Studying Relational Chains from Narrative Material

Abstract

International audienceRelational chains are a poorly understood approach to social networks, whose methods of analysis are usually classified according to the personal networks / complete networks dichotomy. Rather than mapping out networks statically, the study of relational chains reconstructs the concrete mobilisations of social relations in processes for accessing resources or networking with people. The method we present reconstructs chainsfrom a narrative material established on the basis of crossed interviews. This method is especially well suited to capturing phenomena of embeddedness of economic activities in social networks. We introduce it in this article based on two surveys, one on science-industry relations and the other on enterprise creation

Proximities and the role of relational networks in innovation: The case of the dairy industry in two villages of the “green municipality” of Paragominas in the Eastern Amazon

“…Given the emerging character of dairy production and the isolation of the villages we have interviewed all the producers concerned by the dairy production in the two villages. Semi‐structured interviews focused on the producers’ life history (Grossetti et al, ), in order to understand how they came to settle and became involved in the village, on the one hand, and in the production system, in order to identify the types of actors, farming systems, and practices. More structured interviews comprising sociometric questions were also conducted to identify the links between the members of the sub‐population studied.…”

“…The interaction dynamics are explored through an analysis of social networks, in which we examine, on the basis of empirical data (Grossetti, Barthe, & Chauvac, ; Lazega, ), the structure of the networks that facilitate interactions, and through an analysis of proximity relations whereby we perform a detailed study of the spatial and non‐spatial determinants of these interactions. Approaches to agricultural development involve the analysis of social networks to identify the existing interactions at work in the dissemination of knowledge or in the agro‐ecological transition (Compagnone & Hellec, ), whereas proximity analysis has been used to understand the determinants of these interactions.…”

Dynamics of social networks of urban informal entrepreneurs in an African economy

“…The 'case stories method' uses interviews based on biographical data, life stories or narrative interviews (Grossetti et al, 2011). The entrepreneurs interviewed in this research provided an account of their professional trajectories.…”

“…The purpose of the original method used in this paper is to understand the dynamics of networks over time, combining a qualitative approach to data collection with a "bifocal approach" to data analysis (i.e. both quantitative and qualitative approaches) (Coviello, 2005;Grossetti et al, 2011). Interviews structured around the life-story method and inspired by the case studies approach (Grossetti et al, 2011) were carried out with fourteen entrepreneurs operating in the informal economy of Bobo-Dioulasso.…”

“…both quantitative and qualitative approaches) (Coviello, 2005;Grossetti et al, 2011). Interviews structured around the life-story method and inspired by the case studies approach (Grossetti et al, 2011) were carried out with fourteen entrepreneurs operating in the informal economy of Bobo-Dioulasso. Analysis of interviews was carried out using three complementary steps, privileging a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods.…”