Ryan, L.M. and D’Angelo, A. (2017) Changing times: Migrants’ social network analysis and the challenges of longitudinal research. Social Networks. ISSN 0378-8733
Abstract
Focusing on migrant social networks,this paper draws upon the sociology oftime to incorporate complex notions of temporality into the research process. In so doing, we consider firstly, the challenge of going ‘beyond the snapshot’ in data collection to capture dynamism through time. Secondly, we apply the concepts of timescapes to explore ways of addressing the wider context and the interplay between spatiality,temporality and relationality inmigration research.We argue thatintegrating amixedmethods approach to SNA, crucially including visualisation, can provide a useful methodological and analytical framework to understand dynamics. SNA can also be helpful in bridging the personal and structural dimensions in migration research, by providing a meso level of analysis. However, it is also important to connect the investigation of local and transnational networks with an analysis of the broader social, economic and political contexts in which these take shape; in other words, connecting the micro and the meso with the wider macro level. Drawing upon reflections from our migration research studies, we argue that different combinations of quantitative, qualitative and visual methods do not just provide richer sets of data and insights, but can allow us to better connect conceptualisations – and ontologies – of social networks with specific methodological frameworks.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Migration research; Temporality; Spatiality; Mixed methods; Visualisation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Apr 2017 15:27 |
Last Modified: | 29 Oct 2018 11:18 |
Published Version: | http://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2017.03.003 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.socnet.2017.03.003 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:114724 |