Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative Data
Network visualizations are alluring yet deceptively difficult to interpret. This article demonstrates several strategies for integrating qualitative data into interactive network diagrams for the purposes of providing contextual information about actors and their relationships. The result is a new j...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2023-08-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Qualitative Methods |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231189369 |
| _version_ | 1797742276703682560 |
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| author | Thomas Cowhitt Toby Greany Chris Downey |
| author_facet | Thomas Cowhitt Toby Greany Chris Downey |
| author_sort | Thomas Cowhitt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Network visualizations are alluring yet deceptively difficult to interpret. This article demonstrates several strategies for integrating qualitative data into interactive network diagrams for the purposes of providing contextual information about actors and their relationships. The result is a new joint display called a Narrated Network Diagram (NND). The development of NNDs aims to make network visualizations more reliable tools for reporting research findings, especially for researchers integrating Social Network Analysis tools into multi- and mixed-methods research designs. Until now, researchers primarily use interactivity to support exploratory analysis of large networks at various scales. However, interactivity can also be used to integrate diverse forms of data without sacrificing perceptual efficiency by essentially hiding significant amounts of text within nodes and edges as tooltips or by delineating additional data within legends, titles, and subtitles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T14:38:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dab4fb808c824fa9aadf08aec7d253bf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1609-4069 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T14:38:35Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Qualitative Methods |
| spelling | doaj.art-dab4fb808c824fa9aadf08aec7d253bf2023-08-17T02:04:51ZengSAGE PublishingInternational Journal of Qualitative Methods1609-40692023-08-012210.1177/16094069231189369Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative DataThomas CowhittToby GreanyChris DowneyNetwork visualizations are alluring yet deceptively difficult to interpret. This article demonstrates several strategies for integrating qualitative data into interactive network diagrams for the purposes of providing contextual information about actors and their relationships. The result is a new joint display called a Narrated Network Diagram (NND). The development of NNDs aims to make network visualizations more reliable tools for reporting research findings, especially for researchers integrating Social Network Analysis tools into multi- and mixed-methods research designs. Until now, researchers primarily use interactivity to support exploratory analysis of large networks at various scales. However, interactivity can also be used to integrate diverse forms of data without sacrificing perceptual efficiency by essentially hiding significant amounts of text within nodes and edges as tooltips or by delineating additional data within legends, titles, and subtitles.https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231189369 |
| spellingShingle | Thomas Cowhitt Toby Greany Chris Downey Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative Data International Journal of Qualitative Methods |
| title | Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative Data |
| title_full | Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative Data |
| title_fullStr | Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative Data |
| title_short | Storytelling With Networks: Realizing the Explanatory Potential of Network Diagrams Through the Integration of Qualitative Data |
| title_sort | storytelling with networks realizing the explanatory potential of network diagrams through the integration of qualitative data |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231189369 |
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