Additionally, this study employed an unlimited friendship choice format in which any other study participant was available to be chosen. Some previous methodological studies have recommended that because false negative links are more damaging than false positive links, no limits be placed on numbers of friends participants can select (e.g., Borgatti, Carley, & Krackhardt, 2006). Other studies, however, suggest that the impact of false positive and false negative links is quite complicated and contingent (Wang, Shi, McFarland, & Lescovec, 2012). Given this, our decision to exclude extreme outdegree outliers seems reasonable, particularly in light of our inability to identify any predictors of these outliers.
