Next Generation Research Tools for Understanding Human Social Systems

TBDThis is a Technical Proposal to develop a tool for Validating Predictive Social Science Models by Mobile Network Sampling (PredNet). PredNet will allow researchers to reliably and comprehensively collect reproducible social science data with minimal cost in time, effort, and other resources as compared to conventional representative data sampling methods and to do so free from non-response and other biases that confound typical social science data collections. By cost-effectively, in terms of time and resources, collecting representative data in an unbiased fashion, PredNet will allow researchers to reliably replicate, and as a result, validate studies of predictive social science theoretical models. We successfully demonstrated the feasibility of our approach in an earlier research and development effort, “Reliable Mission Planning from Sub-Optimal Data in Cross-Cultural Environments Using Integrated Social Network Decision Models” (ISDM). The ISDM tool set successfully demonstrated in our previous work consisted of several distinct components including handheld applications and server side software. PredNet will be the result of full integration of all ISDM components into a single electronic application which can guide both respondents and researchers through survey and network sampling routines.