Models and Marginals: Using Survey Evidence to Study Social Networks

2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 670-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miller McPherson ◽  
Lynn Smith-Lovin ◽  
Matthew E. Brashears
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Social Survey

Fischer (2009) argues that our estimates of confidant network size in the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS), and therefore the trend in confidant network size from 1985 to 2004, are implausible because they are (1) inconsistent with other data and (2) contain internal anomalies that call the data into question. In this note, we assess the evidence for a decrease in confidant network size from 1985 to 2004 in the GSS data. We conclude that any plausible modeling of the data shows a decided trend downward in confidant network size from 1985 to 2004. The features that Fischer calls anomalies are exactly the characteristics described by our models (Table 5) in the original article.

Social Networks and Patterns of Social Interaction among Ever-Single and Separated/Divorced Elderly Canadians

1992 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurel A. Strain ◽  
Barbara J. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Statistics Canada

AbstractThis paper examines the social networks and patterns of social interactions of two relatively neglected marital status groups of elders, namely the ever-single and the separated/divorced. Drawing on data from the 1985 General Social Survey conducted by Statistics Canada, comparisons are made both between and among the 224 ever-single and 126 separated/divorced Canadians aged 65 and over. When controlling for age, gender, education and health status, ever-single individuals tend to have smaller family networks, a similar number of friends, and similar living arrangements as the separated/divorced. In-person contact with siblings is significantly associated with being ever-single while no differences emerge for contact with other relatives or with friends. Differences among the ever-single and among the separated/divorced are also assessed.

The 2004 GSS Finding of Shrunken Social Networks: An Artifact?

2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude S. Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Technical Error ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The People

McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Brashears (2006, 2008b) reported that Americans' social networks shrank precipitously from 1985 to 2004. When asked to list the people with whom they discussed “important matters,” respondents to the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) provided about one-third fewer names than did respondents in the 1985 survey. Critically, the percentage of respondents who provided no names at all increased from about 10 percent in 1985 to about 25 percent in 2004. The 2004 results contradict other relevant data, however, and they contain serious anomalies; this suggests that the apparently dramatic increase in social isolation is an artifact. One possible source of the artifact is the section of the 2004 interview preceding the network question; it may have been unusually taxing. Another possible source is a random technical error. With as yet no clear account for these inconsistencies and anomalies, scholars should be cautious in using the 2004 network data. Scholars and general readers alike should draw no inference from the 2004 GSS as to whether Americans' social networks changed substantially between 1985 and 2004; they probably did not.

scholarly journals "Please name the first two people you would ask for help"

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Kogovšek ◽  
Maja Mrzel ◽  
Valentina Hlebec
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Question Wording ◽  
Network Composition ◽  
Science Methodology

Social network indicators (e.g., network size, network structure and network composition) and the quality of their measurement may be affected by different factors such as measurement method, type of social support, limitation of the number of alters, context of the questionnaire, question wording, personal characteristics of respondents such as age, gender or personality traits and others. In this paper we focus on the effect of limiting the number of alters on network composition indicators (e.g., percentage of kin, friends etc.), which are often used in substantive studies on social support, epidemiological studies and so on. Often social networks are only one among many topics measured in such large studies; therefore, limitation of the number of alters that can be named is often used directly (e.g., International Social Survey Programme) or indirectly (e.g., General Social Survey) in the network items. The analysis was done on two comparable data sets from different years. Data were collected by the name generator approach by students of the University of Ljubljana as part of various social science methodology courses. Network composition on the basis of direct use (i.e., already in the question wording) of limitation on the number of alters is compared to network composition on full network data (i.e.,collected without any limitations).

Trends in Informal Social Participation, 1974–2008

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter V. Marsden ◽  
Sameer B. Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Interpersonal Networks ◽  
General Network

This chapter assesses trends in informal social connectedness over a 34-year period beginning in 1974, focusing on four forms of informal socializing measured regularly by the General Social Survey. In recent controversy and debate over this subject, some studies report contraction in social networks, contrasting with others that indicate stability. The chapter shows that the frequency of socializing with relatives, friends, and neighbors changed modestly, but in different directions. Neighboring exhibits the clearest drop, balanced to an extent by recent upward movements in seeing relatives and friends. Overall, no general network shrinkage appears to be under way. Socializing trends may reflect some restructuring of interpersonal networks, however, as other social changes proceed, including rising electronically mediated interaction and residential dispersion.

GSS 2011 Linked with TIFF: Exploring the Cost of Child Care in Canada and the Use of the Child Care Tax Benefit

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-103
Author(s):  
Leanne Findlay ◽  
Dafna Kohen
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Cost Of Care ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Care Costs ◽  
Compare And Contrast ◽  
Employment Characteristics ◽  
Different Sources

Affordability of child care is fundamental to parents’, in particular, women’s decision to work. However, information on the cost of care in Canada is limited. The purpose of the current study was to examine the feasibility of using linked survey and administrative data to compare and contrast parent-reported child care costs based on two different sources of data. The linked file brings together data from the 2011 General Social Survey (GSS) and the annual tax files (TIFF) for the corresponding year (2010). Descriptive analyses were conducted to examine the socio-demographic and employment characteristics of respondents who reported using child care, and child care costs were compared. In 2011, parents who reported currently paying for child care (GSS) spent almost $6700 per year ($7,500 for children age 5 and under). According to the tax files, individuals claimed just over $3900 per year ($4,700). Approximately one in four individuals who reported child care costs on the GSS did not report any amount on their tax file; about four in ten who claimed child care on the tax file did not report any cost on the survey. Multivariate analyses suggested that individuals with a lower education, lower income, with Indigenous identity, and who were self-employed were less likely to make a tax claim despite reporting child care expenses on the GSS. Further examination of child care costs by province and by type of care are necessary, as is research to determine the most accurate way to measure and report child care costs.

Mapping the General Social Survey to the Generic Statistical Business Process Model: NORC's Experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Scot Ausborn ◽  
Julia Rotondo ◽  
Tim Mulcahy
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Model ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Business Process Model ◽  
Social Survey

Mapping the General Social Survey to the Generic Statistical Business Process Model: NORC's Experience

HEXACO personality factors and their associations with Facebook use and Facebook network characteristics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riana Brown ◽  
Sam G. B. Roberts ◽  
Thomas V. Pollet
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Openness To Experience ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Number Of Clusters ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Facebook Use ◽  
Objectively Measured ◽  
Size And Structure

Personality factors affect the properties of ‘offline’ social networks, but how they are associated with the structural properties of online networks is still unclear. We investigated how the six HEXACO personality factors (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience) relate to Facebook use and three objectively measured Facebook network characteristics - network size, density, and number of clusters. Participants (n = 107, mean age = 20.6, 66% female) extracted their Facebook networks using the GetNet app, completed the 60-item HEXACO questionnaire and the Facebook Usage Questionnaire. Users high in Openness to Experience spent less time on Facebook. Extraversion was positively associated with network size and the number of network clusters (but not after controlling for size). These findings suggest that personality factors are associated with Facebook use and the size and structure of Facebook networks, and that personality is an important influence on both online and offline sociality.

scholarly journals Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, and the Liberalization of Attitudes about Same-sex Relationships, 1973–2018

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142199485
Author(s):  
Ashley Wendell Kranjac ◽  
Robert L. Wagmiller
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Individual Change ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Population Turnover ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
Lesbian And Gay Rights ◽  
Using Data

Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex relationships have liberalized considerably over the last 40 years. We examine how the demographic processes generating social change in attitudes toward same-sex relationships changed over time. Using data from the 1973 to 2018 General Social Survey and decomposition techniques, we estimate the relative contributions of intracohort change and cohort replacement to overall social change for three different periods. We examine (1) the period prior to the rapid increase in attitude liberalization toward same-sex marriage rights (1973–1991), (2) the period of contentious debate about same-sex marriage and lesbian and gay rights (1991–2002), and (3) the period of legislative and judicial liberalization at the state and federal levels (2002–2018). We find that both intracohort and intercohort change played positive and significant roles in the liberalization of attitudes toward same-sex relationships in the postlegalization period, but that individual change was more important than population turnover over this period.

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