Mitchell Centre Seminar Series
| Dates: | 19 February 2025 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 17:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Who is it for: | University staff |
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Edmund Chattoe-Brown. University of Leicester.
Processes and Theories: Can Agent-Based Modelling Contribute to Our Understanding of Social Networks?
Proverbially, to the person who only has a hammer, everything they encounter begins to look like a nail. Even if this is so, it is not that helpful unless we can find something other than a hammer to offer. This talk considers, with illustrations, how the challenge of understanding social networks might look different from the perspective of Agent-Based Modelling which, I shall try to argue, is potentially a completely new tool. After a brief scene setting on challenges faced by well known research methods with regard to data, the topics covered by the talk are: The representation of social process, the challenges of modelling parallel, situated and intentional action, differing conceptions of theory/model as a thing that makes sense of data and how data potentially “disciplines” these conceptions in progressive social science. The aim of the talk is to promote a more effective debate between Social Network Analysis and Agent-Based Modelling about their respective strengths and weaknesses.
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G6
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
