Essays on networks and social interaction

This dissertation presents new models and experimental designs for understanding network behavior and social interaction. The first paper develops a model for a new kind of data, "path data," that represents the sequential decisions made by actors navigating social, geographic, and other kinds of networks. The model is validated in a benchmark test, then used to measure sectarian influences in the ways that Sunni and Shia individuals navigate the streets of Baghdad in a smartphone-based field activity. The second paper uses a novel experimental design to examine the social network search patterns employed by both sects. Using smartphone and self-reported data, the paper shows that differing search strategies result in differential access to public services in Baghdad. The third paper presents a new model for measuring rhetorical style and other modes of speech in political deliberation. The model is validated in a benchmark test of conflictual speech in political debates.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Knox, Dean, 1988-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Teppei Yamamoto.

• Political Science.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113488

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/113488