ABSTRACT

This article illustrates an integration of qualitative and quantitative evidence in a network analysis using Chinese guanxi circles as an example. We first conducted various qualitative studies: collecting second-hand data, noted field observations, in-depth interviews and informal surveying of all workers with open questions to classify all actors by roles in guanxi circles that were centreed on the organisation’s supervisor. This is the “ground truth” used for testing the accuracy rate of our various methods of quantitative measurement. We then computed a measure of guanxi proximity (Gji) by which we further classified individuals into guanxi roles using quantitative methods. By comparing the quantitative results with the “ground truth”, we found the five best questions in our survey for sorting people into guanxi roles and a preferred measurement of guanxi proximity.