How strong is strong? The challenge of interpreting network edge weights

Zachary P Neal

PLOS ONE, 2024, vol. 19, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: Weighted networks are information-rich and highly-flexible, but they can be difficult to analyze because the interpretation of edges weights is often ambiguous. Specifically, the meaning of a given edge’s weight is locally contingent, so that a given weight may be strong for one dyad, but weak for other dyad, even in the same network. I use backbone models to distinguish strong and weak edges in a corpus of 110 weighted networks, and used the results to examine the magnitude of this ambiguity. Although strong edges have larger weights than weak edges on average, a large fraction of edges’ weights provide ambiguous information about whether it is strong or weak. Based on these results, I recommend that strong edges should be identified by applying an appropriate backbone model, and that once strong edges have been identified using a backbone model, their original weights should not be directly interpreted or used in subsequent analysis.

Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0311614

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311614

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