# name
Using narratives to study the impact of social networks on the educational paths of immigrant students

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
This paper presents the qualitative data collection process aimed at the study of the impact
social relations and networks have on educational paths of immigrant students. In the
framework of a R & D longitudinal study funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation
(2012-2014), the research team tracked the path of 87 immigrant students, from whom only 17
successfully achieved the transition through the first and second year of Post-16 Education.
A vast range of literature notes that relationships are an important part of migration process and
social integration analysis, as well as school history in terms of success or failure. Through the
fieldwork researchers collect the personal networks of all immigrant students from 3 high
schools who were at that time attending last course of compulsory school. The network structure
influences their social capital and therefore determines the resources, goods and types of support
individuals can access. All these aspects are influential elements in the configuration and
development of academic trajectories of immigrant students.
At the end of the second year of Post-16 Education (two years later), the study captures personal
networks of these students again, analyses and discusses their evolution and influence on their
paths through qualitative interviews. Such interviews facilitated the discussion of their
relationships while providing interesting narratives that are presented in the text. In order to do so, the biographical interpretive narrative method of interviewing is implemented.

# metadata.dc.relation.ispartof[].value
Paper presented at the 1st European Conference on Social Networks, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Cerdanyola del Vallès, July 1-4, 2014

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Comunicacions a congressos (Grup de Recerca en Educació Intercultural (GREDI))

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Using narratives to study the impact of social networks on the educational paths of immigrant students