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114 Socially Intelligent Agents

methodological preconceptions about “appropriate” techniques. Secondly, to
suggest that different techniques are appropriate to different aspects of a “data
driven” MAS. Few aspects of the simulation discussed above are self-evidently
ruledoutfromdatacollection. Thirdly, tosuggestthatprevailingdatapoorMAS
may have more to do with excessive theory than with any intrinsic problems in
the data required.
There are two objections to these claims. Firstly, all these data collection
methods have weaknesses. However, this does not give us grounds for disre-
garding them: the weakness of inappropriately collected data (or no data at
all) is clearly greater. It will be necessary to triangulate different techniques,
particularly for aspects of the MAS which sensitivity analysis shows are crucial
to aggregate outcomes. The second “difficulty” is the scale of work and exper-
tise involved in building “data driven” MAS. Even for a simple social process,
expertise may be required in several data collection techniques. However, this
difficulty is intrinsic to the subject matter. Data poor MAS may choose to ignore
it but they do not resolve it.

5. Conclusions

I have attempted to show two things. Firstly, MAS can be used to model
social processes in a way that avoids theoretical categories Secondly, different
kinds of data for MAS can be provided by appropriate techniques. In the
conclusion, I discuss four general implications of giving data collection “centre
stage” in MAS design.
Dynamic Processes: MAS draws attention to the widespread neglect of

process in social science. Collection of aggregate time series data does little
to explain social change even when statistical regularities can be established.
However, attempts to base genuinely dynamic models (such as MAS) on data
face a fundamental problem. There is no good time to ask about a dynamic
process. Retrospective data suffers from problems with recall and rationali-
sation. Prospective data suffers because subjects cannot envisage outcomes
clearly and because they cannot assess the impact of knowledge they haven’t
yet acquired. If questions are asked at more than one point, there are also prob-
lems of integration. Is the later report more accurate because the subject knows
more or less accurate because of rationalisation? Nonetheless, this problem is
again intrinsic to the subject matter and ignoring it will not make it go away.
Triangulation of methods may address the worst effects of this problem but it
needs to be given due respect.
Progressive Knowledge: Because a single research project cannot collect
all the data needed for even a simple “data driven” MAS, progressive production
and effective organisation of knowledge will become a priority. However, this
seldom occurs in social science (Davis 1994). Instead data are collected with