Towards Good Social Science Export

@article{moss2005, abstract = {The paper investigates what is meant by "good science" and "bad science" and how these differ as between the natural (physical and biological) sciences on the one hand and social sciences on the other. We conclude on the basis of historical evidence that the natural science are much more heavily constrained by evidence and observation than by theory while the social sciences are constrained by prior theory and hardly at all by direct evidence. Current examples of the latter proposition are taken from recent issues of leading social science journals. We argue that agent based social simulations can be used as a tool to constrain the development of a new social science by direct (what economists dismiss as anecdotal) evidence and that to do so would make social science relevant to the understanding and influencing of social processes. We argue that such a development is both possible and desirable. We do not argue that it is likely.}, author = {Moss, Scott and Edmonds, Bruce}, citeulike-article-id = {409202}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/13.html}, journal = {Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation}, keywords = {agent, agentbasedmodelling, analysis, application, based, bibtex-import, conditions, evidence, history, methodology, of, qualitative, science, simulation, social, socialsimulation}, number = {4}, posted-at = {2005-11-26 10:01:46}, priority = {3}, title = {Towards Good Social Science}, url = {http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/13.html}, volume = {8}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - moss2005 L3 - citeulike-article-id:409202 N2 - The paper investigates what is meant by "good science" and "bad science" and how these differ as between the natural (physical and biological) sciences on the one hand and social sciences on the other. We conclude on the basis of historical evidence that the natural science are much more heavily constrained by evidence and observation than by theory while the social sciences are constrained by prior theory and hardly at all by direct evidence. Current examples of the latter proposition are taken from recent issues of leading social science journals. We argue that agent based social simulations can be used as a tool to constrain the development of a new social science by direct (what economists dismiss as anecdotal) evidence and that to do so would make social science relevant to the understanding and influencing of social processes. We argue that such a development is both possible and desirable. We do not argue that it is likely. IS - 4 JF - Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation TI - Towards Good Social Science VL - 8 KW - agent KW - agentbasedmodelling KW - analysis KW - application KW - based KW - bibtex-import KW - conditions KW - evidence KW - history KW - methodology KW - of KW - qualitative KW - science KW - simulation KW - social KW - socialsimulation AU - Moss, Scott AU - Edmonds, Bruce PY - 2005/// UR - http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/4/13.html ER -