EgoWeb 2.0 Discussion Forum

Our interview includes a series of questions that ask the participant to think about the relationships between nominated family members in a directional way (where someone other than the ego is centered). For example,

"From time to time, most people discuss important personal matters with other people.

Would [NAME #1 FROM NAME GENERATOR] give emotional support to [ROTATE NAMES FROM NAME GENERATOR, STARTING WITH “YOU”] during routine or minor troubles?"

Does Ego Web 2.0 include an ability to program alter questions to assess directionality in relationships where someone other than the participant is centered?

Thank you in advance for your time and guidance.
-Terri

Hi Terri,

In previous versions we have had a "symmetric" option for alter pair questions. Unchecking "symmetric" would present each alter pair twice, once with one alter first and the other alter second, and then the reverse the second time. However, we never fully developed the data export so that it would export anything other than a symmetric edge list. It has been on my list to add at some point but it does not come up that much. I can look into how long it would take to add to the new version that is in dev that will be the default version soon, but I can't guarantee it will be worth the trouble. I have not heard that many requests for this so the code is still in there but not turned on and not fully developed.

Adding "You" would require an additional alter question worded the same as the alter pair question. There is no automatic way to add in an ego-alter tie along with the alter pair questions. It looks exactly the same but the ego-alter edge data is exported in the ego-alter .csv and not along with the other edge data in the alter pair output.

I will let you know if I find out how doable it would be to add back in the symmetric/asymmetric option. It is something that I have wanted to be in there but have not had the excuse to prioritize it yet.

Hello again,
Thank you for your response. We have finished programming all but the secondary alter questions (the type referenced in my initial question). How difficult do you think it would be to add back in the directional secondary alter question option? You mentioned that it was included in previous versions of Ego Web, but the data exported didn't indicate directionality and that this is why it was removed? Our surveys will be administered by the interviewers. I am wondering if our interviewers could ask the questions in an order or way that the directionality of the relationships could be inferred. This could be noted in our codebook.

Best regards,
Terri

Hi Terri. I will ask about how the level of effort and let you know.

Thank you. We appreciate it.