ABSTRACT. The personal networks of older people reflect their social opportunities and personal choices to maintain a specific set of relationships with relatives, neighbors, friends, acquaintances and so on. Network analysis is the method used to identify and examine the structural and functional features of the network of the older adult. The conceptualization and operationalization of the personal network depend on the subject of research. Five approaches to define personal network membership are presented and discussed. The five approaches differ regarding the part of the personal network that is mapped, and result in networks of different sizes and compositions. Regardless of the type of network delineation, a distinction can be drawn between the star network (data available on relationships with the focal person) and the full network (data available on all the network relationships). Features of the structure and content of both types of personal networks are presented. Finally, network analysis methods are presented and discussed, including ways to analyze hierarchical databases.
