The use of documentary data for network analysis in emergency and crisis management

The use of network analysis to understand relationships among actors and organizations in coordinated actions has grown in recent years. Examining the network structure and functions in disaster response has gained particular attention. Different methods of data collection and analysis are utilized in network research. The use of documents as a data source has also gained traction. Scholars utilize content analysis of documents to uncover network structure, i.e., core “nodes,” and functions. This is especially critical in emergency and crisis management as the associated network involves complex set of actors from different sectors and jurisdictions, and first-hand recollections of representatives might not be inclusive of every interaction and specific actors they worked with. With augmented utilization, there is a need to understand the methodological process of document use as a primary means of data analysis in emergency management. This study fills that gap by providing a systematic literature review of empirical studies across a broad range of subjects that have discussed document collection and use for network analysis. Furthermore, this study provides a detailed example of the method of document identification and collection, data generation and organization process, and network visualization and analysis in an emergency and crisis management context. The study concludes with answering, for disaster response networks, what types of documentary data are utilized and how they are used, the types of disasters that have been prevalent in utilizing this method, and the process undertaken to analyze and visualize networks.