Integrating Agent-Based Models with Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

This paper will describe a mixed methodology that combines Agent-Based models of human behaviour with quantitative and qualitative research methods. A decision matrix for selection of a research method for education studies will be presented. The methodology of social and behavioural research has undergone dramatic changes over the last 50 years. For most of the 20th century, social and behavioural research has been dominated by quantitative methods which relied heavily on objective measures and numbers. Researchers dissatisfied with this dominant methodology have developed qualitative research methods to study humans in a natural setting. Research studies using this method analyse words not numbers to give a complex, holistic picture based on the narrative information from the study. As a result of the discussions and controversies between the two camps a mixed methodology has evolved as a way of using the strengths of both approaches. Agent-based modelling is a new way of doing science that has developed form the concepts and techniques of complexity theory. It involves the study of many actors and their interactions. The models start with simple rules of learning and assumptions but will display complex behaviours. This tool is compatible with quantitative and qualitative research methods.