ABSTRACT
Faith-based organizations (FBO) define only one element of an enormously complex network of actors and institutions within the civil society. The Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM) is a voluntary association of community development corporations (CDC), individuals, and other organizations focused on promoting and expanding community-based housing and economic development in Michigan. This chapter also focuses on two key elements of the research design: the data collection process and analysis strategies. Social network analysis provides a way to model relationships and determine how those relationships structure intense and complex interactions among multiple actors. There are two primary network analysis techniques: centrality and structural equivalence analysis. Multiple waves of surveys along with the contextual information drawn from the interviews and content analysis provides an in-depth assessment of the service and, ultimately, political roles of nonprofits, faith-based, in civil society.
