RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

250 INTERNET-BASED RESEARCH AND COMPUTER USAGE
There is more to behaviour than the repeated
iteration of the same mathematical model.
There will always be a world of difference
between the real world and the simulated
world other than at an unhelpfully simplistic
level.
The agentic, moral and reflexive behaviour of
humans is not as simple as the often instinctive
behaviour of other forms of life or what happens
to inanimate phenomena that have been
studied in computer simulations (e.g. birds and
ants, and piles of sand respectively).
As with other numerical approaches, simulations
might combine refinement of process
with crudity of concept (Ruddock 1981: 49).
If reality operates ‘behind the backs’ of players,
where does responsibility for agentic actions
lie How does free will operate in a computer
simulation
While random elements can be introduced
into computer simulations, this means that
the simulation must be run several times in
order to establish robustness with different
values and the sensitivity of the simulation
to changes.
Reducing the world to numbers, however sophisticated,
is quite simply wrong-headed; the
world is too complicated for numbers.
These criticisms are serious, and indicate that this
field of research has much to do to gain legitimacy.
The issue of agency is important, as it could
be argued to be weaker in computer simulations
than in real life, though Wooldridge and Jennings
(1995), while acknowledging this, suggest that
agents in computer systems have characteristics
built into them, such as autonomy, proactivity,
reactivity and social ability.
The criticisms are not to dismiss computer
simulations; rather it is to seek their advance.
These reservations – at conceptual and practical
levels – do not argue against simulations but,
rather, for their development and refinement.
They promise much and in areas of the sciences
apart from education have already yielded much
of value. For further information on complexity
theory and simulations we suggest that readers
visit web sites such as:
http://www.santafe.edu (the web site of the Santa
Fe Institute – a major institute for the study of
complexity theory)
http://www.brint.com/Systems.htm
(a web site that provides an index of material on
complexity theory)
www.complexity-society.com (the UK Complexity
Society)
http://emergence.org/ (web site of the journal
Emergence: Complexity and Organization)
http://journal-ci.csse.monash.edu.
au// (web site of the journal Complexity International)
http://www.udel.edu/aeracc/sites.
html (links to web sites on complexity theory)
http://www.answers.com/complex
%20systems%20theory (links to web sites on complexity
theory).
Conclusion
Simulation methods provide a means of
alleviating a number of problems inherent in
laboratory experiments. At the same time, they
permit the retention of some of their virtues.
Simulations, notes Palys (1978), share with the
laboratory experiment the characteristic that the
experimenter has complete manipulative control
over every aspect of the situation. At the same
time, the subjects’ humanity is left intact in
that they are given a realistic situation in which
to act in whatever way they think appropriate.
The inclusion of the time dimension is another
important contribution of the simulation, allowing
the subject to take an active role in interacting
with the environment, and the experimenter the
opportunity of observing a social system in action
with its feedback loops, multidirectional causal
connections and so forth. Finally, Palys observes,
the high involvement normally associated with
participation in simulations shows that the
self-consciousness usually associated with the
laboratory experiment is more easily dissipated.