RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 What's in a name generator? Choosing the right name generators for social network surveys in healthcare quality and safety research JF BMJ Quality & Safety JO BMJ Qual Saf FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd SP 992 OP 1000 DO 10.1136/bmjqs-2011-000521 VO 21 IS 12 A1 Ronald S Burt A1 David O Meltzer A1 Michael Seid A1 Amy Borgert A1 Jeanette W Chung A1 Richard B Colletti A1 George Dellal A1 Stacy A Kahn A1 Heather C Kaplan A1 Laura E Peterson A1 Peter Margolis YR 2012 UL http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/21/12/992.abstract AB Background Interest in the use of social network analysis (SNA) in healthcare research has increased, but there has been little methodological research on how to choose the name generators that are often used to collect primary data on the social connection between individuals for SNA. Objective We sought to determine a minimum set of name generators sufficient to distinguish the social networks of a target population of physicians active in quality improvement (QI). Methods We conducted a pilot survey including 8 name generators in a convenience sample of 25 physicians active in QI to characterize their social networks. We used multidimensional scaling to determine what subset of these name generators was needed to distinguish these social networks. Results We found that some physicians maintain a social network organized around a specific colleague who performed multiple roles while others maintained highly differentiated networks. We found that a set of 5 of the 8 name generators we used was needed to distinguish the networks of these physicians. Conclusions Beyond methodology for selecting name generators, our findings suggest that QI networks may require 5 or more generators to elicit valid sets of relevant actors and relations in this target population.