Student Networks and Academic Achievement: Methodological Lessons and Proposals from the Literature 2000-2015

Researchers use various quantitative and qualitative techniques in order to investigate the links between student networks and performance. Related to these questions, some methodological issues (e.g., the identification of relevant peers, the confounding of the selection and socialization effects …) have been identified. To the best of our knowledge, a literature review of these issues has yet to be done. The first objective is therefore the discussion of these principal methodological challenges. This discussion will lead to our second purpose, which is the proposition of a new longitudinal analysis process that combines knowledge management and data mining. This dynamic process will address some of the identified methodological challenges and will allow pursuing the question of how social networks influence academic achievement. The outcomes might lead to suitable polities for student grouping and this methodology might be used to predict behaviors occurring in a network other than academic achievement