Social Network Analysis Workshop

Welcome to the Social Network Analysis Workshop!

 

This workshop is the first of four workshops being offered as part of the Systems Evaluation Toolkit training series. Other workshop topics are Realist Theories of Change (March 18), Critical Systems Heuristics (April 1), and Outcome Harvesting (April 15). Each workshop in this series can be taken on its own—register for the sessions that interest you, or sign up for all four and receive 15% off the total cost. If the cost of this workshop is a barrier, please contact info@hellokrd.net to explore tuition support.

 

“Systems thinking” is by now a familiar phrase in evaluation, often used to describe complexity, emergence, and non-linearity. Yet many evaluators find it difficult to translate these helpful ideas into concrete evaluative practice. This half-day, hands-on workshop responds to that gap by focusing deeply on one practical systems-thinking methodology: Social Network Analysis (SNA).

 

As a participant, you will work step-by-step through how SNA can make relationships, roles, and flows visible and evaluable. The session moves beyond conceptual overviews to focus on application, including:

• framing evaluative questions for network inquiry,
• designing survey instruments,
• mapping relational data, and
• interpreting patterns in ways that support learning, strategy, and adaptation.

Throughout, the emphasis is on evaluative sensing and sense-making via this approach, with examples of helpful tools you can take away. You will leave with increased knowledge and confidence in a technique you can apply immediately to strengthen evaluation in complex environments. SNA will be presented as a concrete example of how systems thinking can be operationalized in evaluation practice.

 

About the facilitator: Roman Katsnelson, MBA CED, CE is the founder and principal consultant at KRD Consulting Group on Treaty 7 territory in Calgary/Mohkinstsis. He has more than 20 years of experience applying and teaching systems‑oriented, learning‑focused approaches in organizational, community, and funder settings. His practice centres equity, relational accountability, and utilization; integrating data, dialogue and systems thinking to support collective sense-making and informed action.

 

Who should attend? This workshop is intended for practitioners with some practical experience designing or conducting evaluations and exposure to common evaluation approaches such as logic models, theories of change, or utilization-focused evaluation. Participants do not need prior experience with systems-thinking methods or Social Network Analysis. The workshop assumes a level of comfort engaging in reflective discussion and with participating in applied exercises grounded in real-world evaluation contexts. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to consider a current or recent evaluation example they can draw on during reflection and practice activities.

 

Learning objectives:

The course aims to build practical skills to run a fulsome Social Network Analysis evaluation. Participants will learn:

a) how to frame evaluative questions for systems-oriented inquiry, including clarity about actors, relationships, and flows (SNA focus), as well as boundaries and perspectives.

b) how to design and apply SNA data-collection tools, such as network survey questions and sample constraints, to generate useful and useable relational data.

c) how to interpret SNA data and facilitate sense-making processes with data owners and evaluation users.