Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1129524 | Social Networks | 2007 | 16 Pages |
Abstract
We examine methods for reducing respondent burden in evaluating alter–alter ties on a set of network structural measures. The data consist of two sets, each containing 45 alters from respondent free lists: the first contains 447 personal networks, and the second 554. Respondents evaluated the communication between 990 alter pairs. The methods were (1) dropping alters from the end of the free-list, (2) randomly dropping alters, (3) randomly dropping links, and (4) predicting ties based on transitivity. For some measures network structure is captured with samples of less than 20 alters; other measures are less consistent. Researchers should be aware of the need to sample a minimum number of alters to capture structural variation.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Mathematics
Statistics and Probability
Authors
Christopher McCarty, Peter D. Killworth, James Rennell,