Transcript The Influence of Visualization of Personal Networks in

The Influence of Visualization of
Personal Networks in Qualitative
Interviews with Respondents
Molina, J.L., McCarty, C., Aguilar,
C., & Rota, L.
III Seminario para el análisis de redes sociales & I International
Workshop de la Red Hispana para el Análisis de Redes
Sociales, Sevilla, 7, 8 y 9 de Septiembre 2005
Research Question …
What we get when both
respondents and interviewers are
in front of a personal network
visualization?
Different, we mean …
Bias, Drawings, Visual variables …
• Egonet’ personal networks visualizations
are based on cognitive reports from
informants about their social world… we
are interest in bias on recall people.
• Drawings vs. Visualizations of the same
personal networks.
• Effects of visual variables in the qualitative
interview.
Associative & Structural Bias …(i)
• Associative bias (Brewer) is a wellknown effect: people are recalled by
perceived social proximity. This mean that
the main factor on recall is the social
context where people interact (family,
work, College …).
• Along with this factor there are others: far
location of alters, personal characteristics,
acoustic similarity of persons' names…
Associative & Structural Bias …(ii)
• Structural bias … social connections are
recalled under some effects:
1. Tertius gaudens (Burt, 1994).
2. Superior status (Festinger, Warner).
3. More interaction more relialibility reporting
social ties(Romney & Faust, 1983).
4. More centrality in the social structure betther
knlwedge of what is going on …(Krackhardt,
1990).
5. Fill-in-the-blanks, Freeman, 1992).
Research …
• We performed 19 in depth interviews
during the first trimester of 2005 in
Barcelona (12 women and 7 men, 33
years old of mean).
• The focus of interview was ethnic
identity: 10 from Spain, 3 from Ghana, 2
from Serbia, 1 from Senegal, 1 from
Croatia and 2 from Bosnia).
Drawings ex ante …(i)
•
•
Within the interview we got a drawing of each
person about his/her personal network with
those instructions:
“We would like you to draw your social circles.
The more people in each circle, the larger it will
be. Circles that are farther apart mean that
they are less socially connected. Circles can
also overlap. You can also specify single
individuals. When you are done drawing, you
can put a label or name in each circle to tell us
what it is.”
Computer visualization ex post
•
•
Some days after we got a visualization of the
same personal network with the aid of Egonet
and a free list of 45 people and 990 pair tie
evaluations:
“Please, tell us a list of 45 people you know on
a personal basis (first name and viceversa),
that both of you met at least once within the
last two years and that you could contact
him/her if necessary. Also, try that all types of
contacts be represented”.
Drawings vs visualizations …(i)
Calella
AMICS DE
COSINS
Colegio
CALELLA
FAMILIA
COLE
Eramus
VETERINÀRIA
Familia,
amigos de
primos
Amigo del colegio
ERASMUS
Same social circles … perceived social proximity
Gh
Familia
Drawings vs visualizations …(ii)
Familia padres
hermanos Primos
Amigos - Gh
amigos - Gh fuera
Amigos - Espa - Vall
Vic
Amigos de Ghana en Vic
Amigos fuera de Vic
Gh fuera
Vic (trabajo)
Vallad
vic
Valladolid
BCN
Familia en Ghana
Same social circles but different person in the center
Drawings vs visualizations …(iii)
otros
Florencia
otros
Florenci
a
Berlin
Berlin
Familia paterna
F. materna
Berlín
Amigos escuela
Barcelona amigos +
familia directa
Amigos
Halle
Amigos de Barcelona
familia
materna
Halle
familia
paterna
Same social circles … with far location …
Drawings vs visualizations …(iv)
Vecinos
Antiguo
trabajo
mis amigos
mas intimos
amistades diversas
mi familia y yo
familia más lejana
Conocidos del
trabajo
Familia en
Serbia
Vecinos
Amigos
amigos
gente de trabajo
Amigos serbios
en Barcelona
conocidos de trabajo
Different structure
Familia del
marido
Drawings vs visualizations …
summary
• Similarities: social circles are almost de
same in all cases.
• Differences:
– Structure
– Isolates (free list effect)
– Overlapping
(Egonet 1rst version
limitation)
Qualitative interviews & Personal
Network visualization
1. The informants believe that the graph
representing their personal network is an
accurate representation of it. because it
captures the way social relationships are memorized
2. Informants like the visualization very
much  because it is based on their reports and talk about
them.
3. Informants detect errors either in the
nodes or in the connections because
their fault.
Qualitative interviews & Personal
Network visualization
4. Visual variable: color. The gradation of
color represented betweeness. enacted
new information about the alter and the vital history of ego.
5. Visual variable: position. Isolates. 
enacted new information about separate spheres of activity of
ego.
6. Visuals variables: linking and
position. Clusters of people.  enacted
new information about the way groups are related.
Q & PN visualization
• Is it possible to perform an indepth interview without the
aid of the personal network
visualization?
;-)
Q & PN visualization (ii)
• Combining three o four visual
variables at the same time we
get structural information
about the social world of the
informant that we cannot get
for other ways