USING A HIGHLY PORTABLE COMPUTER TO GATHER QUALITATIVE SOCIAL NETWORKDATA

We report on the use of a highly portable computer for collecting prec ise and accurate data concerning specific social network ties. Our exp erience confirmed that a highly portable computer, when loaded with a flexible database management program, is a useful tool for such a task . Data entry can be done during the interview and information retrieva l can provide immediate and useful information for the respondents. Th e use of the computer with semistructured interviews changes the dynam ics of the interview situation. A three-way interaction is created bet ween the interviewers, the respondents and the information in the data base. We found that there were great benefits from having two or three respondents in the session, and that it was desirable to have two int erviewers.