SOCIAL NETWORKS MOBILIZATION ON HOUSING MARKET: MANAGING QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA DIFFERENCES
SOCIAL NETWORKS MOBILIZATION ON HOUSING MARKET: MANAGING QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA DIFFERENCES

Summary/Abstract: In the frame of qualitative vs. quantitative debate, the present research analyzes the mobilization of social networks in the process of finding a house in order to test the theory of the strength of weak ties. By using a resource generator and a semi-structured interview it reveals the substantive differences in the data produced by the two methods. The results show that weak ties mobilization occurs in the context of a larger network, except for the higher social status subjects which mobilize only a medium sized network. The length of the chains of efficient nodes mobilized is longer for lower status subjects and is always dubbled by the mobilization of the stronger ties (family). The resource generator and interview produced similar data, but the interview produced richer content that allowed us to understand the relation between weak ties and strong ties, between mobilization of social networks and the other means of housing search, and the dynamics of the mobilization.

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