Project Description
Social media and the internet have changed the nature of special interests and coalitions politics. This project develops a unique data set of organized interests in the era of social media, allowing for empirical tests of the changing nature of power in American politics. Specifically, the data set accounts for the formation of online political coalitions, including the issues, types of activity, and numbers of participants. This data can then be compared to historical data on traditional interest groups and political coalitions.
Prerequisites
A student should be comfortable with statistical analysis (e.g. multiple regression, a statistical package such as STATA or R) and they should have completed at least some course work in social network analysis. This project will require regressions, SNA, and a desire to improve in using these tools. The project will require very intensive data gathering and subsequent analysis.
Special Comments
The project is part of my book project, where I am developing a theory of political power called “hyperpluralism.” The student will be a partner in developing empirical evidence and proofs of this theory. I will rely on your thoughtfulness and ambition to contribute to this research, which has the potential to be groundbreaking, if we’re successful.
Project Information (subject to change)
Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025
Estimated End Date: 7/25/2025
Estimated Project Duration: 8 weeks
Maximum Number of Students Sought: 1
Research Location: Hybrid
Contact Information: Brian Alexander (email: alexanderb@wlu.edu)