Comparing people and their relationships

After each completed interview, researchers compare the new material with earlier visits and known relationships. They can identify shared references, different interpretations, complementary practices, unanswered questions, relevant disagreements. They preserve the particular source passages, images, possessions, dates behind each proposed relation.

Two people may select the same work in different editions. Another may describe an experience connected to a passage without knowing the work. A participant's practical skill may relate to somebody else's unfinished project. Researchers can map these connections before any party encounter, then revisit them after seeing the people use the shared setting.

The comparison concerns networks as well as pairs. Researchers can identify an existing cluster of friends, a community connection absent from the initial map, several people approaching a question through different practices. They distinguish prior contact, shared institutions, inferred affinity, a proposed future activity. Network mapping, reasons for contact, continuing groups develop those uses.

An individual event can alter the interpretation of the network. A previously overlooked visitor may connect several conversations. A pleasant exchange may add little beyond an existing friendship. Researchers retain those differences while preparing encounter configurations and revising participant accounts.