 |
 |
***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org ***** > > Dear Sergio Romero (and others), > > Your homework assignment is to write 100 times: > > "Social Network Analysis is not 'a method' but a paradigm. > A way of looking at the social world and analyzing it." The motivating idea here seems to be that there are theory-free methods out there and that network analysis is not one of them. In truth, most methods are caught up in theories and therefore paradigms (where a paradigm is mainly a theory or set of theories which specify appropriate methods). This is certainly true for ethnography (where the implicit theory is one of situated action tied to the immediate context), comparative-historical sociology (theory: historical outcomes arise due to the intersection of discrete conditions), and computer simulations (theory: macro outcomes arise from the interaction of a large number of actors obeying simple rules). The problem, perhaps, is that we think of conventional multivariate analysis as being a kind of generic method that can be wielded to test any theory whatsoever. But while it's used that way in practice, it too contains an implicit theory of causation, namely that it's incremental and additive and that most effects are linear and uni-directional and aren't hopelessly obscured by multicollinearity. That said, I don't want to provoke Barry, so: Social Network Analysis is not 'a method' but a paradigm. A way of looking at the social world and analyzing it. Social Network Analysis is not 'a method' but a paradigm. A way of looking at the social world and analyzing it. Social Network Analysis is not 'a method' but a paradigm. A way of looking at the social world and analyzing it. Social Network Analysis is not 'a method' but a paradigm. A way of looking at the social world and analyzing it. David Gibson _____________________________________________________________________ SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.