“Usually, I Do Not Quarrel”: What Type of Ties Do We Find when We Ask about Conflicts Using a Name-generator Approach?

Abstract

In a mixed-methods study on poverty in Germany, we conducted qualitative interviews and collected quantitative data on ego-centered networks using a name-generator approach and a single set of respondents. Based on the qualitative data, we first developed a typology of negative ties and then evaluated which of these ties the name generator (on conflicts) had measured. To some extent, the conflict name-generator (CNG) captured the complexity of the negative ties in the typology, but it captured only a small fraction of the negative ties mentioned in the narrative interviews and it missed some specific ones. Discussing the limitations of the CNG in the light of our typology of negative ties allows us to learn more about being nuanced in formulating appropriate questions for eliciting negative ties.