Mixed Methods Social Networks Research Design and Applications Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences Series

This edited volume demonstrates the potential of mixed-methods designs for the research of social networks and the utilization of social networks for other research. Mixing methods applies to the combination and integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. In social network research, mixing methods also applies to the combination of structural and actor-oriented approaches. The volume provides readers with methodological concepts to guide mixed-methods network studies with precise research designs and methods to investigate social networks of various sorts. Each chapter describes the research design used and discusses the strengths of the methods for that particular field and for specific outcomes.

Part I. General Issues: 1. Mixed methods social network research: an introduction Betina Hollstein; 2. Social network research Peter J. Carrington; 3. Triangulation and validity of network data Andreas Wald; 4. A network analytical four-level concept for an interpretation of social interaction in terms of structure and agency Roger Häussling; Part II. Mixed Methods Applications: 5. Social networks, social influence, and fertility in Germany: challenges and benefits of applying a parallel mixed methods design Laura Bernardi, Sylvia Keim and Andreas Klärner; 6. Two sides of the same coin: the integration of personal network analysis with ethnographic and psychometric strategies in the study of acculturation Isidro Maya Jariego and Silvia Dominguez; 7. Adaptation to new legal procedures in rural China: integrating survey and ethnographic data Christine Avernius and Jeffrey C. Johnson; 8. Mixing ethnography and information technology data mining to visualize innovation networks in global networked organizations Julia Gluesing, Kenneth Riopelle and James A. Danowski; Part III. New Methodological Approaches Used in Mixed Methods Designs: 9. Fuzzy set analysis of network data as mixed method personal networks and the transition from school to work Betina Hollstein and Claudius Wagemann; 10. Reconstructing social networks through text analysis: from text networks to narrative actor networks Joan Miquel Verd and Carlos Lozares; 11. Give meaning to social networks: methodology for conducting and analyzing interviews based on personal network visualizations José Luis Molina, Isidro Maya Jariego and Christopher McCarty; 12. Simulating the social networks and interactions of poor immigrants Bruce Rogers and Cecilia Menjívar.

Silvia Domínguez is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Human Services in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University, Boston.
Betina Hollstein is Professor of Microsociology and Empirical Social Research at the University of Bremen.