In this study, we develop a methodology for extracting social network data from a social survey such as the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Using the U.S. NHIS 2010, we (i) demonstrate how relational data is extracted for (ii) investigating the association between egocentric network properties (structure, position and relations) and Quality of Life (QOL) in the context of cancer care. Here, we highlight the data collection procedure, its benefits and limitations and standard measures of social network data. This novel approach is beneficial for network science academics, industry professionals and organizational network analysts to analyse social surveys from a social networks’ perspective. Results show that there are significant differences in the network properties (density, degree, tie strength, efficiency and constraint) of those experiencing high and low QOL. These findings are critical to influencing interventions and policy development for enhanced QOL in cancer care.