How to choose the most appropriate centrality measure? A decision tree approach

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Chebotarev, Pavel, Gubanov, Dmitry
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2020
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author Chebotarev, Pavel
Gubanov, Dmitry
author_facet Chebotarev, Pavel
Gubanov, Dmitry
contents Centrality metrics play a crucial role in network analysis, while the choice of specific measures significantly influences the accuracy of conclusions as each measure represents a unique concept of node importance. Among over 400 proposed indices, selecting the most suitable ones for specific applications remains a challenge. Existing approaches -- model-based, data-driven, and axiomatic -- have limitations, requiring association with models, training datasets, or restrictive axioms for each specific application. To address this, we introduce the culling method, which relies on the expert concept of centrality behavior on simple graphs. The culling method involves forming a set of candidate measures, generating a list of as small graphs as possible needed to distinguish the measures from each other, constructing a decision-tree survey, and identifying the measure consistent with the expert's concept. We apply this approach to a diverse set of 40 centralities, including novel kernel-based indices, and combine it with the axiomatic approach. Remarkably, only 13 small 1-trees are sufficient to separate all 40 measures, even for pairs of closely related ones. By adopting simple ordinal axioms like Self-consistency or Bridge axiom, the set of measures can be drastically reduced making the culling survey short. Applying the culling method provides insightful findings on some centrality indices, such as PageRank, Bridging, and dissimilarity-based Eigencentrality measures, among others. The proposed approach offers a cost-effective solution in terms of labor and time, complementing existing methods for measure selection, and providing deeper insights into the underlying mechanisms of centrality measures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2003_01052
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How to choose the most appropriate centrality measure? A decision tree approach
Chebotarev, Pavel
Gubanov, Dmitry
Physics and Society
Human-Computer Interaction
Machine Learning
Social and Information Networks
Metric Geometry
05C50, 05C05, 15A51
Centrality metrics play a crucial role in network analysis, while the choice of specific measures significantly influences the accuracy of conclusions as each measure represents a unique concept of node importance. Among over 400 proposed indices, selecting the most suitable ones for specific applications remains a challenge. Existing approaches -- model-based, data-driven, and axiomatic -- have limitations, requiring association with models, training datasets, or restrictive axioms for each specific application. To address this, we introduce the culling method, which relies on the expert concept of centrality behavior on simple graphs. The culling method involves forming a set of candidate measures, generating a list of as small graphs as possible needed to distinguish the measures from each other, constructing a decision-tree survey, and identifying the measure consistent with the expert's concept. We apply this approach to a diverse set of 40 centralities, including novel kernel-based indices, and combine it with the axiomatic approach. Remarkably, only 13 small 1-trees are sufficient to separate all 40 measures, even for pairs of closely related ones. By adopting simple ordinal axioms like Self-consistency or Bridge axiom, the set of measures can be drastically reduced making the culling survey short. Applying the culling method provides insightful findings on some centrality indices, such as PageRank, Bridging, and dissimilarity-based Eigencentrality measures, among others. The proposed approach offers a cost-effective solution in terms of labor and time, complementing existing methods for measure selection, and providing deeper insights into the underlying mechanisms of centrality measures.
title How to choose the most appropriate centrality measure? A decision tree approach
topic Physics and Society
Human-Computer Interaction
Machine Learning
Social and Information Networks
Metric Geometry
05C50, 05C05, 15A51
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.01052