Reliability of Social Network Measurement Instruments

Abstract

This article evaluates the quality of instruments for measuring support in social networks. The authors discuss the results of ten experiments designed to analyze the reliability of five measurement scales as well as two measurement methods for listing alters (free recall and recognition), type of network question (original, reciprocated), and characteristics of study design (time between instrument presentations). Analysis shows that the binary scale and the first presentation of measurement instruments are the least reliable. The most reliable were ordinal scales, among which the five-category ordinal scale with labels was the most reliable. The two data collection methods (free recall and recognition) and the two types of network questions (original, reciprocated) yield equally reliable data.

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