Collaborative Research: Strategy and Structure: Exploration and Instrument Development

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This is a study of optimal strategies for different positions in exchange networks, employing computer simulations and evolutionary game theory. Existing work has either not paid attention to the strategies used by people in exchange networks or has assumed that all people use the same simple strategy. Moreover, existing work has ignored potentially cooperative relations between positions where actions affect one another, even though they do not exchange with one another. The current project extends the concept of evolutionary stability to apply to exchange networks and modifies the replicator dynamics to study the hypothetical evolution of strategy sets in exchange networks. A central part of this project is an interactive site on the World Wide Web, employing the ExNet II simulation programmed in Java. The user can construct networks of various configurations by placing nodes and exchange relations. As simulants interact, ExNet will display all ongoing offers, counteroffers, acceptances and exchanges. The website will bridge between research and instruction, because it can be incorporated in college courses as well as employed by researchers to develop theoretical ideas. Students selecting and designing strategies and structures bring fresh perspectives and may find patterns not found by researchers who are more experienced. This project contributes to fundamental theoretical understanding of knowledge networks, which is essential for creation of the communication systems of the future. The web-based educational component provides research-like training activities for social science students, that are often lacking at their colleges and universities.