Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Abbreviations and acronyms
- Introduction
- one The methodological foundations of applied social science
- two Constructing evidence: the development of knowledge which is to be applied
- three Surveying the social world: assembling knowledge as a basis for action
- four Evaluating: determining the worth of social interventions
- five Legitimating: the selective use of social science in justifying policy and practice
- six Consulting: the role of social research in relation to new modes of governance
- seven Modelling: representing the world in order to understand how it works
- eight Acting
- nine The academy and beyond: applied social research in the real world
- ten Concluding
- Bibliography
- Index
seven - Modelling: representing the world in order to understand how it works
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Abbreviations and acronyms
- Introduction
- one The methodological foundations of applied social science
- two Constructing evidence: the development of knowledge which is to be applied
- three Surveying the social world: assembling knowledge as a basis for action
- four Evaluating: determining the worth of social interventions
- five Legitimating: the selective use of social science in justifying policy and practice
- six Consulting: the role of social research in relation to new modes of governance
- seven Modelling: representing the world in order to understand how it works
- eight Acting
- nine The academy and beyond: applied social research in the real world
- ten Concluding
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Model as verb: To devise a (usually mathematical) model or simplified description of (a phenomenon, system, etc).
Model as noun: A simplified or idealised description or conception of a particular system, situation, or process, often in mathematical terms, that is put forward as a basis for theoretical or empirical understanding, or for calculations, predictions, etc; a conceptual or mental representation of something. (OED)
So models are representations of the world but are necessarily simplified. Something has to be left out. Bradley and Schaefer put it like this: ‘Modeling is the process of formalizing our framework for understanding the world around us by abstracting from a reality that is otherwise too complex for us to understand. In fact modeling is the central intellectual method that characterizes most empirical and mathematical approaches to the social sciences’ (1998, p 23, original emphasis).
Immediately we have to identify a problem. If we are dealing with social reality composed of complex systems can we ever model by simplifying? If we leave anything out is it not the case that our representation – re-presentation, presentation again – will be inherently flawed because in complex systems everything matters in interaction with everything else and to omit anything means that we will have a model which cannot function to describe a system? So do we give up? Not at all. Let us return to Paul Cilliers’ wise remark already quoted in Chapter One:
The most obvious conclusion drawn from this perspective is that there is no over-arching theory of complexity that allows us to ignore the contingent aspects of complex systems. If something is really complex, it cannot be adequately described by means of a simple theory. Engaging with complexity entails engagement with specific complex systems. Despite this we can, at least at a very basic level, make general remarks concerning the conditions for complex behaviour and the dynamics of complex systems. Furthermore, I suggest that complex systems can be modelled. (Cilliers, 1998, p ix)
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- Applying Social ScienceThe Role of Social Research in Politics, Policy and Practice, pp. 139 - 154Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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