Social support of students of social informatics of FDV (2000-2001)

Among several approaches to evaluating measurement quality, the true score MTMM model proposed by Saris and Andrews (1991) was selected, owing to its ability to estimate reliability, validity and method effect of each variable separately. On the basis of theoretical and empirical findings, four network generators were designed to measure four theoretically firmly established social support dimensions. The contest of network generators measuring social companionship and material, informational, and emotional support exchange were adjusted to the characteristics of the experimental groups - students of fourth-year class of social informatics in FDV in Ljubljana. A complex experimental design to study the effects of measurement instruments on the measurement quality was proposed. All the variables included in the experimental design were previously found to affect measurement quality either by survey methodologists or by social network methodologists. Experimental variations included the provision of two response scales (a binary scale and an eleven point ordinal scale), two data collection techniques (recognition and a free recall), one directions of support exchange (original questions). the number of units (without limitation and three units) and varying elapsed times between repeated measurements (one week).