2025/08/18 by Núria Targarona Rifà, Louise Ryan, Alejandro Ciordia · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Participatory Visual Research Methods #Social Media and Politics #Social and Cultural Dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/13607804251347267
openalex publication_date 2025/08/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Research on categorisation and boundary work has often focused on how institutional actors draw boundaries between groups of individuals, overlooking how individuals informally contest or reinforce these boundaries and categories. In this article, we make the case for new interactive qualitative data collection strategies to inductively explore social categorisation and boundary-making processes within personal networks, bringing together the potential of visualisation and personal network research. We introduce an innovative methodological procedure for in-depth interviewing that consists of asking participants to report on specific network members while using two novel interactive visual tools displayed on electronic devices. By discussing examples from our research, we illustrate the method’s potential in the data collection and analysis stages and highlight the technical, methodological, and conceptual contributions it can make to the study of social boundaries.