Abstract

The comment to Crossley article is intended to shift the debate on mixing social network analysis with qualitative methods from the methodological perspective to the theoretical and epistemological one. It is argued that social network theory observes concrete sets of interaction, therefore its object of research is more similar to qualitative studies rather than quantitative ones. The power of formalization and abstraction of the mathematical tools applied in social network analysis places this perspective aside from the classic qualitative/quantitative debate.