Assumption 11: Bimodal Networks—What You Can Know About Relationships Without Asking the Participants
摘要
The networks considered under this assumption differ greatly from the other networks that are usually examined. Relationships are usually recorded through self-disclosure using so-called network generators. Such network generators ask, for example, about best friends or who has attended a seminar together. The second form of network collection considered in this booklet takes place in the context of recording the cognitive social structure. The people examined do not provide self-disclosure, but are asked about their observations or their knowledge of relationships between other people in the network to be examined. At this point, a third possibility of recording networks is now presented. The trick is that you can make statements about the structure of relationships between people without directly obtaining information about their relations. The relationships are therefore recorded indirectly. Information about who was where and when is sufficient for this. Such knowledge is often accessible through documents. For example, there are often protocols with participants in meetings or affiliations to committees or associations. In the classic study of the so-called Southern Women, which were recorded in the community study by Davis et al. (2009, first 1941), newspaper reports were evaluated. In the newspaper reports, the study authors found indications of which of the ladies were involved in certain events together.