Key person designs: Logic and statistical modeling

Abstract

A key person (KP) is an individual embedded in dyadic relationships in the core groups of life. Introduced are three research designs: the nomothetic, idiographic, and fixed-role Key Person Designs (KPD). Leveraging social relations modeling (SRM) of dyadic data, we introduce hypotheses and statistical methods for testing them with KPD. We developed a Monte Carlo simulation to determine if a KP is, in fact, statistically unusual vis-à-vis nonspecial others. We provide an empirical example. Hypotheses specified and modeling of KPD data are very general, and we discuss implications for inclusive methodology.