Sex differences in social networks
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The ‘play network’ comprised those children jointly engaged, along with the target child, in
the social activity (e.g. playing a game together, engaged in conversation etc). This involved noting
the identity of peers engaged in the activity (when from the same class, otherwise whether they were
older or younger, of the same/different sex etc.). Using this information we were able to determine
the size, numbers of males and females and ethnic mix of the play network.
Video footage of pupils interacting on the playground was used to train the second observer
in the application of the coding scheme over two afternoons prior to school visits. Observers also
spent the first two days of school visits observing pupils together as part of further training and to
get pupils used to the observers’ presence on the playground. After this period observers worked
independently to collect data but continued to discuss the observation system.
To determine reliability, observers independently coded the same target’s behaviour at a
synchronised point for two breaktimes at the start and the end of the year. Kappa reliabilities
exceeded acceptable levels and were .94 for the coding of focus children as engaged in social
interaction and .95 the coding of play activities as team or non-team games. An intra-class correlation
of .97 was achieved for agreement in the number of pupils in the play network. Inter-observer
agreement for the inclusion of pupils from the class studied within a play network was 93% (Kappa
= .92).
Peer nomination data.
At T1 and T2, all children undertook individual peer nomination interviews where they
answered 10 sociometric type questions. Two questions required children to identify their friends
and best friends. To help recall, children had a sheet with photographs of all pupils in the class with
each child’s name listed below. Children were allowed to nominate as many or as few pupils as they
wished, including themselves (though self nominations were excluded from the analysis).
Researchers recorded each child's response. Measures of the number of friendships and best