Full Description
Written at an introductory level, and featuring engaging case examples, this book reviews the theory and practice of personal and egocentric network research. This approach offers powerful tools for capturing the impact of overlapping, changing social relationships and contexts on individuals' attitudes and behavior. The authors provide solid guidance on the formulation of research questions; research design; data collection, including decisions about survey modes and sampling frames; the measurement of network composition and structure, including the use of name generators; and statistical modeling, from basic regression techniques to more advanced multilevel and dynamic models. Ethical issues in personal network research are addressed. User-friendly features include boxes on major published studies, end-of-chapter suggestions for further reading, and an appendix describing the main software programs used in the field.
Contents
Prologue1. IntroductionWhat Is This Chapter About?1.1 Everyone Has a Personal Network1.2 The Size, Composition, and Structure of Personal Networks1.3 Egos, Alters, Egocentric Networks, and Sociocentric Networks1.4 Should I Use Personal Network or Whole Network Analysis?Box: Combining Personal and Whole Networks1.5 Who Is This Book For?1.6 Book OverviewChapter Summary2. How Personal Networks Have Been Used So FarWhat Is This Chapter About?2.1 A Brief History of Personal Network AnalysisBox: The Bott Hypothesis about Conjugal Roles and Social NetworksBox: Clyde Mitchell and the Manchester SchoolBox: The Small World ExperimentBox: The East York Studies2.2 What We Currently Know about Personal Networks2.3 Theoretical Frameworks for Effects of Personal Networks on Individual Outcomes2.4 Final RemarksChapter SummaryFurther Reading3. Developing a Research QuestionWhat Is This Chapter About?3.1 Research Questions, Hypotheses, and Objectives3.2 Outcomes and Social Determinants3.3 Real or Perceived?3.4 Some Examples of Questions and Hypotheses in Personal Network ResearchChapter SummaryFurther Reading4. Getting Started: Selecting a Population, Survey Mode, and Sampling FramesWhat Is This Chapter About?4.1 Deciding Whether Personal Network Analysis Is Appropriate4.2 Selecting a PopulationBox: Neighborhood Networks and StatusBox: Emotional Support and Cognitive Functioning among the ElderlyBox: Social Support and Smoking in African American Adults4.3 The Survey Mode4.4 The Sampling Frame4.5 Integration with Larger Surveys4.6 Identifying Dependent and Explanatory VariablesBox: Loneliness and DementiaBox: Personal Networks and Ethnic IdentityChapter SummaryFurther Reading5. Questions about the EgoWhat Is This Chapter About?5.1 Variables and Research Aims: What Questions to AskBox: Personal Networks and Social Support: Comparing Two Ethnic Groups in Southern California5.2 Levels of MeasurementBox: Needle-Sharing and Personal Network Correlates5.3 Wording a QuestionChapter SummaryFurther Reading6. Delineating Personal Networks: Alter ElicitationWhat Is This Chapter About?6.1 What Is a Name Generator?Box: Contact Lists in Phones and Personal Networks6.2 How Social Ties Are Stored in Memory and How They Are RecalledBox: Probing6.3 Defining the Boundaries of Personal Networks6.4 Name Generators for Eliciting Intentional (Nonrandom) Subsets of AltersBox: Multiple Name Generators for Social SupportBox: Single- and Multiple-Name Generators6.5 A Name Generator for Eliciting a Random Subset of Alters6.6 Additional Qualifiers of the Network Boundary6.7 Alternative Approaches to Name GeneratorsBox: Keeping Diaries of Contacts during Three Months and Beyond6.8 Final RemarksChapter SummaryFurther Reading7. Collecting Alter AttributesWhat Is This Chapter About?7.1 What Is a Name Interpreter?7.2 What We Really Know about AltersBox: Alters' Real Attributes or the Ego's Perception of Their Attributes?7.3 Questions about the Attributes of Alters7.4 Questions about Relationships between the Ego and the AlterBox: Tie Strength: Closeness, Duration of Relationship, or Frequency of Contact?Box: Level of Knowing, Duration of Relationship, and Frequency of ContactBox: The Friendship Label7.5 How Many Questions about Alters? Respondent BurdenBox: Ordering Questions about Alters Alterwise or QuestionwiseChapter SummaryFurther Reading8. Collecting Data about Ties between AltersWhat Is This Chapter About?8.1 What Is an Edge Interpreter?8.2 What We Really Know about Alter-Alter Ties8.3 Alter-Alter PromptsBox: Detailed Answer Categories for Smaller Personal Networks8.4 Respondent BurdenBox: The Reliability of Respondents' Evaluations of Alter-Alter TiesBox: A Different Way to Explore Network Structure and CompositionChapter SummaryFurther Reading9. Visualizing Personal NetworksWhat Is This Chapter About?9.1 Personal Network Visualization: Basic Principles9.2 Collecting Personal Network Data through Visual Displays9.3 Network Visualizations as Cues in Qualitative Interviews9.4 Comparing Personal Networks through VisualizationsChapter SummaryFurther Reading10. Measuring Personal Network Characteristics without Generating NamesWhat Is This Chapter About?10.1 Characteristics of Larger Personal Networks10.2 Personal Network SizeBox: The Random Mixing Assumption in the Network Scale-Up Method10.3 Social Distance10.4 Social Capital10.5 Social SupportChapter SummaryFurther Reading11. Analyzing Personal Network Composition and StructureWhat Is This Chapter About?11.1 Summarizing Name Interpreters and Edge Interpreters by Respondents11.2 Creating Simple Compositional Variables from Personal NetworksBox: How to Use SPSS for Working with Personal Network Data11.3 More Advanced Compositional VariablesBox: The Power of Homophily11.4 Creating Simple Structural Variables from Personal NetworksBox: To Include or to Exclude Ego?Box: Personality and Personal Network Structure11.5 Creating Compositional Variables Based on More Than One Attribute11.6 Creating Variables That Combine Composition and StructureBox: 11.7 Adding Compositional and Structural Variables to the DatasetChapter SummaryFurther Reading12. Statistical Modeling with Personal Network Data: The Level of EgosWhat Is This Chapter About?12.1 Personal Network Data and Statistical Modeling12.2 Predicting Ego-Level Dependent Variables12.3 Models for Non-Network Dependent VariablesBox: Using Personal Network Characteristics to Predict Immigrant AssimilationBox: The Effect of Personal Network Exposure on Reproductive Health BehaviorBox: A Longitudinal Analysis of Personal Support Networks and DepressionBox: Using Cluster Analysis to Find Types of Immigrants' Personal Networks12.4 Models for Network Dependent VariablesBox: Predicting Network Dependent Variables with Generalized Linear ModelsChapter SummaryFurther Reading13. Statistical Modeling with Personal Network Data: The Level of Alters and TiesWhat Is This Chapter About?13.1 Statistical Models for Alters or Ego-Alter TiesBox: Testing Theories on Social Support with Hierarchical Models for Personal Networks13.2 Statistical Models for Alter-Alter TiesBox: Modeling Alter-Alter Ties to Study Transitivity and HomophilyBox: Using Personal Networks to Estimate Whole Network Characteristics through ERGMsBox: Using SAOMs to Examine the Evolution of Alter-Alter Ties over TimeChapter SummaryFurther Reading14. Ethics in Personal Network ResearchWhat Is This Chapter About?14.1 Personal Network Research and Ethical Dilemmas14.2 Gaining Consent14.3 ConfidentialityBox: Incentives and Respondent-Driven Sampling14.4 Social Media and Mobile Phones14.5 Managing and Publishing Personal Network DataBox: Doing Network Research in Organizational SettingsChapter SummaryFurther ReadingAppendix: SoftwareReferences
