“When You Are Holding a Pen You Think Deeper about What You Write.” Comparing the Experiences of Completing Paper- and Computer-based Participant-aided Sociograms

Past personal network research has highlighted the many trade-offs in data collection strategies but has largely overlooked respondents’ perspectives on the interview experience. We use a within-subjects research design to compare respondents’ experiences with pen-and-paper sociograms and a comparable computer-assisted approach using Network Canvas, among young people in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data were collected through five focus groups (30 participants in total) and analyzed using thematic analysis and a novel journey-based approach. Our results highlight key experiential trade-offs between the analog and digital methods focusing on cognitive burden, emotional investment, and practical constraints.