Bridging the Quantitative-Qualitative Gap: The Process for Converting Interview Data to Social Network Data WILLIE L. MCKETHER Department of Sociology and Anthropology The University of Toledo JULIA GLUESING Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Wayne State University KENNETH RIOPELLE Prepared for: 2007 SUNBELT XXVII International Sunbelt Social Network Conference 1-6 May, 2007, Corfu, Greece

Agenda The Process At-a-Glance Highlight the 5-Step Process Implications for Researchers Questions and Answers

Interview Data to Social Network Data

At-a-Glance: the Five Steps 1. 3. 4. 5. MulitNet 2.

Step 1: Word Create a separate file for each interview Transcribe interviews Edit text Save files as Rich Text Format (.rtf) Yields: Interviews ready for Atlas.ti Coding

Step 2: Atlas.ti Assign interviews (.rtf) as Primary Documents Create Node Codes for people, places etc. Format: N_Last_First_ID Create Link Codes for relations Format: L_Link_Relation_ID Select quotation: Apply Node and Link Code

Step 3: SPSS Export to SPSS Extras | Export to | SPSS Modify SPSS syntax file with: Insert IF statements to recode PD #s to ID1s Insert IF statements to recode SPSS “K variables” to ID2s Save out file with select variables in Excel format Yields: Excel Link File ID1 ID2 Relation1 Relation 2 … Relation n

Step 4: Excel Modify SPSS generated Excel file Insert “Begin Data” statement Add Link Variable Labels Save file as Comma Separated Variable (.csv) Make sure MultiNet files have correct file names: Node and Link File: Nod_name.csv, Lin_name.csv Yields: MultiNet Node and Link Files

Step 5: MultiNet (Or other Social Network Software) Read in Nod.csv and Lin.csv files Analyze using Social Network Software Etc.

Implications for Researchers Bridge the Qualitative-Quantitative Gap Robust, reusable process Explore interview data from network perspective with social network software tools and methods

Demo of steps on CD includes: Five sample interviews (Word files in (.rtf) format) An Atlas.ti HU file (.hpr5) with the interviews coded A SPSS Syntax with recode statements MultiNet Node and Link Excel “.csv” files Today’s PowerPoint Presentation A Podcast of this presentation The 22-page paper describing the process in detail

Questions?