How to get started mapping relationships

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Explain benefits of relationship mapping, drawing on literature.

E.g. mapping relationships can be a great way to piece together disparate pieces of information and reveal what is hidden in plain sight. It can tell you a lot about how the social world is connected.

The difficult part is collecting the data.

But it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here are several questions you can ask to get started:

  1. Which people or organisations do I want to map?
    1. This is the starting point for everything
  2. Which relationships are important?
    1. Ask yourself: what is a meaningful relationship?
  3. How big do I want my map to be?
    1. This is directly related to the previous question.
    2. You could map everything. For example,…
    3. In the real world, however, this is not practical. If you’re mapping connections between political actors, you can’t know everyone they know and meet.
    4. So decide on how many steps. Remember the six degrees of Kevin Bacon: go too far and the results become meaningless. Two steps is a good approach: who a person is connected to, and who those people are connected to/
  4. What additional information do I want to collect?
    1. Names are obvious
    2. But maybe other things are of interest: job titles, particular attributes, the nature of the relationship, sources of info.
  5. Where do I want to get my information from?
    1. It’s better to be consistent with a small number of sources.
    2. Be systematic: it’ll produce better data.
    3. Build outwards: instead of trying to capture everything everywhere, select a couple of high-value sources and a recent time period. That way, if you stop, you’ll still have valuable data.
  6. What could be missing?
    1. What can’t you know? How will this affect your conclusions?
    2. You’re not omniscient, so acknowledge the limitations of your data.
  7. How do I want to collect my info?
    1. The easiest is to use a spreadsheet, with each type of info in a separate column.
    2. Record as you go: what you are doing, what decisions you are making. It will make life easier when you come to write it up.
  8. Which tool do I want to use to visualise my info?
    1. There are many. Some require coding skills, others are visual. Some will have complex analytic tools built in.
    2. Decide on the level of sophistication you need and are comfortable with.
    3. My personal favourite: Kumu.
  9. How do I want to share my findings?

Pro tip: spending a little bit of time thinking about these questions can save you a lot of time in the long run.

If I’ve forgotten anything, let me know in the comments