In this introductory article, we as guest editors set out the key ambitions and arguments of the Special Issue and highlight our contribution to social network research within migration studies. We argue that social network analysis has the potential to address epistemological pitfalls in migration research especially in overcoming the metaphoric use of networks as well as nation-state and ethnicity-centred epistemologies. Moreover, we suggest that adopting a qualitative approach to social networks not only changes how we research networks but also what we understand them to be. While seeking to go beyond metaphors and delve into the tool box of SNA, in order to gain deeper understandings of social networks, we argue that this cannot mean purely quantitative research techniques. We draw upon the early roots of social network research, within anthropology, to find inspiration and consider the contribution of qualitative approaches to analysing dynamic social relationships and to including neglected aspects like meaning making and agency. Adopting a reflexive approach enables us to de-migranticise our research turning the role of migration and ethnicity for social networks into an empirical question rather than taking them as an essentialist starting point for investigation.

中文翻译：

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移民研究的定性网络分析：超越隐喻和认识论陷阱

在这篇介绍性文章中，我们作为客座编辑阐述了特刊的主要目标和论点，并强调了我们对移民研究中社交网络研究的贡献。我们认为，社会网络分析有可能解决移民研究中的认识论陷阱，尤其是在克服网络的隐喻使用以及民族国家和以种族为中心的认识论方面. 此外，我们建议对社交网络采用定性方法不仅会改变我们研究网络的方式，还会改变我们对它们的理解。在寻求超越隐喻并深入研究 SNA 工具箱的同时，为了更深入地了解社交网络，我们认为这不能意味着纯粹的定量研究技术。我们利用人类学中社会网络研究的早期根源来寻找灵感并考虑定性方法对分析动态社会关系的贡献，并包括意义制定和代理等被忽视的方面。