Update (02.10.2020):
The slides used in the presentations held during this workshops can be downloaded from the links included in the program below.
The entire session has been recorded and is available here.
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Workshop: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence using Social Simulation (Chairs: Melania Borit, UiT The Artic University of Norway & Bruce Edmonds, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom)
Topic: Agent-based simulation can be related to qualitative as well as quantitative data. For example, qualitative input might be used to inform the micro-level specification of agent behaviour in simulations that are then run and compared to aggregate quantitative data. However using qualitative data can seem daunting, partly because there are no established methods for doing this. The goal of this SSW2020 session is to discuss methods for integrating qualitative and quantitative data in agent-based models, with reference to worked examples.
Program:
10:00-10:05 Welcome
10:05-10:25 Bruce Edmonds (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) – “An introduction to using qualitative data for informing simulation design”
10:25-10:55 Keynote speaker: Juliette Rouchier (Université Paris-Dauphine, France) – “Quali and quanti research walking hand in hand”
10:55-11:00 Break
11:00-11:20 Stephanie Dornschneider (University College Dublin, Ireland) “Building bridges: Connecting ethnography to agent-based modelling”
11:20-11:40 Martin Neumann (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany) – “Hermeneutic interpretation of simulation results”
11:40-11:45 Break
11:45-12:05 Sukaina Bharwani (Oxford Centre, UK) – “Adding value to social simulation models using qualitative evidence”
12:05-12:25 Patrycja Antosz (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) – “Juggling quant, qual and simulation: lessons learned in the SMARTEES project” [Co-author: Wander Jager]
12:25-12:45 Fishbowl discussion, moderator: Melania Borit (UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway)
12:45-13:00 Plan future events, moderators: Melania Borit and Bruce Edmonds
Besides registering for the
Social Simulation Week 2020, please register for your participation in this workshop by September 10th using this link:
https://forms.gle/1MUTSYGA4BxYD3DX7.
About the keynote:
Juliette Rouchier has been writing
simulation models for the last 25 years, first working on individual
learning and then on diffusion models. The first point she will make in
her talk is general and concerns any scientific research,
not just agent-based modelling (ABM): making a difference between
qualitative research and quantitative is interesting, but conceptually
poor, as they depend on each other all along the development of any
theory / new knowledge. Examples can be given on the
limitation of the separation. When it comes to ABM, another issue adds
to this: in most cases, although one wants to take a qualitative
approach, the need to use numbers is central – thus there is a
dependence to numeric expression (and then, interpretation
of numeric regularities has to be qualitative). Also what is of
interest in ABM is to be able to practice numerous repetition with
comparison – which is typically dealt with thanks to quantitative
approaches. Examples will be used to show diverse processes
that can take place there as well.
About the speakers:
Patrycja Antosz is a sociologist and a
psychologist specializing in social scientific research methods and data
analysis techniques. Since 2010 she has been working in cooperation
with policy-makers and public administration at supra-national,
national, and local levels to provide evidence for public policies. Her
colleague, Wander Jager is a social scientist interested in social
complex phenomena. A key theme in his work is studying the dynamics of
human behaviour in environmental contexts. His
scientific orientation is interdisciplinary, and his work is aimed at
contributing to a societal transition towards a sustainable society.
Sukaina Bharwani:An
interdisciplinary senior researcher at SEI Oxford, Sukaina has a
background in social anthropology and computer science, which allows her
to use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to understand
drivers of behaviour and decision-making in the field of climate change
adaptation.
Stephanie Dornschneider is Assistant
Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations at
University College Dublin. Previously, she was Junior Research Fellow at
Durham University and visiting fellow at Stanford University
and the University of Oxford. Her research explores political
resistance in the Middle East by combining qualitative and computational
methods. She is the author of two monographs published by Oxford
University Press and the University of Pennsylvania Press,
and various articles, which have occurred in the Journal of Conflict
Resolution, Cognitive Science, and the International Political Science
Review.
Bruce Edmonds is the director of the Centre
for Policy Modelling and professor of social simulation at the
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Bruce’s research focuses on
agent-based social simulation, including numerous applications,
theory, methodology, and philosophy.
Martin Neumann: After studying social
sciences, mathematics, and philosophy Martin obtained a PhD in
Philosophy with a thesis on history of probability theory. Subsequently
he awarded a postdoc scholarship on the epistemology of
social simulation. Since then he worked in various social simulation
projects, including projects on the theory of norms, norms in organized
crime or on opinion dynamics. Currently Martin is research associate at
the institute for sociology at the Johannes
Gutenberg University Mainz.
