Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Our methodology consisted of two methods that we applied in three phases. In the
first phase we used qualitative semi-structured interviews to elicit relations and inter-
actions between actors that we intended to translate into behavioural agent rules. From
this data we created a toy model, which, helped us to specify relevant problems and
come up with a refined conceptual model. In the second phase of our research we col-
lected more specific data by means of a participatory workshop. In this workshop we
brought together the key stakeholders that we had identified in the first phase. The exer-
cise also gave us an opportunity to receive feedback on our conceptual model. Finally,
it established a basis for future collaborative modelling with the stakeholders in phase
3 as we plan to put successive versions of the model online during its development.
Fig. 1.
The research stages
2
Information and Data Gathering
Since we had to approach the field with no particular (socio-economic) theory in mind
the ERIE team opted for an altered grounded-theory approach [13]. As would be ex-
pected it took time and resources to establish working social relationships with relevant
people working within the area's industries, and to obtain data about the system.
Our data was mainly collected through semi-structured interviews with 21 stakehold-
ers. We employed two independent coding strategies to analyse the interviews leading to
two different outputs: one for an agent-based model and the other for a network model.
In what follows we will only be concerned with the former. The first coding strategy
utilised established notions of cognition, social networks and institutions as foci [5] to
distill relevant information from the interviews. We employed these frames to cover
all relevant social aspects that might contribute to the economic-metabolic network but
also to establish common ground between the different disciplinary orientations within
the team.
Beckert's theory overcomes some of the difficulties associated with social network
analysis or institutionalism as stand-alone social theories. It owes to Fligstein's work on
fields, which states that a population of actors constitute a social arena by orienting their
actions towards each other. Beckert argues that all three structural features, cognition,
social networks and institutions, are important to explain the dynamics of markets.
1. Network structures position organisations and individual actors in a structural space.
Fields can comprise specific structures of social networks which create power differ-
ences between firms and status hierarchies.
