Tackling Connections Structure and Meani PDF

Tackling connections, structure, and
meaning in networks: quantitative and

qualitative methods in sociological
network research
Jan Fuhse & Sophie Mtzel
Quality & Quantity

International Journal of Methodology
ISSN 0033-5177
Volume 45
Number 5
Qual Quant (2011) 45:1067-1089

DOI 10.1007/s11135-011-9492-3
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Qual Quant (2011) 45:10671089
DOI 10.1007/s11135-011-9492-3
Tackling connections, structure, and meaning

in networks: quantitative and qualitative methods
in sociological network research
Jan Fuhse Sophie Mtzel
Published online: 6 April 2011

Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Abstract The paper systematizes the role of qualitative methods, statistical analyses, and
formal network analysis in sociological network research, and argues for their systematic
combination. Formal network analysis mainly aims at a description of network structures
as well as at an explanation of the behavior of the network at the systemic level. Formal
network analysis can also be used in order to explain individual behavior or the existence of
individual connections from network structure. Statistical analyses of ego-centered networks
are used to correlate individual attributes with the structure and composition of the individual
embeddedness, thus providing a statistical explanation of network effects and determinants.
Qualitative methods are important for exploring network structures, and for understanding
the meaning connected to them. A historical overview shows that these three strands have
long co-existed in sociological network research without engaging in combined research
efforts. Combinations of these methods prove useful when considering the various aspects
of networks (individual connections, structural patterns, and meaning).
Keywords Social network analysis Culture Meaning Relational sociology

Qualitative methods
1 Introduction
In the development of network analysis, social networks have often been reduced to ana-
lytical constructs of quantitative, structural network methods. However, historically, social
networks have been and are studied with multiple methods, combining both qualitative and
quantitative approaches. Moreover, in the past 20 years, a rich and multi-faceted theory of
J. Fuhse (B)
University of Bielefeld, P.O. Box 10 01 31, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
e-mail: jan.fuhse@uni-bielefeld.de
S. Mtzel
Social Science Research Center Berlin, Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin, Germany
e-mail: muetzel@wzb.eu
123
1068 J. Fuhse, S. Mtzel
social networks has emerged, which blends the traditional structural intuition with a strong
emphasis on culture and meaning in networks (Breiger 2004, p. 518; Fuhse 2009; Mische
2003; Mtzel 2002, 2009; Pachucki and Breiger 2010; White 1992, 2008). Starting from
this approach, we argue that quantitative and qualitative methods of network research tackle
different dimensions of social structures. While it is useful to model the structure of rela-
tionships between actors with formal network analysis, and the embeddedness of actors and
connections in statistical analyses of personal networks, qualitative research is indispens-
able for an understanding of the meaning inextricably intertwined with any structure of
social networks.1 Networks are thus not seen as mere analytical constructs, but as real social
structures with three dimensions: the structure of social relationships; the individual actors
and their connections; and the meaning associated with networks and their connections. We
show that these three dimensions are tackled by the three types of methods (formal network
analysis, statistical analyses of personal networks, and qualitative methods). We argue that
the combination of more than one of these methods and thus the analysis of more than one
of the dimensions of networks proves particularly fruitful. In addition to the methodological
issues raised, we also contribute to the ongoing discussions on a mixed methods approach in
network research.2
We start from a historical overview of several strands of network research with particular
emphasis on their treatment of connections, structure, and meaning, and on their usage of
different quantitative and qualitative methods (2). The third section provides a systematic
comparison of the three types of methods in sociological network research with regard to their
research ambitions and the dimensions of social networks tackled by these methods. The last
section discusses a few research examples that combine at least two of these methodological
approaches. The conclusion calls for a systematic incorporation of meaning into the study
of social networks, which can be achieved with a combination of qualitative and quantitative
methods.
2 Historical overview
Today, network studies most often use methods of formal network analysis and quantitative
survey research. In the early days of British social anthropology, US American community
studies, and Norbert Eliass figurational sociology however, qualitative approaches to net-
works used to be much more prominent. The aim of this section is, firstly, to show that the
various strands of network research have always deployed both quantitative and qualitative
methods, and, secondly, to distil theoretical concepts for a systematization of their usage in
the following section.
The early works of German formal sociology show little sophistication in their methods.
In both Georg Simmels and Leopold von Wieses works, formal sociology remains a theo-
retical tool without methodological rigor. But we do find discussions on the role of structure
1 The concept meaning here refers to the body of symbols, attitudes, values, schemata, logics, and scripts
as theorized by Weber (1972 [1922], p. 1ff), Schtz (1967 [1932]), and Luhmann (1990). Meaning can be
located at the subjective level, in actors heads, or at the social level in communication process or attached to
social structures (like relationships, groups or organizations), as will be argued in more detail in Sect. 3. The
term culture is often used as a synonym to meaning, but it refers more precisely to shared meaning in a
social context.
2 See the recent paper by Crossley (2010b) in Sociologica, and the comments by Elisa Bellotti, Deirdre
Kirke, Christopher McCarty, and Jos Luis Molina. See also Hollstein and Straus (2006) for an overview on
qualitative methods in network research.
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Tackling connections, structure, and meaning in networks 1069
and meaning in webs of social relations. Simmel famously argued that social regularities are
mainly due to the forms of social life, and not to their content (Simmel 1992 [1908],
p. 17ff). Examples of this are the effects of group size (p. 89f) and the advantages of a broker
position (tertium gaudens; Burt 1992, p. 30; Simmel 1992, p. 128ff). These social forms
thus stand for structural characteristics of inter-personal formations. The individual motiva-
tions, feelings, or meaningsthe contentare less important than the forms in which
they are embedded (1992, p. 17ff). Simmel thus argues for the primacy of form over con-
tent, of structure over meaningand much of network research has followed this structural
intuition (Freeman 2004, p. 2ff).
According to Max Weber, in contrast, all action is rooted in subjective meaning (1972
[1922], p. 1ff): social relationships, be it friendship, love, or the feeling of national com-
munity (p. 13f), are characterized by the subjective meaning that the actors attribute to them.
For Weber, the meaning in and of a relationship determines the chance (probability) that
the individuals involved act in certain ways. While action (on the basis of subjective mean-
ing) is his most fundamental concept, his notion of social relationships encompasses a wide
array of social structures. In line with his typological approach, Weber argues that social
relationships can be grounded in the four ideal types of action motivationtraditional,
affectual, value-rational, and instrumentally rational (p. 21ff). This motivation by
ideal types should be responsible for some of the dynamics of social structures, thus lead-
ing to an explanation of social phenomena by way of the typological understanding of
the subjective meaning of actors. Following Webers formulations, social networks should
be seen as structures which embody specific, relatively stable bundles of individual motiva-
tions. A sect, for example, would result from, as well as determine value-rational motivations
on the part of its members, while economic market structures would induce instrumentally
rational action. Thus networks can explain individual action, but only with a comple-
mentary understanding of the subjective meaning tied to networks. Commonly, quantitative
methods in sociology focus on the task of explaining by identifying causal connections at
the statistical level; and qualitative methods are primarily used in order to discern meaning,
leading to an interpretive understanding of the social phenomena at hand.
These early foundational arguments in German formal sociology have been picked up
by various strands of network research in diverse ways. In particular, we find that Simmels
structural intuition is put into diverse research practices as will be discussed in the fol-
lowing. One approach that is often underrated in network research can be found in Norbert
Eliass figurational sociology. For Elias, social phenomena cannot be explained with refer-
ence to individual and isolated actors. Moreover, these are always in interdependence with
each other in so called configurations. These configurations resemble what we now term
networks in many aspects, and indeed Elias sometimes referred to them as networks after
the term became widely used in the social sciences (1978). While Eliass configurations are
primarily structural, they also show a strong cultural component. For example, structurally
disconnected groups will reinforce this separation with the drawing of boundaries, and the
formation of stereotypes and of separate cultures (Elias and Scotson 2000). Here, Elias and
Scotson use qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations to document the split into
an established and an outsider group in both structure and culture. Apart from that, Elias relied
mainly on historiographic analysis, documenting changes in manner books or using detailed
descriptions from biographies or even novels to account for his theoretical statements.
While Elias used the concept of configuration, British social anthropology eventually
invented the network concept. Lacking the sophisticated techniques of social network anal-
ysis (which were developed concurrently in the US, see below), social anthropologists such
as Barnes (1954), Bott (1957), or Mayer and Mayer (1961) relied on qualitative methods to
123
describe the network structures they were observing. Their research mainly drew on ethno-
graphic observation of kinship or friendship networks. However, early social anthropology
did not develop an interest in meaning and cultural forms embedded in networks. As opposed
to cultural anthropology, Barnes, Bott, and others showed a systematic disregard of culture
in order to focus on the objective relations underlying social phenomena. Not until around
1970 did J. Clyde Mitchell call for a systematic incorporation of the level of meaning (espe-
cially norms and the subjective meaning of social relationships) into social anthropological
research (Mitchell 1969, p. 20ff; Mitchell 1973, p. 26ff). In the 1990s anthropologists again
followed this lead and tried to bridge the divide between social and cultural anthropology
(e.g. Hannerz 1992; Schweizer 1996). At the same time, anthropology picked up on the
quantitative research techniques of formal network analysis and now combines qualitative
and quantitative methods (e.g. Bernard 2006).
Similarly to social anthropology and figurational sociology, symbolic interactionism
mainly focuses on studying social formations qualitatively. In contrast to them, however,
symbolic interactionism reasons that this qualitative approach is due to an emphasis on the
level of meaning. In this vein, Mead (1967 [1934]) argues that individual action is rooted in
the symbols we adopt from primary groups such as the family or the peer group. Symbols,
like all forms of meaning, emerge and are diffused and reproduced in interaction, which
primarily takes place in groups (Shibutani 1955).
Symbolic interactionism and Chicago School remain tied to the group concept, until 1983,
when Gary Alan Fine and Sherryl Kleinman argued for an incorporation of the network con-
cept into symbolic interactionism. They proposed replacing the group with the network
concept because the group concept suggests homogeneous and bounded social formations
(Fine and Kleinman 1983, p. 98). In line with symbolic interactionisms interpretive stance,
they re-conceptualize social networks as laden with meaning and so they focus their attention
on what they call the phenomenological structure of a social network (p. 102). They argue
that dyadic relationships as networks basic building blocks consist of the subjective mean-
ing actors attribute to them (mirroring Webers earlier formulations). Since this meaning
can change relationships, network structures are dynamic (p. 97ff). With these theoretical
formulations, Fine and Kleinmans work opens up systematic opportunities to tackle both
structure and meaning in network research. It thus points to the systematic role qualitative
methods from the Chicago tradition could fulfill in sociological network research.
With their focus on the phenomenological structure of the network, Fine and Klein-
man anticipate developments in US American network analysis around Harrison White in
the 1990s (which will be discussed below). Their remarks have also recently led to a lively
debate on compatibility and mutual benefits of symbolic interactionism and social network
analysis, e.g. on the formal testing of interactionist arguments (de Nooy 2009), complemen-
tation with ethnographic methods (Crossley 2010a), and the strict separation of both types
of analyses (Salvini 2010).3
A very different approach to networks can be found in the community studies tradition.
Building on the pioneering sociometric work of Jacob Moreno, William Lloyd Warner and
his collaborators came to analyze social structures by focusing on ego-centered, personal
networks in local settings. According to Warner, community studies aim at identifying the
social organization of a community by looking at the interaction of individuals within a set
of relations (Warner and Lunt 1941, p. 11). The early community studies of Warner and
3 We do not want to take sides in this ongoing debate, but rather argue in line with all three of them that both
the structural and the meaning aspect of social networks should be studied (thereby combining qualitative and
quantitative methods), including also the dynamic interacted nature of networks. Networks are as much the
result of interaction processes, as they are influencing them.
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his collaboratorsthe Yankee City studiesrelied on a large scale, standardized survey of

17,000 individuals instead of personal observations. Although complemented by qualitative
material, the research method was mainly quantitative.
As in most of the community studies that followed, surveys were designed to analyze the
properties of personal or ego-centered networks and their correlations with individual attri-
butes such as class, age, status, or ethnic descent (e.g. Lazarsfeld et al. 1968 [1944]; Laumann
1973; Pappi 1973; Verbrugge 1977). While network studies usually remain confined to the
structure of relations among a limited set of individuals, the survey methods were used to
arrive at a bigger picture of social structure in larger communities. The main purpose of these
surveys was to identify the tendency (or statistical probability) for friendships or intimate
relations to arise between people from particular categories. Thus, it is not the actual pattern
of relations between individuals which is observed. Instead, the focus of these studies lies
on relations between categories like gender, professional groups, status, age, religion, and
ethnic descent.
Barry Wellman also studies personal networks in communities, yet not in order to dis-
cover categorical differences (1979) but to identify levels of social integration (community
vs. society in Tnnies sense). The statistical approach of deriving relational patterns from
survey data on personal networks was later adopted in larger surveys no longer confined
to singular communities, for example in Claude Fischers comparison of urban and rural
friendship networks (1983), in Wellmans work on online communities (Wellman and Gulia
1999; Wellman et al. 1996) or in the US General Social Survey.
Most of the social capital literature that picks up on Mark Granovetters strength of
weak ties argument (1973) applies a similar focus on personal networks, often on the basis
of survey data.4 In the diverse usages of the social capital concept, an actors embeddedness
into more or less dense networks with more or less homogeneous ties is seen as enabling or
constraining individual action (Lin 2001; Portes 1998). In that sense, networks are reduced to
individual resources, rather than treated as meso-structures, which explain social phenomena
from their supra-personal structuring. Generally, weak ties and heterogeneous networks are
seen as leading to better access to information and thus to superior opportunities for action
(Burt 1992). Homogeneous networks with high degrees of transitivity, in contrast, allow for
high degrees of trust and cooperation (Coleman 1988), but may also feature the dark side
of social capital when people are stuck in groups with little opportunities and motivations
for upward mobility (Portes 1998). Aspects of meaning are by and large disregarded in the
social capital concept in order to factor networks into statistical analyses of inequality in a
straightforward way.
In sum, survey research on personal networks has yielded important results and insights.
Yet it remains tied to categories already known by the researcher and assumes that these
are the categories that actually structure the relationships analyzed. Individual motivations
(subjective meaning) and the negotiation of cultural forms (intersubjective meaning) are
bracketed in these analyses. Moreover, they focus on individuals rather than network struc-
tures as the units of analysis, thus assuming that networks can be reduced to individual
properties (such as access to structural holes, heterogeneous networks, or categorical hom-
ophily).
What is known as social network analysis (SNA) fully develops the structural intui-
tion. SNA constitutes both a series of formal procedures for the analysis of observable
4 Burts works on structural holes constitute important exceptions to this: He draws on large studies of net-
works of managers in firms in order to identify the actors bridging structural holes. He then, however, relates
these individual positions to other personal attributes in regression analyses, thus combining formal network
analysis with statistical analysis (1998).
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relations between at least two actors and their patterns as well as a theoretical perspective
on these relations. The methodological tools for analyzing social networks have developed
historically at the intersection of disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, mathematics,
psychology, and physics (e.g. Freeman 2004; Knox et al. 2006; Scott 2000; Watts 2004).
Relations which connect or separate actors are the units of analysis in SNAas opposed to
statistical correlates between properties of discrete individual actors. Network analysis thus
differs fundamentally from typical models of variable centered sociology (Abbott 1988) by
assuming interdependence of its units of analysis. This opposition to mainstream empirical
social research is captured in the structuralist credo (Wellman 1988, p. 31):
Structured social relationships are a more powerful source of sociological explanation
than personal attributes of system members.
Social explanations are thus to start from social networks with diverse explananda (individ-
ual behavior, systems behavior) resulting from structural patterns. Meaning, the motivations
of actors and the norms within the system are bracketed in this approach. Thus, it aims
at a structuralist explanation without an understanding of the social phenomena. Typically,
SNA researchers establish ways of systematically quantifying gathered data, before they are
analyzed by a set of algebraic measures, which examine their structural characteristics (e.g.
Wasserman and Faust 1994). The graphic representation of network relationsusually a map
of lines and nodesthen offers a cognitively easy access to the underlying social structure
(Freeman 2000).
As Ronald Burt has argued, network analysts follow two analytical strategies in order to
explain the effects of networks on social action (1980). The relational approach focuses
on the direct and indirect connections of actors with othersi.e. how they connect. Social
relations in this regard are understood as channels through which particular resources, such
as information, friendship, goods, or money flow, depending on the type of embeddedness
(Granovetter 1985). Different measures can then be used to establish, for instance, the level
of density, centrality, or strength of relations, for a focal actor (ego-centered analysis), for
cliques and overlapping subgroups, or for entire systems. The social capital studies men-
tioned above constitute examples of this relational approach, as do the studies on (various
types of) centrality in a network.
The positional approach focuses on the pattern of relations actors form on the basis
of having similar ties with others. This strategy is based on the idea of structural equiva-
lence of actors (Lorraine and White 1971). Structurally equivalent actors do not need to have
direct ties between themselves or even belong to the same clique. What is of relevance is the
pattern of relations which defines the position and the role structure of one actor relative to
all others in the network. Thus, this approach does not explain social action on the basis of
directly established social relations through which resources flow, but looks at the structure
of all relations and similarities in structural position. The algorithmic implementation, called
blockmodeling, partitions the network into blocks of structurally equivalent actors (Breiger
et al. 1975; White et al. 1976). As the result of blockmodeling, an entire network is reduced
in its complexity: the network is represented as a few blocks of network members according
to maximal similarities in their ties to others, also indicating how the partioned groups relate
to each other. Blockmodels are thus first and foremost models of multirelational networks;
they highlight relations of positions in the network, rather than information on individual
actors and thus differ strongly from the approaches discussed so far.
In their summary of the advantages and shortcomings of network research, Emirbayer
and Goodwin (1994) provide a greatly acknowledged critique of structuralist social net-
work analysis. They pick up on developments from empirical studies, on cognitive networks
123
(e.g. Carley 1986; Krackhardt 1987), historical networks (e.g. Gould 1991; Padgett and
Ansell 1993) and networks of cultural actors (e.g. DiMaggio 1987), which had begun to push
the structuralist network tradition to include cultural aspects such as meanings, discourse,
and identities in order to remedy its integrated shortcomings. Emirbayer and Goodwin show
that both perspectives just outlined, i.e. the relational approach focusing on connectivity as
well as the positional approach focusing on structural equivalences, prove to be structurally
deterministic: they reify social relations and leave no room for cultural content and process. In
their attempt to contest individualistic and functionalist sociologies, seminal works in social
network analysis self-consciously bypassed the issue of cultural content and meanings of
ties to focus on structural arguments only (e.g. White et al. 1976, p. 734). Network analysis,
Emirbayer and Goodwin argue, should overcome such bracketing of culture since any relation
entails several meanings (which are unfolding and changing over time) in particular cultural
and intersubjective contexts and cannot be reified to one particular, atemporal dimension.
Harrison Whites Identity and Control (1992, 2008) presents a concentrated effort to shift
the understanding of networks as reified, non-cultural structures to networks being dynamic,
sociocultural formations. Identity and Control pushes sociological theory beyond individual-
centered and purely structuralist approaches towards a more dynamic and contextual model
by considering how meaning arises in a relational context and, dually, how relations create
meaning. For White, social networks are cultural structures of relations, in which stories
connect identities defining them on the way. Thus, White argues that networks are inextrica-
bly intertwined with domains of forms of meaning, including narratives, expectations, and
language (White 1995, p. 1038f; Mische and White 1998, p. 702ff). Subsequently, Identity
and Control has become a central reference in the movement for a relational sociology
(Emirbayer 1997), which regards relations between terms or units as preeminently dynamic
in nature, as unfolding, ongoing processes rather than as static ties among inert substances
(p. 289).
Whites network theory constitutes a turn towards the incorporation of both meaning and
basic interactional processes leading to the formation of networks and cultural forms into
network research. White departs radically from the static orderliness of structuralist network
thinking. He also refrains from turning relational properties into individual attributesas
do social capital approaches or research on personal networks. In sum, relational sociology
understands networks as composed of culturally constituted processes of communicative
interactions (Mische 2003, p. 262), providing for an inseparable commingling of network
relations and discursive processes. Culture and structure, language and relational ties are
fused within a sociocultural setting.
Another approach that takes meaning into account when studying social relations is that of
actor-network-theory (ANT) (e.g. Latour 2005; Law and Hassard 1999). In this perspective,
which developed in anthropological science and technology studies in France and the UK,
networks are a heterogeneous chain of associations made up of multidimensional and evolv-
ing entanglements of human, non-human or collective actors (all are actants). Analytical
focus is first on the multifaceted interconnections of a local, ego-centric network of an actor,
before moving to the next connected local bundle of entanglements in which meaning gets
collectively established. Eventually these shifts and redefinitions between one micro-network
of associations to the next over space and time add up to a larger narrative on transformations
of ideas and practices. The meaning of a network is realized collectively and distributed in
the network, which is formed by human and non-human actors alikeand not in peoples
heads.
ANT studies use qualitative methods and refrain from structural analysis of the SNA
kindeven simple sociometry would unjustifiably reify network relations, although recent
123
work with large datasets shows some convergences (Mtzel 2009). In ANT, the term net-
work is used as an evocative image, a conceptual heuristic, and a descriptive tool. The ANT
approach offers descriptions as explanations (Latour 2005): ANT accounts present stories in
which actants are traced as to how they accomplish the processes of establishing associations,
i.e. constructing persons, groups, and the social by the attribution of meaning. Not surpris-
ingly, with this analytical perspective ANT studies are particularly equipped to account for
the emergence of new social actors (e.g. Latour 1988) or categories (e.g. Bowker and Star
1999) especially in the field of technological and scientific innovation.
To summarize, different strands of network research have applied three kinds of meth-
ods: the early works of Norbert Elias, symbolic interactionism, and social anthropology, and
the ANT approach all rely almost exclusively on qualitative research techniques in order to
explore social network formations, but also to tackle the level of meaning connected to social
networks. The community studies tradition has mainly developed the statistical analysis of
personal networks in survey studies, which was later picked up by large-scale surveys such as
the GSS. Only classical network analysis has developed a strong focus on the formal analysis
of full networks that we now see as representative for all of network research. The relational
sociology of Harrison White and others has picked up on this, while also complementing
it with qualitative research techniques at times. The aim of relational sociology is to simul-
taneously address structure and meaning in networks. We pick up on this by arguing that
the combination of different methods that tackles the various dimensions of social networks
(structure, connections, and meaning) offers a particularly fruitful route of research.
3 Systematizing quantitative and qualitative network research
As we have seen, sociological network research incorporates three main methodological

approaches: formal network analysis, statistical analysis of personal networks, and qualita-
tive research techniques. By and large these three approaches have remained separate, without
a systematic integration either on the theoretical or on the methodological level. This section
aims at a first systematic overview of these three approaches, and of their relations to each
other.
First, we briefly discuss the various aspects or dimensions of social networks that these
three approaches are supposed to tackle. We follow relational sociology in claiming that
network research ideally simultaneously addresses the structure of networks, the formation
or dissolution of particular connections, and the meaning attached to these structures and
connections. Then we show that the three approaches are methodologically related to these
three dimensions, with formal network analysis focusing on structure, statistical analysis of
personal networks dealing with connections, and qualitative approaches tackling the meaning
of networks.
3.1 Describing and explaining structure in formal network analysis
What are the units of analysis of the various strands of network research? The mainstream
of current network research is concerned with the analysis of whole networks in relatively
bounded social contexts, for example, in firms or class-rooms. The aim is to detect regulari-
ties of patterns in the structure of relationships using network analytical algorithms such as
centrality, clique analysis or blockmodel analysis (e.g. Carrington et al. 2005; Wasserman
and Faust 1994). The underlying assumptions are (1) that social structures can be usefully
123
reduced to structures of relations, and that these mathematical procedures yield meaningful
descriptions of complex social reality; and (2) that the important causes for the behavior of
the units (usually: individual or corporate actors) and of the system as a whole are to be
found within the pattern of relations in the system (and not somewhere in its environment).
In general, network analysis regards the structure of relations as the main cause for particular
effects, e.g. the rise of the Medici in Renaissance Florence (Padgett and Ansell 1993), the
exodus of particular monks from a monastery (White et al. 1976, p. 749ff), the professional
success of managers in a large company (Burt 1992), or the distribution of prestige and other
rewards in the literary market (Anheier et al. 1995).
In the sense of the structuralist credo, network structure is seen as explaining events in the
system.5 We pick up here on the famous distinction of Max Weber between explanation and
understanding as the main tasks of sociology. Understanding refers to the reconstruction
of the meaning incorporated in or connected to social structures. Explanation, in contrast,
establishes a causal connection between two phenomena (cause and effect). Other impor-
tant research ambitions include the probing exploration of specific properties of social
phenomena, and their mere description without establishing any causal connections.
In formal network analyses, both cause and effect are first of all located at the meso-level
of the social context. The cause is the structure of the network; its effects are manifold but
concern the relations of the parts in the system. However, these effects can then be traced
down to the level of the individual actor: the Medici family, for instance, benefits from its
focal position in the credit and marriage network of Florentine families (Padgett and Ansell
1993). Similarly, writers who occupy specific positions in the literary market can expect
certain turnouts (Anheier et al. 1995).
Rather than explaining the behavior of or rewards for individual actors, network analysis
sometimes explains the formation or dissolution of particular ties at the micro-level, thus
shifts the unit of analysis from one actor to the dyad. This is typically done by relating var-
ious measures of centrality, positions in blocks (from blockmodel analysis) or in cliques to
individual and dyadic attributes. For example, the friendship between members of rival fac-
tions will probably undergo considerable strain at times of conflict and potentially dissolve; a
peripheral actor is expected to defer to a member of the core elite in a network. The network
structure (factional separation and core-periphery) are seen as explaining that a particular
tie (friendship or deferral) exists at a particular point of time. Many network algorithms thus
yield R 2 values, indicating how much variance in the distribution of ties can be captured
(explained) by the particular network model (for example a blockmodel). While this focus
on the explanation of connections is an integral part of network analysis, the explanation of
the behavior of or rewards for individual actors requires an additional step, for instance an
action theory that accounts for why network position leads to individual behavior.
One advantage of focusing on the micro level (of actors behavior or of the properties
of ties) is that a proper statistical explanation is possible, with rigorous hypothesis testing
with margins of error (significance). Here, the recent development of p*-models constitutes
a major progress (Robins et al. 2007a, b; Wasserman and Robins 2005). P*-models compare
actual network structures with random graphs. This allows the assessment to what extent the
actual networks display certain structural tendencies compared to what is expected by chance
(e.g. Lazega and Pattison 1999). These results, of course, are context specific. This attention
5 We follow recent discussions on mechanisms in claiming that explanations purely on the quantitative,
empirical level are incomplete. They require a parallel theoretical account that convincingly argues why a
social phenomenon A should lead to another social phenomenon B (Hedstrm 205, p. 11ff). In contrast to
Hedstrm, however, we do not assert that this theoretical account has to proceed in terms of individual actions.
Whites theory, for example, does not resort to individuals as the driving forces of social processes.
123
Table 1 Overview of aims of different methods in sociological network research
Qualitative methods Statistical analysis of Formal network analysis

personal networks
Ambitions and Understanding of Explanation at the Explanation of

research techniques meaning in individual/ dyadic individual behavior
used networks level and connections
Subjective meaning: Statistical analysis of from network
qualitative correlations position
interviews; between network Centrality measures,
intersubjective composition and positional analysis
meaning: conversa- individual attributes from cliques or
tion/document in combination with blocks
analysis, SNA: description of Exploration and
participatory network populations description of
observation by attributes network structure,
Exploration and explanation of explanation of
description individual systems behavior
Situational analysis, determinants and Blockmodel analysis,
ethnography effects of network core/periphery and
Pre-testing/critique positions faction analyses
of data collection
methods
Qualitative interviews
to context is a major advantage of network research (Abbott 1997, p. 1166f). At the same
time, it poses a major problem if we want to generalize findings across contexts. One way
of combining context sensitivity with generalization is the use of multi-level analysis with
particular social contexts (e.g. school classes) as the meso-level influencing the individual
level. Here it is possible to assess, for example, how much the individual tendency of high
school students to form inter-ethnic friendships is influenced by the ethnic composition of
the student body of their schools (Baerveldt et al. 2007).
Analyses at the systemic level of whole networks, in contrast, usually remain confined to
the particular cases at hand. Although using quantitative research techniques, they are case
studies and not generalizable (Bellotti 2010). Ideally, then, network analytical results should
compare different networks, paying close attention to the comparability of measures and
algorithms. For example, if blockmodel analyses leads to different results in two contrasting
networks, this does not tell us much about how different the two networks really are. Given
the fact that changing a small number of ties could lead to entirely different blockmodel parti-
tioning, the significance of such results remains small. Often, then, formal network analyses
lead to exploration and description of social contexts, rather than statistical explanations.
Typical methods applying to this systemic level include blockmodels, analyses of factions,
and the identification of core/periphery structures.
A brief overview of the various approaches, their ambitions, and typical methods is given
in Table 1. For reasons of simplicity, the table lumps together methods of data collection and
data analysis under the heading of research techniques, rather than properly distinguishing
between the two. To be sure, it is possible to collect data qualitatively, thus reconstructing the
meaning in a network, then to codify it and analyze the resulting network data quantitatively
(e.g. de Nooy 2002). Such research would combine two cells in the given table: the qualitative
methods cell (with exploration and understanding of meaning as research ambitions) and the
formal network analysis cell (aimed at an explanation of individual or systems behavior).
123
3.2 Explaining connections and individual attributes in personal networks
The statistical analysis of ego-centrically gathered personal networks, in contrast, is di-

rectly concerned with the individual or with particular connections. As it focuses on the
embeddedness of individual actors, it cannot pay attention to the structure of a larger net-
work. However, it can analyze structural elements such as triadic closure or density and can
identify weak ties. Statistical analyses of ego-centric networks are unable to consider the
effects of contextsone of the strengths of formal network analysisunless they can be
reduced to individual attributes (e.g. place of residence or categories like age, class, and
gender). This is precisely the strength of personal networks analyses: they allow relating
individual attributes to the embeddedness of individuals in networks. This requires, how-
ever, that embeddedness is reduced to an individual attribute: rudimentary measures of the
structure (density, weak ties etc.) and of the composition (by types of tie or by catego-
ries like gender, age, class) of personal networks are computed as variables signifying this
embeddedness. These can be analyzed with regard to their correlations to other individual
attributes. For example, Gwen Moore shows that personal discussion networks of women in
the US tend to comprise more kin and more neighbors, but less friends and coworkers than
those of men (1990, p. 729f). And Omar Lizardo demonstrates that the density of personal
networks correlates with class background and with the diversity of cultural consumption
(2006).
Alternatively, individual ties are used as the cases of statistical analysis. The analysis
then deals with the question of why particular ties show specific properties (like transitivity
or homophily, e.g. Hallinan and Williams 1989; Louch 2000). If this is done, it is advis-
able to control for the impact of individual respondents on their connections, for example
by entering them as the meso-level in a multi-level analysis (Lubbers et al. 2010). This
allows for the simultaneous analysis of effects on connections and on the personal networks
of individuals. Statistical analyses of personal networks lead to explanations in the statis-
tical sense of the properties of connections. They can also be used to explain the effects
of connections on individual attributes like income or subjective happiness. They allow for
the testing of hypotheses concerning the interrelations of these variables. This is the main
research ambition of the community studies and of the subsequent research on personal
networks and social capital as briefly discussed in the second section. These explanations
at the individual level, however, have to bracket context. Statistical analyses of personal
networks thus amount to considerable advantages in the research process (mainly in the
rigorous testing of hypothesized network effects when controlling for effects of individ-
ual attributes). But they do so by reducing networks to attributes of actors, thereby losing
much of the structural intuition guiding sociological network research (Freeman 2004,
p. 3).
Instead of using variables about personal networks, it is also possible to enter measures
of network position derived from formal analysis of whole networks (see Sect. 3.1) into
statistical analyses. For example, various measures of centrality, memberships in cliques
or in blocks (in blockmodels) can then be related to the individual attributes of the actors,
treating the network position either as the cause or as the effect of these attributes (e.g.
Anheier et al. 1995). In these cases, network position is explained by individual attributes,
or explains these causally. Less demanding, other formal network analyses often feature a
description of their sample (or of the subgroups derived from their algorithms) by attributes
like sex, age, and race, without claiming that these attributes explain network position or vice
versa.
123
3.3 Understanding of meaning in qualitative network research
Both statistical analyses of personal networks and formal network analysis follow the struc-
tural intuition by treating networks as the aggregate of connections (personal networks) or
as patterns of connections (network structure). The strategy of structural analysis developed
as an interdisciplinary endeavor. Largely due to new computational models, it has gained
new prominence and widespread acceptance in the social sciences. As a research strategy
focusing on proximate causes, it may be useful to reduce networks to the mere structure of
relations (Granovetter 2007), without asking for the underlying meaning, thereby reducing
the complexity of social reality considerably (Holland and Leinhardt 1977, p. 387). However,
as research in the past has already indicated, and as it has been criticized repeatedly (e.g.
Brint 1992; Emirbayer and Goodwin 1994; Mitchell 1974), an analysis of structures and
connections has to be complemented with a concern for meaning, for the linguistic forms,
narratives, cultural practices, and expectations embodied in networks. Networks are not mere
structures but actually cultural in nature, as the discussion of relational sociology in the sec-
ond section has pointed out (see also Pachucki and Breiger 2010). Yet the problem is that
cultural aspects are qualitative and particular, pushing researchers toward taxonomic spec-
ificity, whereas concrete social relations lend themselves to analysis by formal and highly
abstract methods (DiMaggio 1992, p. 120). Another problem yet to be addressed (which
symbolic interactionism, relational sociology, and actor-network theory have pointed to) is
to conceptualize networks not as stable structures, but as continuously created, reproduced,
and modified in social processes. These can be coined as action, interaction, transaction, or
communication, but they have to be seen as both effecting and resulting from networks.
Indeed, how the phenomenological and interacted reality of expectations, stories, and
identities in networks is translated into measurement constructs is a big question in network
research. We argue that qualitative research techniques including different types of qualitative
interviews (problem-centered, narrative, biographical etc.), conversation analysis, document
analysis, and participant observation provide a major route to these processual and cultural
aspects, thus aiming primarily for an understanding (in the Weberian sense) of the meaning
embodied in networks, and the processes of creating, sustaining, and modifying this meaning.
Meaning can be theorized at the subjective level of individual motivations and perceptions
(following Weber), or at the inter-subjective level where meaning is diffused and reproduced
in communication (following Luhmann 1990, 1996, p. 59ff). The subjective level of meaning
relates to a focus on individual actors and their agency and assumes that peoples thoughts
are consequential for what they dohence it would be important to understand peoples
motivations when pursuing particular relationships and dropping others and thereby actively
constructing their networks. According to Fine and Kleinman, social relationships are very
much shaped by the subjective meaning of the people involvedwhich qualities do they
ascribe to the relation, how do they view the other, and what expectations do they have
regarding the others actions (1983, p. 101ff). The level of subjective meaning is usually
linked to a focus on individual action and aims at identifying individual motivations. This is
usually done in qualitative or quantitative interviews.
At the same time, meaning is not only to be found in actors heads, but also inter-
subjectively realized and negotiated in the process of communication (following Luhmanns
concept of meaning). Thus we find that dyadic relationships are constructed and consti-
tuted in storiesnarratives about the relationship that are told and not just thought (White
1992, pp. 166ff, 196ff; Somers 1994; Tilly 2002, pp. 8ff, 26ff). Relations build on the inter-
subjective construction of meaning through communication or transactions (Tilly 2005,
p. 6f). In contrast to the first view of meaning as subjective, the inter-subjective patterns
123
of meaning can be analyzed by looking at actual communication processes, for example,

exchanges of Florentine patronage letters (McLean 1998, 2007), editorial exchanges between
newspapers (Mtzel 2002), turn-taking among managers in business meetings (Gibson 2003,
2005), or interaction in teenage baseball teams (Fine 1979). While interviews reactively aim
at reconstructing the subjective level of meaning, the inter-subjective level of meaning can
best be tapped with non-reactive methods: the analysis of documents (as in the work of
McLean and Mtzel) or participatory observation (as in the work of Gibson and Fine). As
these examples show, the analysis of the communicative processes creating, sustaining, and
modifying networks (and the meaning embodied in them) can proceed qualitatively (Fine
and McLean), but it can also include the codification and subsequent quantitative analysis of
turn-takings (Gibson) or the negotiation of identities and positions (Mtzel). As always, qual-
itative methods are more geared towards detecting meaning, whereas quantitative methods
aim at network structure (and its construction in communicative processes).
The inter-subjective level of meaning is part of a perspective which views transactional
processes and social relations as the basic components of social life, as in Harrison Whites
network theory (White 1992, 2008; White et al. 2007).6 In order to point to its shared and
socially reproduced nature, this perspective refers to meaning as stories (Tilly 2002, pp. 8ff,
26ff) and culture (Mische 2003; Yeung 2005). Stories construct relational configurations
they relate actors to each other in narratives about their interaction. All communicative pro-
cesses involve this kind of story-telling which leads to a joint construction of social reality.
Apart from stories, the culture of a network comprises the identities of the actors involved,
individual as well as corporative and collective (McCall and Simmons 1978). Other aspects
of meaning in networks include attitudes, values, categories, and cultural blueprints or mod-
els for social relationships (e.g. Erickson 1988; McLean 1998; Rytina and Morgan 1982;
White 1993; Yeung 2005). All of these forms of meaning are to be found at both levels: the
subjective and the inter-subjective. They form part of the meaning structure of social net-
works (Fuhse 2009), and its understanding is the first important goal of qualitative network
research.
To be sure, qualitative research does not aim at an explanation of processes in or resulting
from networks based on hypothesis testing in the statistical sense. Qualitative research may
enrich and sharpen quantitative analyses in mixed method designs, and qualitative data can
be used to follow initial hypotheses about a social phenomenon. But qualitative methods in
network research are primarily used to gain an understanding of the meaning networks have
for the actors, as well as of the inter-subjective meaning diffused, shared, and modified in
networks.7 Apart from understanding as its first goal, qualitative network research can also
aim at two other important tasks:
6 In this regard, Whites (and our) approach resembles symbolic interactionism which starts from interaction
as the basic process creating meaning (and social structures). However, while authors like Mead and Blumer
resort to the subjective level of meaning as somehow being involved and creating social life, Tilly (2002,
2005) and White (White et al. 2007) bracket the subjective level, pointing to the supra-personal nature of
social processes.
7 To base the testing of hypotheses on qualitative data is tricky because network researchers cannot trust the
descriptions the actors involved provide of the social structure they are embedded in: For example, Barnes
famously introduced the network concept to show that the Norwegian fishermen in Bremnes may perceive
and describe their social structure in terms of three classes even though they are actually enmeshed in a
homogeneous network without any class divisions (1954). Roger Gould demonstrated that the self-stylized
class protest in the Paris Commune was actually rooted in the local networks of new Paris suburbs that were
quite heterogeneous with regard to class (1995). In both cases, the self-descriptions of the actors are a far cry
from the actual underlying networks, even if an understanding of these self-descriptions makes for valuable
research findings in itself.
123
The second goal consists of the exploration and description of social networks with regard
to their structure, composition, and the meaning associated with them. These are of particu-
lar importance for a first approximation of networks in situations that have not been studied
as networks before, and where network data are not easily collected. For example, social
anthropology relies heavily on the qualitative description of networks in so-called situa-
tional analysis, through lengthy ethnographic immersion of the researcher into the social
context studied (that sometimes eludes the use of more formal research techniques like inter-
views etc.). Historical sociology often derives from documents and exemplary data (e.g.
composition of small groups seen as representative for a wider movement) a fairly accurate
picture of the overall structure of networks in a particular context without being able to study
them quantitatively (e.g. Ikegami 2005; Mann 1986; Tilly 1995). Historical sociologys net-
works are removed in time and therefore do not lend themselves to the collection of network
data (unless available in documents). A parallel problem emerges in marginal networks, par-
ticularly in criminal networks like gangs, terrorist groups, or the mafia. Here, researchers may
be able to interview a few participants (like prosecuted members) or external experts, or they
can draw on interrogation and court protocolsbut they are hardly able to interview the full
network of members or even a representative sample. In all these cases, the formal analysis
of full networks or the statistical analysis of personal networks is not possible. Therefore, the
research accounts have to focus on producing a convincing narrative, combining a thorough
theoretical argument with forceful exemplary findings from the qualitative (and quantitative)
material.
The third goal of qualitative research techniques consists of pre-testing or criticizing
quantitative methods of data collection. As all other quantitative social scientists, we need to
develop thorough techniques for collecting network data (Marsden 2005). Data for statistical
analysis of personal networks are usually collected by way of network generator questions,
like the famous Burt name generator that asks for the people ego talked with about important
matters over the last 6 months (Burt 1984). For formal network analyses, data are typically
gathered asking respondents about their relationships to fixed lists of alters (like all the chil-
dren in their school class). In both cases an understanding of what the respondents mean
with their answers is needed. In particular, we have to ask ourselves whether respondents
attribute the same meaning to the same question, or whether there is systematic variation
(by age, gender, network context etc.) in the way these questions are answered. For example,
respondents may have different things in mind when responding to the Burt name generator
question (Bearman and Parigi 2004), when saying that a relationship is a loving one (Yeung
2005), or when referring to people as friends (Fischer 1982). The important task here is
to elicit categories that will prompt to answer to these questions in a similar way. Of course
they should not give the same answers; but at least they should have the same question in
mind.
4 Combining methods in network research
As the discussion so far has shown, the three main methodological approaches pursue dif-
ferent aims and enter the research process at different phases. It is quite natural, then, that
the three approaches should be combined in order to arrive at a fuller picture of social net-
works, and to provide for an integrated and reflexive research process. For example, the
exploration of networks with ethnographic methods (situational analysis) is useful as a first
step. It should lead to research hypotheses that can be tackled either by linking individ-
ual attributes and connections in personal networks, or by looking at the structure of full
123
networks (ideally comparing various networks). But it can also lead to propositions about
the meaning attached to these networks, to be studied with qualitative research techniques
such as problem-centered or narrative-biographical interviews. Since networks feature struc-
ture and meaning as two dimensions that are inextricably intertwined, approaches com-
bining understanding with explanation are particularly promising. Here, we only want to
refer to a small number of exemplary studies pointing in this direction that has emerged
as one of the most fruitful and innovative strands in the social sciences over the past
years.
4.1 Combining personal networks and formal network analysis
We already briefly pointed out two important ways in which statistical analysis of personal
networks can be combined with formal network analysis (Sect. 3.2). First, the samples of
actors in full networks are described by looking at their composition in terms of individual
attributes like sex, age, class, and race. This procedure is as common as it is theoretically
simple: we want to know who the people in the study are (of course we will not really find
out by looking at a small set of attributes), if only to point out to what kinds of populations
our findings might apply. Things get more complicated when we identify different positions
or subgroups by way of formal network algorithms, and then describe these with regard to
individual attributes. Then some kind of causal connection between attributes and network
position is implied or suggested.
For example, Anheier et al. (1995) identify seven blocks of structurally equivalent actors
(from cultural elite to light culture and periphery) in a sample of 139 writers, and
then compare these blocks in their distribution of economic capital (income), social capital
(membership in professional associations), cultural capital (education), and symbolic capital
(types of texts produced). Anheier et al. do not state whether network position explains these
individual attributes, or whether these attributes explain the network position. Following a
Bourdieuan theoretical framework, they establish a correspondence between network loca-
tion and, for example, membership in professional organizations without claiming that one
leads to the other. In any case, the combination of formal network analysis with statisti-
cal analysis of individual attributes allows for the detection of systematic correlations and
possibly even to an explanation of causes or effects of network position on the individual
level.
In their famous study of the credit and marriage networks among Florentine patricians,
Padgett and Ansell (1993) similarly relate the position in network blocks to the gross wealth
and the neighborhood residence of the families. Here the implication is that network position
is more important than economic wealth in explaining the rise of the Medicithus network
position and individual attributes are compared with regard to their impact on individual
success. The rise of the Medici is more than individual attainment, though: it concerns the
reconfiguration of the whole network and should be regarded as an emergent property of the
entire network.
An algorithm that systematically aims at identifying causal connections between attributes
and network formation is SIENA (Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis).
SIENA is a tool to test for causal effects between various individual and dyadic characteristics
in longitudinal network data. In this way, it becomes possible, for example, to assess whether
the distribution of music tastes and alcohol consumption in a network are primarily an effect
of friendship ties (friends assimilate to their friends tastes and social practices) or whether
similarity in practices and tastes leads to friendship formation (homophily; Steglich et al.
123
2006). Here the ambition is clearly to explain social phenomena, but these are only located
at the individual level (of attributes and connections) rather than at the systemic level.
Other important examples for the combination of statistical analyses with formal network
algorithms include Burts work on the effects of social capital varying by gender (1998),
research by Baerveldt et al. on ethnic homophily in high schools (2007), and Martins work on
the correlation between status positions and the attribution of sexiness in commune networks
(2005). The latter is particularly interesting because it not only relates individual attributes
(like gender and age), but also relational attribution (of sexiness) by others to positions in
networks, thus aiming at a phenomenology of the inter-subjective (Martin 2003, p. 38) of
self- and other-ascriptions. All of these studies, however, have to remain at the individual
level, and can only aim at explanations of properties of individuals or their connections. An
explanation at the systems level, in contrast, has to emerge from a comparison of multiple
social contexts (which is partly possible by way of multi-level analyses).
4.2 Personal networks and qualitative methods
Research that combines statistical analyses of personal networks with qualitative methods
focuses on the level of the individual actors. It looks both at the structural embeddedness of
actors and at the meaning the actors derive from and attach to their connections to others.
Thus it comes closest to Webers original intention, combining a structural explanation of
individual actions with an understanding of the subjective meaning leading to these actions.
The main ambitions are to look for systematic connections between individual cognition and
embeddedness, but also to criticize and develop interview techniques for the collection of
quantitative network data.
Exemplary research tackling the first of these ambitions comes from the research group
around Laura Bernardi on networks and the decision to have children and from Elisa Bellotti
on friendship structures and strategies of young single people in Northern Italy. Bernardi
and her coauthors focus on the impact of personal relationships to friends, family, and oth-
ers on the decision of young couples in two German cities to have or not to have children
(Keim et al. 2009). They thus look specifically for the subjective meaning that comes from
influence processes in networks, and relate it to the structure and composition of personal
networks. Similarly, Bellotti links quantitative data on personal networks of young Italian
singles to a qualitative study of the subjective meaning attached to these networks (Bellotti
2008, p. 323ff). Very much in line with Webers approach, Bellotti constructs four ideal
types of structures of personal networks and links these with typical individual strategies
and motives. Both Bernardi and Bellotti view personal networks and subjective meaning as
inter-dependent: while networks produce specific individual orientations, these in turn have
an impact on how actors construct their intimate relationships. Other research pointing in this
direction includes Ann Misches research on the organizational affiliations and leadership
styles of Brazilian youth activists (2008, pp. 38ff, 186ff).
Brian Uzzis work on structural embeddedness as a logic of exchange that shapes motives
and expectations and promotes coordinated adaptation (1996) also combines an inquiry into
personal networks, qualitative methods and subjective cognition. First, Uzzi conducted ethno-
graphic fieldwork and problem-oriented interviews at New York City apparel firms, inquiring
into the subjective meanings and function of interfirm ties. On the basis of these interviews, he
found two types of relationships (Uzzi 1996, 1997), which guided further statistical analyses
of the behavioral and cognitive properties of these two established types of ties, analyzing
quantitative data on network exchanges.
123
The second intention of combinig personal networks statistics and qualitative methods can
be exemplified by the study of Bearman and Parigi (2004). Their work aims at finding out
what people think of when they answer the common network generator question: Looking
back over the last 6 months, who are the people with whom you discussed matters impor-
tant to you? After answering, the respondents were asked (in an open question) what kind
of topics they had thought about when answering the questionwhat counts as important
matters in the minds of the respondents. The goal was to find out what subjective meaning
respondents associated with the rather vague name generator question, and whether there
was systematic variation in the way respondents answered the question. For this, the answers
to the second, open question were coded into nine domains of topics from general news and
political issues to relationships and religion, thus quantifying the qualitative results. Most
importantly, Bearman and Parigis analysis shows a number of gender effects:
married women (try to) talk about relationships with their husbands while their hus-
bands talk about relationships with their friends. Similarly, married men report (mono-
logue?) conversations about ideological issues with their wives, the latter whom report
talking about ideological issues with their acquaintances. (2004, p. 544)
Given the fact that husbands and wives should statistically report the same topics of
conversations in their conversations, Bearman and Parigi conclude that gender differences
observed in studies of personal networks may be an artefact of the different understandings
of the network generator question, and of different respondent behavior (2004, pp. 547, 553).
Like the more quantitative studies of Fischer (1982) and Yeung (2005), Bearman and Parigis
work forms part of a research tradition that looks for systematic distortions in the way people
respond to personal network questions in surveys. Qualitative methods are particularly useful
for this because they can discern diverse interpretations from different groups of respondents.
4.3 Formal network analysis and qualitative methods
Research that combines formal network analysis with qualitative methods studies the struc-
ture of relations in whole networks. It provides descriptions of complex social situations,
points to particular positions individual or groups of actors hold and offers structural causes
for the actions of individuals and the network as a whole. While some studies focus on the
exploration of social contexts and the subjective meaning these contexts have for participat-
ing actors, others explain emergent properties of the network as a whole based on shared
meaning and distributed cognition of its actors. Such combinations thus provide a structural
explanation of individual or systemic actions with an understanding of the network meaning
leading to these actions. The main ambition of this combination is to look for systematic
connections between the pattern of relations and the shared cognition of the actors.
From its inception, formal social network analysis has included the use of qualitative meth-
ods in the process of data gathering. Indeed, network analytic measures are well-equipped for
the (algebraic) quantification of qualitative data (Breiger 2004). Seminal examples include
Sampsons ethnographic study of the relations in a New England monastery (1968), or Faulk-
ners study of the patterning of business relations between movie directors and composers in
Hollywod using formal algorithms on data collected in ethnographic field work (1983).
An example for the exploration of network structure and the subjective meaning such
structure has for participating actors provides Bakers work (1984). In his study of trad-
ers in a stock exchange market, he shows that the assumedly anonymous stock market is
socially structured and that the structure has an effect on market prices. After identifying two
123
distinctive crowds within one stock exchange by using qualitative data from interviews and
participant observation, Baker formally analyzes the network structure of actual exchanges
between the traders. In a third step, he interviews members of the two groups about their
cognition and interpretation for such structure. His study thus combines a formal network
analysis with the subjective, cognitive interpretation of the studied actors. He is able to explain
action of the network overall and the subjective meaning of its individual actors.8
Works that have been pushing explanations of the entire network using formal network
analysis, qualitative research techniques and a focus on inter-subjective meaning can in par-
ticular be found in the field of economic sociology. Joel Podolnys work shows how meaning
and structure conflate when actors signal status positions and receive certain status positions
based on the ascription of others (Podolny 2005). For example, the system of wine appella-
tion creates meaning for its constituents (i.e. wineries) by forming a network of associations
on the basis of similarity and difference. The wineries then search for cultural cues, through
observation, critics evaluation or media reports, as to how to position themselves in the
market of competitors (Benjamin and Podolny 1999). This is in line with Whites model for
production markets (1981, 2002) in which market actors relate to each other through signals
and through the stories they tell about themselves and each other. It is through the telling of
stories, as discussed above, that meaning emerges. Empirical studies of this mechanism, using
qualitative research techniques (content analyses of written documents and interview data)
and formal network analyses, include Kennedys work on the early computer workstation
market (2005) and Mtzels work on a newspaper market (2002).9
5 Conclusion
This paper has outlined how different quantitative and qualitative techniques have been fruit-
fully combined to analyze different aspects of networks, in particular network structure and
the meaning connected to it. We have shown that historically, both quantitative and qual-
itative analyses have been important in sociological network research, and that the role of
qualitative research primarily relates to aspects of meaning in networksactors orientations
and motivations, the symbols, schemes, and scripts circulated in communicative processes.
We follow relational sociology of Harrison White and others in claiming that (1) networks
are real social structures and not just measurement constructs (White 2008, p. 36). (2)
As real social structures, they are inextricably intertwined with meaning, that is: symbols,
narratives, identities, expectations, and categories (Fuhse 2009; Mtzel 2009). Networks are
a constructed reality in the sense of the Thomas theorem: If men define situations as real
they are real in their consequences (Merton 1948, p. 193). Thus networks do not consist of
mere structural patterns, but of the subjective and interactive definitions of these structural
patterns. (3) While it may be useful to reduce networks to formal algebraic representations
of patterns of relationships, the simultaneous attention to meaning can lead to additional
insights, complement or even correct some of the important research findings of sociological
network research.
8 The challenge for these types of studies is to collect interview data on all members of the network. This is
easier done in small, bounded settings, and gets much more difficult in larger settings. See Kirke (2010) for a
discussion on that.
9 Another group of studies applies formal network analysis to study relations between linguistic or social
categories derived from written documents (e.g. Martin 2000; Mohr 1994). This approach of measuring
meaning structures (Mohr 1998) studies cultural categories such as practices or concepts instead of social
actorstheir analytical approach looks for the structure of meaning already.
123
Consequently, we call for network research (4) to recognize the importance of looking
at networks from different angles, applying different research techniques in order to arrive
at a fuller and more accurate picture of complex and multi-faceted social structure, and
specifically (5) to embrace qualitative research techniques as an important complement to
its quantitative and structuralist stance. Since the three different research methods tackle
different dimensions of networks, and pursue different aims (description, understanding,
explanation) at different levels (individual, systemic), (6) research designs that combine
two (or even three) types of method proves particularly fruitful. Examples of such research
have been briefly discussed in Sect. 4. While meaning can be found and studied both on
the subjective level (in peoples heads) and on the inter-subjective level of communication
between actors, we claim that (7) too much research focuses solely on the subjective level, as
mainly tapped in qualitative and quantitative interviews. Instead, sociology should pay more
attention to the inter-subjective level and look at the cultural forms (symbols, categories etc.)
diffused and reproduced in processes of communication. In recent years, a few studies have
paid closer attention to the level of communicated meaning (e.g. McLean 1998; Mtzel 2002;
Gibson 2005). We speculate that research, using both quantitative and qualitative techniques,
dealing with questions of how networks get enacted and constructed, how identities of actors
are defined and negotiated, and of how network formations change in the course of com-
munication might be one of the most challenging and fruitful areas of sociological network
research in the future.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank the participants in a workshop on mixed methods in sociological
network research in Berlin in January 2009 and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Tackling connections, structure, and

meaning in networks: quantitative and

Jan Fuhse & Sophie Mtzel

Quality & Quantity

Qual Quant (2011) 45:1067-1089

Tackling connections, structure, and meaning

Jan Fuhse Sophie Mtzel

Published online: 6 April 2011

Keywords Social network analysis Culture Meaning Relational sociology

his collaboratorsthe Yankee City studiesrelied on a large scale, standardized survey of

3 Systematizing quantitative and qualitative network research

As we have seen, sociological network research incorporates three main methodological

3.1 Describing and explaining structure in formal network analysis

Table 1 Overview of aims of different methods in sociological network research

Qualitative methods Statistical analysis of Formal network analysis

Ambitions and Understanding of Explanation at the Explanation of

3.2 Explaining connections and individual attributes in personal networks

The statistical analysis of ego-centrically gathered personal networks, in contrast, is di-

3.3 Understanding of meaning in qualitative network research

of meaning can be analyzed by looking at actual communication processes, for example,

4 Combining methods in network research

4.1 Combining personal networks and formal network analysis

4.2 Personal networks and qualitative methods

4.3 Formal network analysis and qualitative methods

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