Surveying data on connected personal networks

This survey study combined name generators with snowball sampling to collect information on personal leisure networks and underlying “global” network structure. Although such an arrangement is not unusual, this large-scale study – with around 700 respondents – reported nearly 15,500 social contacts. Furthermore, snowball chains were limited to leisure contacts with no further limitation on collecting data or continuing recruitment.While our methodological frame allowed analysis of both personal and global network structure within one data collection, it also included several sources of bias. To decrease bias, the study employed several especially designed mechanisms.The paper examines both survey methodology and instrument in detail. It presents a methodology to survey personal network structures as well as characteristics of a population-wide leisure network structure. We discuss tools to decrease bias and statistics on their possible impacts, with rather surprising results. The paper closes with a discussion of data security issues and ethical considerations: important factors in projects using such methodologies. The Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner evaluated this study, making this section particular interesting for those planning similar projects.