Publication Date

2020

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Polansky, Alan M.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science

Abstract

The mathematical study of opinion dynamics started in 1956, with French. Since the explosion of social media, this study has increased in popularity. In this paper, we propose a new model to apply to a social network graph. With this model, the opinions of actors are in the range [0,1]. We use the Normal probability distribution to model these opinions in conjunction with a group of parameters. We allow for the uncertainty of members in the network. We then ran simulations to find the values of these parameters that do not lead to a network becoming polarized. Different states of polarization are defined. The data from the simulations is analyzed to narrow down parameter values that do not lead to polarization. Using the data obtained from the simulations, we fit a logistic regression model to determine the significant effects and the magnitude of the effects of the significant parameters.

Extent

105 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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