Sources and data for social network analysis

Sources and data for social network analysis. Social network analysis (SNA) is becoming more and more widespread in several scientific disciplines as a method for processing social, economic, geographic, historical, digital, etc. data. Visualizations of graphs, communities and other ties are multiplying. However, there is a risk that SNA users may lose sight of the conditions under which their data are produced and thereby over-interpret or under-interpret the results. This article provides a guide to the different types of sources of network data, and the pitfalls and choices encountered in the process of producing network data. The first part provides an overview of these pitfalls and choices, and the second part focuses on the specifics of each source of data. Based on the authors' experience in training network researchers, the article proposes a review of controlled ways of producing network data from this array of sources.