Understanding the dynamics of MOOC discussion forums with simulation investigation for empirical network analysis (SIENA)

Figures & data

Table 1. The numbers of participants and links over the period of the observation time.

Observation time(six periods, 2014)	Weighted links	Non-weighted (binary) links	Number of actors who created links
Apr 10–Apr 16	753^a (1591)^b	732 (1534)	452
Apr 17–Apr 27	710 (2301)	679 (2206)	419
Apr 28–May 10	711 (3012)	671 (2860)	350
May 11–Jun 3	686 (3698)	643 (3475)	381
Jun 4–Jul 8	672 (4370)	616 (4054)	343
Jul 9–Sep 1	591 (4961)	528 (4547)	261

^a The number of new links created during each period shown.

^b The accumulated number of links.

Table 2. Number of original posts, replies, and comments, grouped by instructor, TAs, and students.

	Instructor	TAs	Students	Total
Original posts	26	2	189	217
Replies	17	24	2512	2553
Comments	91	134	2256	2481
Total	134	160	4957	5251

Table 3. SIENA estimation results with standard errors in parentheses.

	(0) → (1)	(1) → (2)	(2) → (3)	(3) → (4)	(4) → (5)	(5) → (6)
Model 1 (H1 and H2)
Rate parameter	0.3698 (0.0135)	0.3488 (0.0136)	0.3294 (0.0132)	0.3131 (0.0125)	0.2965 (0.0125)	0.2515 (0.0116)
Reciprocity	5.8586 (0.3253)	5.3305 (0.2833)	5.1801 (0.2738)	4.0133 (0.2980)	2.9055 (0.3925)	3.5736 (0.3255)
Transitive triplets	3.1882 (0.3992)	1.6261 (0.2443)	1.6591 (0.2080)	1.4929 (0.1785)	1.2575 (0.1952)	1.5474 (0.1737)
Model 2 (H3)
Rate parameter	0.3850 (0.0148)	0.3792 (0.015)	0.3442 (0.0137)	0.3214 (0.013)	0.3047 (0.0129)	0.2545 (0.0118)
Reciprocity	5.9356 (0.3515)	5.6848 (0.3299)	4.8544 (0.4159)	2.8338 (0.4497)	1.5943 (0.4331)	2.7873 (0.4219)
Transitive triplets	2.6609 (0.5024)	0.9382 (0.2770)	0.9597 (0.2368)	0.8900 (0.2313)	0.6771 (0.2173)	1.0600 (0.2428)
Same role	−4.7467 (0.1403)	−5.6153 (0.0908)	−4.8582 (0.1290)	−4.2667 (0.1702)	−4.3398 (0.1795)	−3.7742 (0.2502)
Model 3 (H4)
Rate parameter	0.3707 (0.014)	0.3496 (0.0138)	0.3290 (0.0136)	0.3137 (0.0123)	0.2963 (0.0127)	0.2509 (0.0116)
Reciprocity	6.0867 (0.4593)	5.2285 (0.4063)	4.5156 (0.4672)	2.4044 (0.4845)	0.9326* (0.4770)	2.0804 (0.4968)
Transitive triplets	1.8497 (0.3599)	0.6330 (0.1560)	0.9009 (0.2073)	0.8872 (0.2472)	0.6493 (0.1966)	0.8910 (0.2494)
Activity of alter	0.2920 (0.0084)	0.1681 (0.0039)	0.1117 (0.0024)	0.0553 (0.0019)	0.0547 (0.0017)	0.0545 (0.0020)

^* Non-significant at p = 0.05.