Measuring personal networks with daily contacts: a single-item survey question and the contact diary

This paper examines two extreme approaches that are alternatives to measure egocentric networks with network generators. The single-item approach to measure daily contacts differentiates the individuals effectively, corresponds closely with complex network measures, and reveals well how individuals vary in both expressive and instrumental returns, as supported by 14 large-scale probability surveys from three Chinese societies over a decade. This paper also draws upon three sets of sophisticated contact diaries, which yielded rich data about the circumstance of each contact, the alter’s characteristics and the ego–alter relationship. Along with the diary approach, which offers sophisticated data about contacts, ties and networks, the single-item survey approach is another extreme yet straightforward measure of daily contacts. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.