Open AccessHypothetical versus actual support providers in comparative network research
Author(s) -
Valentina Hlebec,
Tina Kogovöek
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
metodološki zvezki
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1854-0031
pISSN - 1854-0023
DOI - 10.51936/hpcd4245
Subject(s) - social network (sociolinguistics) , social support , perspective (graphical) , personal network , politics , foundation (evidence) , quality (philosophy) , computer science , social psychology , psychology , sociology , social science , political science , artificial intelligence , world wide web , social media , philosophy , epistemology , law
Informal social networks are the most important source of social support, which is an essential foundation for the quality of everyday life. Distributions of various types of social networks have to be studied from a comparative perspective to evaluate the effects of the change in political, social and economic systems in Slovenia on social network composition and structure. Data from two studies are compared: one made before (1987) and one after the transition (2002) on representative samples of adult residents of Slovenia. In the paper the ability of informal social networks to provide an adequate sources of social support is discussed as the substantive part of this research. The effects of characteristics of the measurement instruments (hypothetical versus actual support providers) on obtained estimates of network composition are presented and evaluated. The advantages and disadvantages of the relationship approach to measuring personal networks are discussed with regard to complete evaluation of network membership.