Check the phone book: Testing information and communication technology (ICT) recall aids for personal network surveys

This study tested two recall aids for the name generator procedure via a randomized web experiment with 447 college students, eliciting their personal networks. Compared to participants solely presented with the name generator, participants being prompted and probed to consult records saved in their communication devices provided more comprehensive network data and more weak ties. Furthermore, these data were garnered without either a substantial increase in item nonresponse or a decrease in completion time for subsequent name interpreters. Thus, ICT recall aids are deemed cost-effective and context-neutral techniques to improve the recall accuracy of data collected by the name generator.