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Contested Modelling: a Critical Examination of Expert Modelling in Sustainability
Author(s) -
Yearworth Michael,
Cornell Sarah E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.2315
Subject(s) - praxis , axiology , sustainability , ontology , context (archaeology) , process (computing) , management science , set (abstract data type) , process management , computer science , engineering ethics , knowledge management , epistemology , engineering , ecology , paleontology , philosophy , biology , programming language , operating system
We discuss the role of expert modelling in sustainability using a framework designed to improve the effectiveness of the modelling process. Based on the development of a set of reflective questions that can be used at certain key stages in the lifecycle of projects developing such models, we discuss how using the framework would lead to improvements in the coupling of the process of expert modelling with the process of intervention, which is implied by the existence of the expert modelling project. This questioning pushes the development of a framework beyond considerations of ontology and epistemology into issues of axiology and praxis; extending the notion of contested modelling beyond the narrow scientific sense to a wider social setting. Our framework has been developed through a case study analysis of the effectiveness of four research initiatives that have used expert modelling to address the complexity of intervention in a sustainability context. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.