Question-order effects in social network name generators》.pdf

Social Networks 31 (2009) 221–229 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Social Networks j o u rn al h omepage: w w w. elsev /locate/socnet Question-order effects in social network name generators James E. Pustejovsky ∗ , James P. Spillane Northwestern University, School of Education and Social Policy, 2120 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60201, USA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Keywords: Social network surveys are an important tool for empirical research in a variety of fields, including the Social network name generators study of social capital and the evaluation of educational and social policy. A growing body of methodolog- Reliability ical research sheds light on the validity and reliability of social network survey data regarding a single Survey design relation, but much less attention has been paid to the measurement of multiplex networks and the valid- ity of comparisons among criterion relations. In this paper, we identify ways that surveys designed to collect multiplex social network data might be vulnerable to question-order effects. We then test sev- eral hypotheses using a split-ballot experiment embedded in an online multiple name generator survey of teachers’ advice networks, collected for a study of complete networks. We conclude by discuss