Personal vs “Whole” Networks

Social ties within a network can be viewed through a personal or whole network lens. Most research on the social connection has examined self and personal networks, meaning the personal friendships or other significant relationships reported by a study participant. For example, a person in a group is asked to rate everyone else in their group. However, social modelist think in terms of whole networks and are interested in the relationships of named individuals with each other. For example, asking an individual to rate all the others and asking the others to rate the individual. This is more reflective of social model philosophy.