Codebook.txt

CODEBOOK FOR PERSONAL NETWORKS ANALYSIS (PERSNET)



Project contact person: Amar Dhand, adhand@bwh.harvard.edu

Last Update: June 8, 2025

Project description: This is R code to process data from REDCap form on personal networks for clinical research.

Instrument: ÒPersonal network survey for clinical researchÓ is a form available in the REDCap Shared Library.

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Associated Files: 

fake_data.csv   - Fake data provided to represent expected output and allow for testing.

process_persnet.R              - Primary code: data processing and visualization of instrument.

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Output Files:

Clean_Data.csv           - Processed statistics and demographic data for both the ego and alters of social networks.

Single_Networks.pdf      - Visualization of social networks; a series of pages featuring networks display alter names and strength of ties for easy visualization of individual networks.

Social_Network_Grid.pdf  - Visualization of social networks; networks are simplified and displayed as a grid of graphs for easy visualization  of the entire data set.

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Expected Variable List for Clean_Data.csv:



Variable name: study_id

Variable description: Study ID

Variable type: Integer (Unique)



Variable name: age

Variable description: Age 

Variable type: Integer 

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: sex

Variable description: Sex

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1-Female, 2-Male, 3-Other

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: race1

Variable description: First race 

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- Black or African American, 2- White, 3-American Indian, 4- Asian, 5- Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 6- Other

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: race2

Variable description: Second race

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- Black or African American, 2- White, 3-American Indian, 4- Asian, 5- Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 6- Other

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: edu

Variable description: Education level

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- Some High School, 2- High School Grad, 3- Some College, 4- Associate Degree, 5- Bachelor's Degree, 6- Graduate Degree, 7- No Answer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: zip

Variable description: Your ZIP code  

Variable type: Character (integers stored as character to preserve leading 0's)

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: employment

Variable description: Employment status 

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- Employed for wages, 2- Self-employed, 3-Out of work and looking for work, 4- Student, 5- Retired, 6- Unable to work, 7- Prefer not to answer, 8- out of work but not currently looking for work

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: occupation

Variable description: Current occupation  

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- Executive manager, 2-Sales or clerical worker, 3- Mechanic, electrician, skilled worker, 4- Machine operator, inspector, bus/cab driver, 5- Service worker, 6- Professional, 7- Business owner, 8- Laborer, unskilled worker, 9- Farming, 10- Military, 11- Other



Variable name: income

Variable description: What is your approximate household net worth?

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- Less than $5,000, 2- $5,000 to $49,000, 3- $50,000 to $169,000, 4- $170,000 to $499,000, 5- More than $500,000

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: married

Variable description: Marital status

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- Not Married, 2- Married

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: live_alone

Variable description: Do you live alone?

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- No, 2- yes

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: household_number

Variable description: Number of people in participantÕs house.
Variable type: Integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: ego_alcohol

Variable description: Have you cut back on heavy drinking of alcohol in the past 3 months?

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- No, 2- Yes, 3- I do not drink heavily

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: ego_smoke

Variable description: Have you cut back on smoking in the past 3 months?

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- No, 2- Yes, 3- I do not smoke

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: ego_exercise 

Variable description: Have you exercised at least 3-4 times a week over the past 3 months?

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- No, 2- Yes

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: ego_healthy_diet 

Variable description: Did you eat a healthy diet regularly over the past 3 months?

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- No, 2- Yes

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: health_problems1

Variable description: In which areas do you feel you experience more health problems than the average person? (Select all that apply)

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- General, 2- Pain, 3- Cognitive_MentalHealth, 4- Cardiac, 5- NoProblems

Missing data: Coded as Na


Variable name: health_problems2

Variable description: In which areas do you feel you experience more health problems than the average person? (Select all that apply)

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- General, 2- Pain, 3- Cognitive_MentalHealth, 4- Cardiac, 5- NoProblems

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: health_problems3

Variable description: In which areas do you feel you experience more health problems than the average person? (Select all that apply)

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- General, 2- Pain, 3- Cognitive_MentalHealth, 4- Cardiac, 5- NoProblems

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: health_problems4

Variable description: In which areas do you feel you experience more health problems than the average person? (Select all that apply)

Variable type: Categorical variable, Factor

Category values description: 1- General, 2- Pain, 3- Cognitive_MentalHealth, 4- Cardiac, 5- NoProblems

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: network_size

Variable description: Total number of unique social contacts including those listed in the name generator and extra boxes.

Variable type: integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: density

Variable description: Ratio of the number of ties to all possible number of ties

Variable type: integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: constraint

Variable description: Amount of close-knit, closed structure based on Burt (values range 0-125)

Variable type: integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: effsize

Variable description: Effective size is the number of unique nodes other than the ego based on Burt.

Variable type: integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: max_degree

Variable description: Maximum degree of network member (most popular) excluding ego

Variable type: integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: mean_degree

Variable description: Average degree of a network member excluding ego

Variable type: integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: kin_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network members who are kin

Variable type: integer

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: age_sd

Variable description: Standard deviation of network memberÕs age

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: IQV_sex

Variable description: A normalized measure of the heterogeneity of sex within the network's alters, scale from 0 - 1 where 0 is a perfectly homogeneous network and 1 is a perfectly heterogeneous network.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: IQV_race

Variable description: A normalized measure of the heterogeneity of racial groups within the network's alters, scale from 0 - 1 where 0 is a perfectly homogeneous network and 1 is a perfectly heterogeneous network.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: IQV_educ

Variable description: A normalized measure of the heterogeneity of levels of education within the network's alters, scale from 0 - 1 where 0 is a perfectly homogeneous network and 1 is a perfectly heterogeneous network.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: weak_freq_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network members who contact ego monthly or less often.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: weak_dur_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network members who have known the ego for less than 6 years.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: far_dist_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network members who live >15 miles away.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: heavy_drinkers_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network members who are heavy drinkers. Proportion consists of "yes" and "no" answers. Proportion does not include "does not drink" and "unknown" answers.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: smoking_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network members who smoke. Proportion consists of "yes" and "no" answers. Proportion does not include "does not smoke" and "unknown" answers.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: no_exercise_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network who do not exercise 3-4 times/week.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: bad_diet_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network who have an unhealthy diet.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: health_prob_prop

Variable description: Proportion of network who have general, pain, cognitive/mental health, or cardiac health problems.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: blau_gender

Variable description: A non-normalized measure of the heterogeneity of gender identity within the network's alters.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: blau_educ

Variable description: A non-normalized measure of the heterogeneity of levels of education within the network's alters.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: blau_distance

Variable description: A non-normalized measure of the heterogeneity of distance from alters to the ego within the network's alters.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: blau_length

Variable description: A non-normalized measure of the heterogeneity of duration of relationship within the network's alters.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na



Variable name: blau_speak

Variable description: A non-normalized measure of the heterogeneity of frequency of interaction within the network's alters.

Variable type: numeric

Missing data: Coded as Na