Qualitative Networks ─ Mixed Methods in Sociological Research

How do we interact with people in our everyday life? Who are the people we are connected to? What kind of support do we obtain from them? How can we provide assistance to them? How do conflicts emerge and how are they dealt with in our social circles? And what do these relationships mean for us? Social network analysis is a research approach that has tried to answer these and many other questions by examining the patterns of relations between people. This book explores the formal aspects of social networks, as well as the way people interpret them. By bringing together qualitative methods with social network analysis techniques, this book shows how to plan and conduct empirical research in the analysis of social structures.

Elisa Bellotti is Research Associate at the University of Manchester. She has been working on youth cultures, personal relationships and sociology of science and knowledge using both social network analysis and qualitative methods. She has experience in teaching both methods at undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D level. She has been published in peer reviewed Italian and international journals. Recent publications include "What are friends for? Elective communities of single people", in Social Networks, 2008 and "Amicizie. Le reti sociali dei giovani single", Franco Angeli, 2008 (in Italian).