On quantifying global nation brands

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 2016.
"September 2015." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 106-109).
People's perception of various nations, nation brands, are quantified via world news quizzes, in which study participants match geographically vague news stories to the nations they think they occurred in, thereby potentially revealing how they positively or negatively perceive said nations. The quizzes are generated and deployed by a Flask web application, designed to be an aesthetically pleasing, enriching experience as well as to feature elements of gamification to encourage sharing of the application, enabling the study's organic growth. 2,672 submitted quizzes are analyzed and the resulting quantified nation brands are compared with an established quantitative nation brand analysis, revealing ways that this novel methodology can be improved and extended to more accurately capture nation brands at a statistically significant level. Continued efforts on this project could provide instrumental data needed for business, economic, and political leaders to improve their nations' international reputations, thereby potentially spurring substantial economic growth.
by Anurag Kashyap.
M. Eng.