Can Neural Networks Analyze Messages?
The use of neural networks in educational settings is rare and there are no accounts outlining the use of a neural network to analyze text messages of an online discussion group. Garson (1998) provides a number of reasons why social scientists have not adopted the use of neural networks in their research. First, neural network software has been available to the social scientist only since the early 1990s. Second, it is not clear how neural networks arrive at their conclusion; unlike an expert system, neural networks provide no audit trail outlining their reasoning. Also, neural network techniques are complex and leave researchers unsure whether their analysis is truly optimal; slight modifications to a number of parameters may yield a more optimal analysis. Nonetheless, neural networks are good at making predictions (e.g. stock market forecasting) and at classification. Garson cites 34 research studies using neural networks in economics and business, 9 in sociology, 7 in political scie
