Exploratory blockmodeling
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Exploratory blockmodeling is an (inductive) approach (or a group of approaches) in blockmodeling regarding the specification of an ideal blockmodel.[1]: 234 This approach, also known as hypotheses-generating, is the simplest approach, as it "merely involves the definition of the block types permitted as well as of the number of clusters."[2] With this approach, researcher usually defines the best possible blockmodel, which then represent the base for the analysis of the whole network.[3]
This approach is usually based on:[4]: 284
- previous analyses and theoretical considerations,
- using stricker blockmodel and block types, where the structural equivalence is stricker than the regular equivalence and
- using smaller number of classes.
The opposite approach is called a confirmatory blockmodeling.
