Comparing social factors affecting recommender decisions in online and educational social network

AbstractIn the educational context, there is an increasing interest in learning networks. Recommender systems RSs can play an important role in achieving educational objectives. Although we can find many papers focused on recommendation techniques and algorithms, in general, less attention has been dedicated to social factors that influence the recommendation process. This process could be improved if we had a deeper understanding of the social factors that influence the quality or validity of a suggestion made by the RS. This work elucidates and analyses the social factors that influence the design and decision-making process of RSs. We conducted a survey in which 126 undergraduate students were asked to extract which are the main factors for improving suggestions when they are interacting with an Online Social Network OSN or in an Educational Social Network ESN. The results show that different factors have to be considered depending on the type of network.