We report on an interview method using photo-based network elicitation and a landmark anchoring event to collect data on relationship change in ego networks retrospectively. Using the wedding albums of married or formerly married respondents, we populate a network from many years ago with persons pictured in the album and then collect data about each respondent’s relationship with each person at the time of the wedding and at the time of the interview. This data collection method mitigates many of the problems associated with retrospective data collection and does not have the logistical difficulties associated with panel studies. Our findings show that this method is successful in collecting significant numbers of connections that have undergone change, and especially reductions in activity along various dimensions.
