Five misunderstandings in animal social network analysis

Daniel Redhead, Ben Kawam, Jean-Gabriel Young, Dan Franks, Connor S Philson, Marijtje van Duijn, Jordan Hart, Mary Brooke McElreath, Richard McElreath, Eleanor A Power, Cody Ross, Sebastian Sosa, Christian Steglich, Michael Weiss, Lauren J. N. Brent

Animal social network analysis has become central to behavioural ecology, offering powerful tools to explore the links between social behaviour and ecological or evolutionary processes. While rooted in the broader field of social network analysis, the methods used in animal studies have diverged from contemporary practices in the broader field. This divergence has led to conflicting guidance on best practices and in confusion among behavioural ecologists on how to analyse animal network data. Here, we identify and resolve five key misunderstandings in animal social network analysis. We start by tracing a brief history of the field. We then define each misunderstanding, discuss the flaws in the methodology that they are premised on, and outline their consequences for scientific inference. Finally, we examine how these issues might be overcome by using models that reflect the generative mechanisms that underlay the structural features of social network data---building upon tools and ideas from the wider social networks literature. Our goal is to help bridge the gap between behavioural ecologists and the broader social network analysis community, encouraging methodological realignment and facilitating fundamental advances in how we understand the ecological and evolutionary foundations of animal social behaviour.