Social network analysis as an augmentation of qualitative research

As a primarily qualitative researcher, relying heavily on ethnographic and interview techniques for data collection and Grounded Theory as a mode of analysis, colleagues are often surprised that social network analysis (SNA) is a staple of my research process. The end products of qualitative work rarely show network statistics or visualizations generated along the way, and yet the research would be incomplete without these methods. A perspective on the way in which social network analysis can contribute to research and business considers SNA as a critical intermediate step in a hybrid or mixed methods process, and an important augmentation to the traditional modes of qualitative inquiry.