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11 - Giving Meaning to Social Networks

Methodology for Conducting and Analyzing Interviews Based on Personal Network Visualizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2014

By
José Luis Molina ,
Isidro Maya-Jariego  and
Christopher McCarty
Edited by
Silvia Domínguez  and
Betina Hollstein
José Luis Molina
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
Isidro Maya-Jariego
Affiliation:
University of Seville
Christopher McCarty
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Silvia Domínguez
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
Betina Hollstein
Affiliation:
Universität Bremen
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Summary

I find it convenient to talk of a social field of this kind as a network. The image I have is of a set of points some of which are joined by lines. The points of the image are people, or sometimes groups, and the lines indicate which people interact with each other. We can of course think of the whole of social life as generating a network of this kind. (Barnes 1954)

Introduction

This chapter describes the application of visualization strategies in the context of mixed methods studies. Network visualization is an excellent way to present relational data, and a valuable tool for collecting, exploring, and analyzing data. This chapter focuses mainly on the description of personal networks (Hollstein 2011) with examples of parallel designs. The main contribution for investigating social networks consists in the incorporation of network perceptions and interpretations made by participants in the analysis, which leads to a better understanding of how people are positioned within the social context.

Type
Chapter
Information
Mixed Methods Social Networks Research
Design and Applications
 , pp. 305 - 335
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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