Eliciting personal network data in web surveys through participant-generated sociograms

Paola Tubaro (1, 2, 3) , Antonio A. Casilli (4, 5) , Lise Mounier (6)

1 LRI - Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique
2 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
3 University of Greenwich
4 Télécom ParisTech
5 CEM - Centre Edgar-Morin
6 CMH - Centre Maurice Halbwachs

The article presents a method to elicit personal network data in Internet surveys, exploiting the renowned appeal of network visualizations to reduce respondent burden and risk of dropout. It is a participant-generated computer-based sociogram, an interactive graphical interface enabling participants to draw their own personal networks with simple and intuitive tools. In a study of users of websites on eating disorders, we have embedded the sociogram within a two-step approach aiming to first elicit the broad ego network of an individual and then to extract subsets of issue-specific support ties. We find this to be a promising tool to facilitate survey experience and adaptable to a wider range of network studies.

Mots clés: social networks; personal networks; name generators; internet surveys; network visualizations

Domaines: Sociologie; Méthodes et statistiques

Paola Tubaro, Antonio A. Casilli, Lise Mounier. Eliciting personal network data in web surveys through participant-generated sociograms. Field Methods, 2014, 26 (2), pp.107-125. ⟨10.1177/1525822X13491861⟩. ⟨hal-01355677⟩