Network Analysis of Sequence Structures

One reason to use sequence analysis in social research is to identify systematic differences in the structuring of ordered social phenomena across groups. This is often done via optimal matching analysis, discrepancy analysis, event-history analysis, or related approaches. These approaches can be supplemented with network-analytic approaches when sequential phenomena combine to form a larger structure of intersecting pathways, or “sequence-networks.” In these cases, analysts can employ network-analytic methods to supplement existing sequence methods in order to gain additional insight into the structure of intersecting sequences. This chapter identifies several useful network techniques, shows how they correspond to sequence-related concerns, and describes how to compare multiple sequence-network structures to each other. To demonstrate, I use time-diary data from the 2015 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to compare the complex of daily activity pathways that were formed by two groups: Younger adults and older adults. The sequence-networks of these groups reveal key differences in the structure of these groups’ everyday lives. The chapter closes by discussing some of the theoretical and methodological implications of using network methods to supplement conventional sequence methods.