Cross-sectional social network analysis

Abstract

Social network analysis (SNA) is a research approach that differs from other research approaches in that it focuses on the interaction of social phenomena. Thereby, social interactions are represented in a network and examined as relational data. In this context, networks are to be understood as an accumulation of nodes and edges as well as their connection. SNA can be identified as a research approach that allows researchers to describe and analyze social patterns by explicitly incorporating the context of the research subject. There is no consistent theory of social network analysis; rather, it has to be understood as a heuristic of methodological approaches that can be connected to social structural theories that has its roots in sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and ethnology. Depending on the application, SNA has both an explorative and a confirmatory character and can be used in qualitative research as well as in quantitative research This chapter presents a variant of network analysis, with which it is possible to record, analyze, and compare different social structures. It introduces the method and its language and shows that social network analysis not only allows for the combining of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, it presupposes it. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).