I have a project that collects data about two distinct types of alters. We ask about edges between these two node types, within node type 1, but not within node type 2. I’ve seen some threads that two-mode networks are not well-supported at this time.
I’ve been able to partially work around this by creating two name generators that automatically assign an attribute to distinguish the alter groups. The only problem I am experiencing is that the tie-strength census interface asks about ties between all nodes, which I know will be confusing to our participants and interviewers.
Is there any way that I can filter it to not ask about the ties between nodes that share a specific attribute? Or any similar workarounds?
Thanks for joining our user community and for posting your question about two-mode networks in Network Canvas. You’re absolutely on the right track with utilizing additional attributes to distinguish alter types. Depending on the specifics of your research and instrument, you may want to utilize network filtering rules to determine which nodes appear on your edge generation stages. For example, if you only wish to show or exclude nodes which have a specific attribute (e.g., “close_friends”) you would implement a rule accordingly. Network filtering is available on any edge generation screen you choose and you can learn more on our documentation site, if that helps.
You may also want to consider using the Sociogram interface where ties can be drawn between any nodes in the network without the requirement of per alter pair combination prompts (as on the dyad census or tie strength census).
Thanks, Kate! The problem I am experiencing with network filtering is that I want all nodes included in the edge census but only the edges between node type 1 and node type 2–the way it’s configured now, we are not using 2/3 of the data that is collected (type1 to type1 and type2 to type2), which is a significant added burden in the collection process. I could not find a way to make this work with network filtering.
Unfortunately I don’t think there is a way to implement exactly what you are hoping to achieve in either of the census interfaces. The only additional thing I might suggest would be to look into using the custom node label functionality. This would allow the two node types to look distinct on the Sociogram so you could easily guide your participants with a prompt that would ask them to connect only nodes of different types. Again, this is a different approach to edge generation than the traditional dyad census but sounds like it will be much more suitable for what you want to achieve.
Tagging my colleagues here in case others have ideas to mention: @Joshua@caden