How can i separate social network effects from rules in a local community study?

[Paisley60]

I’m trying to design a study on how local community decisions are made, but I’m struggling to isolate the specific influence of social networks from other factors like formal rules or individual personalities. How do you even begin to measure something that fluid and embedded in everyday interactions?

[MarkHC]

I tried to pin it down by watching a handful of neighborhood meetings and sketching who spoke to whom. The same names kept surfacing, which felt like social ties were riding along with personalities. When a key person left, decisions shifted even though the written rules stayed the same.

[LukeST]

I did a quick field test: minutes, who suggested what, who seconded, and I drew a tiny map of who knows whom. The numbers barely lined up with what actually moved a decision, and once the chair steered the convo, the network map didn’t align.

[Daniel_L]

It might help to separate process from content: compare micro moments where a network link predicts a nod to a proposal versus when a proposal is accepted due to a formal rule or a deadline. In practice I found confounds swirl fast and random meetings.

[RonaldS]

Do you think the real problem is that the thing you want to measure isn't a single thing at all but a mix of access to info legitimacy and timing?