Multi-dimensional analysis of social multi-networks : Analysing a 5-layer social network case study

Sammanfattning: Network theory analysis is applicable to many scientific disciplines (fields) such as biology, statistics and sociology. The social network analysis is one of the various branches of the broader network theory analysis, the social network analysis. It is of high interest among the researchers in social sciences. Social networks have had a significant impact on human civilizations for many centuries. During the last two decades, the main academic interest was addressed towards the research and analysis of a dynamically uprising sector of social networks, the on-line networks, primarily due to the domination of the Internet and technology over human attitudes and relations in modern societies. For many years, research was emphasized on the analysis of simple social networks, whilst during the last decade several researchers started working on the analysis of more complicated social networks, which consist by several smaller social networks. There are important differences between mono and multi-dimensional network analysis. Mono-dimensional analysis provides the research with relevant knowledge. On the other hand, multi-dimensional analysis is still at initial stage. As a result, several potential models related to the multi-networks analysis cannot always provide reliable and adequate outcomes. However, due to the fact that different social networks can be easily combined and form more extended and complicated networks, it is of high importance for the researchers to advance the multi-dimensional analysis and provide more adequate analytical models. The purpose of this thesis is to present the dynamic of the multi-dimensional analysis by consecutively applying both mono and multi-dimensional analysis on a social multi-network. The findings suggest that multi-dimensional analysis can add reliable knowledge on the social network analysis, but many problems that arose due the complexity of the multi-networks structures need to be addressed.