Balancing bias and burden in personal network studies

Personal network data is increasingly used to answer research questions about the interplay between individuals (i.e., egos) and their social environment (i.e., alters). Researchers designing such data collections face a trade-off: When eliciting a high number of alters, study participation can be particularly burdensome as all data is obtained by surveying the ego. Eliciting a low number of alters, however, may incur bias in network characteristics. In the present study we use a sample of 701 Dutch women and their personal networks of 25 alters to investigate two strategies reducing respondent burden in personal network data collections: (1) eliciting fewer alters and (2) selecting a random subsample from the original set of elicited alters for full assessment. We present the amount of bias in structural and compositional network characteristics connected to applying these strategies for every possible network size (2–24 alters) as well as the potential study time savings as a proxy for respondent burden reduction. Our results can aid researchers designing a personal network study to balance respondent burden and bias in estimates for a range of compositional and structural network characteristics

Social Norms Marketing, Social Networks and Alcohol Consumption: A Collegiate Context. Investigating Feasability in Ireland.

The current Irish policies have not been adequately effective in reducing alcohol consumption. There is a need to consider alternative strategies, such as the increasingly popular SN marketing campaigns, which have been applied successfully in the US college system. However, the potential of these campaigns has not been evaluated in Ireland. It is also not clear from the literature if descriptive or injunctive norm types will be more likely to induce behaviour change. Further, while SN interventions tend to provide ‘friends’ or ‘typical student’ as referent groups, little is understood about how individuals visualize these groups and how salient these peers are. The present study addressed these issues by combining web based survey methods with social network analysis. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyse a web survey of 1700 DIT students. Further, 26 ego networks generated via in depth interviews were examined using network techniques combined with a qualitative analysis to understand norm salience. The study provides evidence of overestimations of the campus drinking norm at DIT. It shows that perceived norms impact personal consumption and that social distance is a key consideration in this regards. Further, the findings demonstrate that descriptive norms are stronger predictors of personal consumption than injunctive norms. Most importantly, the study provides evidence that individuals’ social networks are key determinants of their drinking behaviours and that the most salient peers for DIT students are embedded in cohesive sub groups outside college. The study does not support using SN campaigns to reduce alcohol consumption in DIT. It urges policy makers to address norm salience in intervention work as it is critical for the applicability, planning and success of SN campaigns

The segregation stereotyping bind: social networks and resource acquisition among men and women business owners in gender typical and atypical sectors

This thesis is concerned with gender segregation in entrepreneurship – a phenomenon that is termed here entrepreneurial segregation. Researchers studying occupational segregation have established that sex segregated social networks and gender stereotyping play an integral role in driving sex segregation in employment. Since women are embedded in female-dominated networks and men move in male-dominated circles, they inevitably receive job leads (resources) from members of the same sex. In addition, because of gender stereotyping, those supplying the job leads (resource providers) offer job seekers information about jobs in sectors that are perceived as appropriate for the jobseekerʼs gender. Drawing on this knowledge, Bourdieuian social capital theory and gender role congruency theory, this thesis examines the social networks of men and women entrepreneurs in gender congruent and incongruent business sectors, with the express purpose of uncovering whether an inability to secure business resources poses inhibitive effects on business development of entrepreneurs in gender atypical sectors. Taking an inclusive approach, the purpose of the study was to identify and explain any detriment in resource acquisition experienced by women business owners by comparing their experiences in different industries with those of men. 255 New York City based entrepreneurs operating firms in two maledominated industries (construction and sound recording), one femaledominated industry (childcare) and one integrated industry (publishing) completed an online survey based on the Dutch Resource Generator social network tool. Respondents indicated the specific resources they were able and unable to secure through their networks, the sex of, and relationship to each resource provider, and their experiences of gender stereotyping. A mixture of bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses (Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests, multiple regression and discriminant function analyses) was used to examine the data. The findings revealed that the ability to mobilize resources is strongly influenced by the sex composition of entrepreneursʼ networks, and an interaction between the sex of the business owner and the gender-domination of the industry in which he or she operates. In the female-dominated childcare industry, women were just as successful as men in their attempts to secure resources. Women operating businesses in male-dominated sectors suffered in terms of their ability to obtain resources, particularly financial resources. Men owners of childcare firms did not suffer in the same way, even though they reported relatively high levels of discrimination against them by staff, customers, suppliers and colleagues. Networking strategy had little impact on the ability of nontraditional women to secure resources. This suggests that nontraditional women are locked into a kind of networking bind, a phenomenon that is dubbed the segregation-stereotyping bind