Strong Tie, Weak Tie and In-betweens: A Continuous Measure of Tie Strength Based on Contact Diary Datasets

The contact diary method, an alternative data collecting method, is introduced. The brief summary of other methods collecting ego-centred network data (name- and the position generator) is followed by previous contact diary studies (Fu, 2007). Then our contact diary application with some results is shown. Using contact diary to collect data on egocentric networks, one can acquire a wider and more complex personal network structure. Based on our data we model a more refined continuum of categories than the so-called ‘classical’ strong and weak ties. A Strength of Tie (SoT) index is computed and compared in the two datasets.