Publisher's Synopsis
"This report summarizes priority challenges for social-behavioral modeling, which has not yet begun to reach its full potential. Some of the obstacles reflect inherent challenges: Social systems are complex adaptive systems; they often pose "wicked problems", and even the structure of social systems shows emergent behavior. Other obstacles reflect disciplinary norms and practices, mindsets, and numerous scientific and methodological challenges. We discuss challenges in six groups: 1. Improving the research cycle by tightening links among theory, modeling, and experimentation 2. Seeking more unifying and coherent theories while retaining alternative perspectives and confronting multidimensional uncertainty 3. Invigorating experimentation with modern data sources and emphasis on theory-observation iteration 4. Modernizing ways to use social-behavioral models for analysis to aid decisionmaking, in particular by drawing on lessons learned f
