höschl jr., is a dimensionality-reduction technique, such as PCA, and its goodness of fit can be measured by Spearman correlation between the map-distances and data-distances. Sociomapping takes into account that, particularly in case of social relations, relational data may be asymmetrical (e.g. John like Mary more than she likes him) and preserves this information by mapping the objects in such a way that for each object the closest other object is the one closest to it according to the metric of choice in the underlying data, and so on for other objects ordered by distance.

Application

There are two main areas of application for Sociomapping – groups (small systems) and populations (large systems). For each area a different method of visualization and data transformation is used in order to facilitate people’s ability to understand and interpret the analyzed data.

Groups and small systems

Sociomapping for small systems produces Sociomaps of subjects. These subjects (in most cases people) are placed on the Sociomap reflecting their distance measured in various ways: *

social distance In sociology, social distance describes the distance between individuals or social groups in society, including dimensions such as social class, race/ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Members of different groups mix less than members of the same g ...

* psychological distance (psychological similarity) * communication distance * other relation measures Besides the distances between the group members, Sociomap shows additional variable coded in the height (or color) of the subject. Typical variables used for the height are: social status, performance indicators of the subjects, average communication frequency, etc. Understanding the relative distances between the people helps to understand the structure of the group, find subgroups formed by groups members and discover functions of the group members. In connection to the height Sociomap enables complex and comprehensive insight into the groups and small systems. This is particularly beneficial for workplace strategists. Sociomapping of small systems produces similar results to

social network analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...

with additional visualization features.

Profile analysis

Besides the small systems analysis based on various relational data, Sociomapping can be used to visualize the profiles of unrelated subjects. This is done by transformation of subjects' profiles, computing the distances between the profiles and visualizing them in a Sociomap. There is a software to compute Profile analysis (see section Sociomapping software).

Populations and large systems

For large systems and populations, different type of Sociomaps is used. Data used for these types of maps are rectangular

matrices Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to: Science and mathematics * Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions * Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form * Matrix (biology), the ...

, where for each subject there is a preference vector of selected objects (such as

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, brands, products, and so on). In order to create a Sociomap, for each subject a position in the map is determined, and a small piece of mass representing this subject is placed on the map according to its vector of preferences to an object. As a result, there are places on the Sociomap where more subject are placed (hills) and where there are no subject (valleys). Therefore, hills are formed on the places representing typical preference configurations and this allows for visual cluster analysis, or segmentation. In this sense, Large systems Sociomapping is a

data mining Data mining is the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and ...

approach based on visual

pattern recognition Pattern recognition is the task of assigning a class to an observation based on patterns extracted from data. While similar, pattern recognition (PR) is not to be confused with pattern machines (PM) which may possess PR capabilities but their p ...

). Typical uses for Large systems Sociomapping are: * political research (preferences and polls) *

marketing research Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative data, qualitative and quantitative data, quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how chan ...

(attitudes and product preferences) * customer segmentation (behavioral patterns) * and other research concerned with preferences and/or attitudes.

Broader scope of application

Sociomapping has broader scope of application, including the following fields: *Historical events analysis (e.g.

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that Sinking of the Titanic, sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking Iceberg that struck the Titanic, an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York Ci ...

survival rate) * Internet community tools (e.g. Last.fmbr>
profile similarity) *

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

analysis (e.g. analysis of communication in Shakespeare plays) *

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

units and

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

crews analysis *

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

analysis and forecast (e.g. cooperation of sport teams) *

Politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

analysis and forecast *

Team building Team building is a collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. It is distinct from team training, which is designed by a combination of busin ...

*Team analysis (communication, cooperation, decision-making) *Leadership development *Team collaboration remote collaboration or hybrid teams *Prevention of socio-pathological behavior among children at schools

Software

So far only one software tool based on Sociomapping was released. Team profile analyzer is a tool for psychologists, consultants, managers and HR specialists. It enables integration of various sources of information about team from personality, performance or knowledge

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

and biographical data. It can be used for team analysis and development: team coaching,

team building Team building is a collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. It is distinct from team training, which is designed by a combination of busin ...

recruitment Recruitment is #Process, the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for Job (role), jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the process involved in ...

etc.

References

Sociomapping Portal with information and resources about Sociomapping

The Application of Sociomapping to Executive Team Development

Utilization of multilayer network data of team for Sociomapping analysis
{{Social networking Cartography Social science methodology Social networks Methods in sociology