Eliciting data on social relationships: The use of hand-drawn network maps in tracing the perception of digitally mediated social ties

Abstract The emergence of online social networking platforms established a new way of identifying ourselves as being related to other individuals. Previous research has looked at the impact these ‘networking’ applications have on individuals’ everyday lives. Nonetheless, obtaining convincing data on how individuals assess the quality of digitally mediated social relationships has often been perceived challenging. Drawing on a methodological framework rooted in a social network analysis approach, this paper traces the suitability of hand-drawn network maps for eliciting data on how individuals give meaning to digitally mediated social relationships by comparing it to traditional tools used in social network analysis. The results show that using hand-drawn network maps in this particular context provides respondents with a more tangible resource to recall data on digitally mediated social relationships. In particular, this methodological approach elicits substantial data on abstract thematic areas that are typically difficult to recall using standardised techniques.